To illustrate the point about space lost in framed lowers with drawers, this is a photo from the back of a lower we took out of our previous kitchen. The top section is the original drawer. The two lower shelves have been retrofitted with roll-outs. In all cases, you can see huge wasted space because the drawers/roll-outs need to be narrower than the frames at the front opening. With our frameless lower drawers, we reclaimed most of that space.

As a note: I think the rise of frameless in Europe has had a lot to do with there not being as much wood as there once was, so making what is left go further. Remember all those fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel where the forest was looming all around? Not so many forests there any more.

For full overlay, there is very little difference in the looks of framed vs frameless. From an exterior appearance standpoint, these cabinets will basically look alike. Because the doors are full overlay, you don't see much or any of the frame and would normally have to open the door to see if the cabinet was framed or frameless.

Munchlady, framed vs frameless refers to the construction of the box, not the style of the door/drawer or the amount of overlay. This link explains the difference in framed and frameless ...
http://www.cabinets.com/FORM/THE BOX - construction.asp
This illustrates some different door styles available ...
http://www.cabinets.com/FORM/THE DOOR - style.asp
And this illustrates overlay (how much door vs how much cabinet box you see) ...
http://www.kraftmaid.com/learn/choose-right-cabinetry/door-overlays/


In the above two pics, the cabinet on the left is framed, and the one on the right is frameless. Looking only at the size of the opening, see how the drawer for frameless is wider from left to right and also has more open space from top to bottom. The useable drawer space is more in the frameless. If they both had the same size full overlay exterior drawer face on them, they would look alike. You would not be able to see the useable interior space until you opened the drawer.

In a small kitchen, the extra useable space from frameless could make a big difference. Estimates say frameless gives 10-15% more space, so 100 inches of framed would be 110 inches in frameless. To me, an extra 10 inches of drawer space is huge, especially when you don't have much to begin with !!

You can maximize your storage space in a small kitchen by making your upper cabinets a little deeper. I have some upper cabinets in my kitchen that are 12" deep and others that are 15" deep. There are 3 items that will not fit in my 12" deep uppers so I am forced to keep them in the 15" deep uppers, even though the 12" cabinets are a more convenient location for those items. Also, my iced tea glasses will only fit 3 deep in the 12" cabinets, but will fit 4 deep in the 15" cabinets. Over your fridge, have extra deep cabinets. The front of my fridge is even with the edge of my base cabinets and the I made the uppers over it come out as deep as the fridge.

Another way to maximize storage space in a small kitchen is to have mostly drawers with full extension glides for your lower cabinets. With pots & pans, bakeware, and other items in drawers, you can pull out the drawer and have full access to all of the items, even the stuff in the back. If you store them vertical on their edge it makes the storage even more convenient. Be sure though, that the storage will fit the items you plan to put in there. My bottom drawers are not quite deep enough for my 12" skillets and griddle to be stored vertically. All of my other pots & pans do fit in them. Permanent built in dividers like below left may limit the items that can be stored there. I have waited until my cabinets were in my kitchen to put in dividers to fit my stuff. My dividers will be able to be moved/adjusted if needed. http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=40168&cat=3,43722,43743

Other ideas for vertical storage ...

(Sorry!!! I went crazy with the pictures, LOL)

For base cabinets, many have posted to say frameless is best, because of the space they gained in the base cabinets (or lost when they had the frame). A drawer heavy kitchen is the way to go. (The explanation "why drawers" is in other discussion threads). This space is most valuable. Frames reduce useable space when drawers are installed in the base cabinets. In base cabinets, frames are not needed for mechanical strength. Frames are The Olde Way that once was the only way, long ago, but today there is no functional gain with a frame, so the world has gone frameless in order to get more space, more function, more of everything.

But yeah. This is a thread about the requirements of a small kitchen. A run of wall ("upper") cabinets might be made as one framed unit, in order to have slender doors and continuous shelves.

