When we design our homes, we never forget that we are building ‘houses for humans.’ That means we constantly assess things like closet storage space, electrical outlet locations, shower niche design and valve placement, dimmer switches, built in USB port, natural light and so on as these have a high impact on daily living.

The rendering below is the kitchen of a 1,200 square foot home we are beginning construction on. It is not exact (the cabinets will go to the ceiling and the non-window wall will have a beautiful tile backsplash), but the transom window concept is accurate.

This kitchen will be in the corner of the house against two exterior walls. It is not hard to allow natural light into a set up like this. However, we did NOT want to lose upper cabinets in exchange for the natural light as we deeply value the practical aspect of storage upper cabinets offer. Keep in mind, this home has a 10′ ceiling and the uppers will run to the ceiling, so losing just one 36″ wide cabinet in this scenario costs us nearly 15 square feet of storage space!

So we decided to do something a bit unique and install a custom sized transom window on of the walls between the upper and lower cabinets. This a bit unconventional, but will achieve our stated goals. Also, we use under cabinet receptacle strips, so that wall will still have plenty of outlets.

We try to lead with practical creativity. What do you think of this solution? Reach and let us know!