Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 May 21, 2010 8:14 am We have been thinking about raising our working surfaces in the kitchen by 50mm. At our current house my wife and I get sore backs when doing the dishes and when doing general cooking etc. It's not as if we are that tall, I am 6ft 1inch (186cm) but maybe my arms are short. I think it would be much more comfortable to have a higher working surface. We are building this house for us and we are not concerned about resale, as I think that raising the benches may effect this. Having spoken to a cabinet maker about this they have no issues with doing it and they say that they have increased the bench height on occasion, although usually of the order of 20mm. They do it by just increasing the depth of the kickboard. I would be interested in peoples opinions on this. Or whether people think that I am insane. View our blog at: http://room4acubby.blogspot.com/ Re: Higher than normal bench top 2May 21, 2010 8:36 am Don't think that you are insane at all. I was thinking about this too as I am 6ft 6inches. But my wife is a bit of a shorty so a raised bench height would not work for her. I use extra thick bread board to increase the height of the bench when I am using it but a raised bench would be easier for me. I would suggest making sure 50mm is how extra high you want to make it. Go get some different thicknesses of wood and some MDF and artificially raise the height of your current benches by 20mm and 50mm. Then just do what you normally do and see which leads to less sore backs. Maybe the cabinet maker is right and only 20mm would be better. Building tip No. 3: A raft slab will not get you down a river. A waffle pod slab does not go with maple syrup. My building thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53000 Re: Higher than normal bench top 3May 21, 2010 9:18 am I'm 6ft2 and I increased our bench heights by 30mm. This was a perfect amount to avoid bending to chop veggies. Use a thick chopping board and it's perfect. Any higher and future appliances (cooktops) will not fit without being put on top of some sort of board (most only go to 925mm) but we've got tile thickness to add on so 930mm works perfectly. My builder just increases the kickboard. Life is; then you tell yourself a story. Re: Higher than normal bench top 4May 21, 2010 9:22 am Ours are designed to be 965mm high. Both my wife and I are tall, she is around 182 and I am around 192. Re: Higher than normal bench top 5May 21, 2010 9:58 am We raised ours in this house, and will do so again. I can't remember how much higher than normal they are, but its enough to make a difference to me, but not so much that anyone has noticed they are extra high my new build thread- Ben Trager https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=89826 my switch build thread (2011) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36569 Re: Higher than normal bench top 6May 21, 2010 12:06 pm Thanks eveyone, I am now feeling very relieved and a little less insane. Nathan 965mm is raising them 65mm, unless that doesn't include flooring thickness. I think we will stick with the 50mm higher, this might mean that I will need to get my mother in law a short stool..... View our blog at: http://room4acubby.blogspot.com/ Re: Higher than normal bench top 7May 21, 2010 1:29 pm room4acubby Thanks eveyone, I am now feeling very relieved and a little less insane. Nathan 965mm is raising them 65mm, unless that doesn't include flooring thickness. I think we will stick with the 50mm higher, this might mean that I will need to get my mother in law a short stool..... Yeah we went an extra 50mm but due to height of the wine cabinet we had to pump it up a bit more. We don't mind but like you, our stumpy friends will need a small stool haha. Re: Higher than normal bench top 8May 21, 2010 1:32 pm We raised ours to 920, and also increased the distance between the bench and overhead cupbaords to 750 as this was the max distance recommended for the rangehood. The freestanding oven had to be put on an MDF board as its max height was still not tall enough but that was no biggie. Re: Higher than normal bench top 9May 22, 2010 10:30 am Previous discussion on this subject here: http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=25484&hilit=bench+height interesting situation what happened after builder issued final invoice? did you list as defect or not does the building surveyor have any responsibility? ie. issuing… 13 46866 Building Standards; Getting It Right! These can be easily filled and repaired and it doesn't cost them much to do. Id get the builder to do this first and if the repair is not suitable then a replacement is… 12 31248 Thanks Ardo, they are sort of semi concealed. I think it is only a few millimetres. I see if they can adjust the hinges. 4 3793 |