Old kitchen:

New kitchen:

Details:

Cabinets: Decora Hawthorne (no faux pegs) with Pheasant stain
Countertops: Belvedere soapstone from M. Teixeira
Sink: Kraus 23" Single Bowl 16 gauge Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink KBU10
Faucet: Delta Leland single handle with matching soap dispenser
Range: Kitchenaid slide in KGSS907SSS
Microwave: Kitchenaid KHMS2040WSS
Refrigerator: Kitchenaid CD French Door 72" height KFCS22EVMS
Dishwasher: Bosch SHX58E15UC
Backsplash: Home Depot Carrera Marble subway tile with pencil tile accent
Hardware: Amerock BP1590-WID Wrought Iron Dark Pulls and Amerock BP1586-WID Wrought Iron Dark Knobs
Undercabinet lighting: Juno mini-track lights

Still undecided about what to do with the door that leads to our yard. I would like to eventually get a single french door. But right now, the color is basically the color it came (primed). I'm undecided about whether to paint it white or the wall color. I'm also ambivilant about the lighting...the pendants are a bit too southwest feeling for me, but we needed to pick something and be done so this was it.

Thanks to everyone for their help, support and guidance.

I did like the ones peonybush posted, however, they are small. Which to me equals too busy.

And lyban.....you have excellent taste. Dream budget, that is one of my choices. It's sad to know how much tile costs off the top of ones head, isn't it? That tile is $100/sq foot.

And yes, had I not done arabesques before I would certainly be doing the white ones now. So, yes, they are still in the running. You never know...

I am looking at this tile right now. It is also available in "silver" and "dove". And it's available in Lux (shiney) or matte. As well as the white.

(and our good friends at Mission Stone & Tile carry it too). so that's always good for me.

It's difficult to get far enough away to get a great picture, but here you can see the legs...I'd have to lay on the floor to take a pic of the toe kick.

In that pic you can see back doors. I originally intended to have faux doors, but since the cabs were custom, the cab maker shortened the cab depth on the other side and made shallow cabs -slightly less than 4" deep, to create this:

There are 3 like this across the back of the island which open with touch latches. The latches are fussier than a handle or knob, but it makes those cabs invisible.

Helene

a2gemini--It makes me laugh you want details about that vanity. It is 2 36" vanities arranged so that the drawer stacks from each are next to each other. They are missing hardware, another error on the part of the builder. But they did not give me very good selections to choose from anyway, so I had chosen the lesser of all the evils. But, in the end, nothing showed up. I just asked the guys who are here working on installing some French Doors if I get my own hardware will they come back and drill the holes for me. They said sure. I think what makes the mirror "work" is that I had it go all the way to the ceiling and then have the lights installed on top of it. We also left a gap between the vanity and the mirror because we need to replace the top. This creamy color was as close to white as they could get. I need to do something about that, it does not match any other fixtures.

kamkar2006-The paint color is BM's Gray Owl. It is in the off white colors. Absolutely love it.

enright5-
1. Super White, it is a quartzite
2. We will be installing the lighting under the cabinets and inside of them soon. We are going to use the LED lights that are on a tape, they will run up the front face of the cabinets, no lights across the top. The shelves are not touching the front face of the cabinet, there is a little space to put the lights.
3. The big one is Kraus, the island is Brizo Solna, and the beverage sink is Rohl Triflow
4.Kitchen walls are Gray Owl, the cabinets are a ML Campbell lacquer--the island is London Fog, and the perimeter is ???, the lightest color on that strip.
5. The chairs are from Overstock, they are by Safavieh. Still deciding if we need a 6th one or not. They still carry them. Except for the table, we did not buy any furniture for the house before moving in, we felt we needed to see the space first. They are very comfortable.

Again, thanks to all of you for your nice comments.

Bee

In the current house we sampled Nimbus, but it didn't look right in here. We were only allowed to choose one color. The color that did work best here was Gray Owl. Some pictures:

Thanks for your help!