Utilizing the Useless Space Above the Cabinets

Do you have an awkward empty space above your cabinets? Once we installed this side of the kitchen when there was 0 cabinets there before, we totally had one of those spaces. It nagged at me for 2 years and I finally found a way to utilize all that dead space. I just had to build it myself.

As a reminder, here's what it looked like when we moved in. No right side of the kitchen, so we installed cabinets.

And here's how it looked last week and how what we lived with for 2 years.

  

The first step was to tear out the crown molding so the shelf could sit flush with the wall.

I used the remnants of the 4' x 8' sheet of plywood we got to reinforce our bed frame. After taking measurements I sketched it out on my graph paper.

My favorite piece of advice is "measure twice, cut once." But that doesn't keep me from double checking the cuts actually fit the space.

I used my Pasload nail gun to secure all the cuts together in the garage.

I thought I could lift the finished piece to the top of the cabinet, but I was very wrong. I didn't actually hurt myself, but I got close (sorry babe, you're reading this for the first time - don't be mad). So I got help lifting it and it fit like a piece of cake.

 After securing it to the studs, next was to trim it out and caulk all the joints.

And finally, paint! