How To Add Depth To Kitchen Cabinets: An In-Depth Discussion

Hello there! As you are here, you must be someone who fixes his or her wooden pieces at home on your own. So am I. Okay, let me ask you a question! Is it possible to add depth to the cabinets?

This is your personal kitchen renovations guide, and today, I will go on a journey on how to add depth to kitchen cabinets.

Wait! You must know the whole process before jumping into this. These facts alone won’t get you anywhere. What are you waiting for? Let’s jump into this!

An overview of the project-

The Reason You Should Add Depth To Your Kitchen Cabinets

Before we start, let me ask you a basic question. Why should you add depth to your kitchen cabinet?

You should have a proper reason to make the decision to add depth to your cabinet. It helps you to find the right direction. 

Let me help you. These are some reasons you should look for;

• To get deep cabinets for better storage space and organization for your kitchen items.
• To make your cabinets look like deeper cabinets to make your kitchen look stylish and spacious.
• More customization options to incorporate shelves, drawers, etc.
• To keep bigger items like oversized pots, mixers, etc easily.
• To update your cabinet to more of a modern and practical design.
• To add more property value to your cabinet.

Adding depth to kitchen cabinets can be both structural and visual. I am here to help you with the solutions for both, let’s begin.

How To Add Depth To Kitchen Cabinets

Can you make kitchen cabinets deeper? The answer to your question is both yes and no. Sounds confusing? No need to worry. Your guide is still here.

Yes, because you can’t directly increase the depth of your existing kitchen cabinets. Whether it is an upper cabinet or base cabinet, to increase the actual depth, you will require a whole kitchen cabinet remodel or the installation of additional cabinets.

It is not possible on existing kitchen cabinets because it will require the entire cabinet to be disassembled and then built again. I would say it is pretty hard to fix a broken cabinet.

Also, if the upper cabinet is fixed on a backsplash installed wall where kitchen tile is replaced without removing cabinets, removing the cabinets can hamper the backsplash, too. 

So, I will take a look at the other approaches. First, structurally. You can make some adjustments to the stock cabinets to add more depth. Do you want to know how?

Here is how:

• Step 1: Vertical Shelves
• Step 2: Pull-Out Shelves
• Step 3: Drawer Organizer
• Step 4: Door Storage

Step 1: Vertical Shelves

How do you add depth to a white kitchen? I know most of us just stack things one on another. It is a waste of storage. If you can keep your things organized and use that storage, hypothetically, you will be able to increase depth.

You must be wondering how to do that. It sounds impossible, right? Cause you are so used to throwing things on top of one another that we cannot even think about organizing things vertically.

Here comes the savior. Virtual shelves. You can incorporate this into kitchen cabinets, sink cabinets, or bathroom cabinets to organize necessary items vertically. 

Trust me, after using vertical shelves, you will be amazed by the amount of space we have in our cabinets that we just waste like that.

Step 2: Pull-Out Shelves

Do you find it difficult to reach things in wide cabinets? Then, what do you do? You don’t even need to answer. I know; you just pile up things without thinking about the storage.

Pull-out shelves are the perfect solution for wider cabinets. You can easily organize things in it. When you need something in the back, simply pull the shelves. It will come out, and you can easily grab the things you want.

Step 3: Drawer Organizer

Have you ever felt like you have put something in the drawer and the next day you can’t find it? Is your drawer a mess?

Drawer organizers are currently a popular trend for modern kitchens. It is used for organizing-

• cutleries in the kitchen cabinet drawers, 
• ice, fruits, and vegetables in refrigerator drawers, 
• cleaning solutions, and other things in kitchen sink drawers.

Step 4: Door Storage

There is a lot of additional space in the kitchen cabinet doors. If you utilize them, you will be able to fit more kitchen items in the kitchen cabinets.

You may ask, how to do that? The solution is to add shelves to the cabinet doors. If you don’t have enough space to add shelves, you can use hooks to hang lighter items.

Now, let’s take a look at the visual approaches. You can create illusions to make the kitchen cabinets appear deeper. These are-

• Color Contrast: The contrast of cabinet color creates an illusion that makes the cabinet appear taller and deeper. Especially the light color for the cabinet doors on dark cabinets. It results in a dark kitchen. You can also use removable wallpaper instead of paint.
• Cabinet Styles: Crown molding and other decorative trims make the cabinet look more refined and appear deeper.
• Natural Material: The natural texture or pattern of wooden cabinets creates an illusion and makes the cabinet appear deeper.

These things may cost a bit, but the results will absolutely shock you. I personally use these too, and the amount of depth they add to the kitchen cabinets is insane.

The Right Depth Of Kitchen Cabinets

The depth of kitchen cabinets is important. Knowing the right depth of your kitchen cabinets will help you a lot. 

It will immensely help you to choose the right accessories for your cabinet to organize all the kitchen items properly.

The depth of kitchen cabinets should be around 24 inches. How to extend depth of cabinet? You can custom-make cabinets wider than 24 inches.

However, it will create a lot of problems, mostly balance issues. I suggest adding bun feet to kitchen cabinets if you feel any imbalance.

Also, if you have installed LVP under cabinets, bun feet will prevent the cabinets from crushing the floor.

The Average Depth Of A Kitchen Cabinet

You have already learned about the right depth of kitchen cabinets, which is 24 inches. But do you know that you can bend the depth?

How is that? There is an average depth of kitchen cabinets, which is 12-24 inches. 

If you somehow feel 24 inches is too wide for you, you can customize the depth according to your preference.

Structural Changes To Make To Add Actual Depth To Your Cabinets

How do you modify the depth of kitchen cabinets? To modify or add depth, you will need to make some structural changes to kitchen cabinets. 

These are some things you can do if you want. However, you can avoid it if you want. The changes are-

• You can disassemble the cabinet, add more cabinet boxes, and reassemble the cabinet.
• You can adjust the pieces of wood shelves by moving them up or down to make more space for more items.
• You can customize and install shelves and organizers to organize things better.

Make sure to remove all the decorative trim, crown molding, or any other accessories beforehand if there are any.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Depth In Kitchen Cabinet

What is the first thing that comes into your mind when thinking about adding depth to kitchen cabinets? You don’t need to tell. I can guess.

These are the advantages of adding depth to kitchen cabinets. However, do you know there are also some disadvantages to it? 

You must know both the advantages and disadvantages to make the right decision. Want to learn more? Here are some of them you must know;

Make sure to consider all of these points before making the decision whether to add depth to your kitchen cabinets or not.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

Conclusion

How to add depth to kitchen cabinets? It is simple. Since you have come so far, you already know there are no literal ways of adding depth to kitchen cabinets. 

I mean there are but those are too difficult. Adding depth will require disassembling and reassembling the entire cabinet.

However, you can add depth by incorporating things like shelves, and organizing or changing the look of the cabinet like adding finish.

This is all from me. My friends got great benefits following these tips. So, I dearly hope it helps you too, and as always, happy reading!
If you are interested in learning more about restoring a Cabinet, stay with- Restore Journey.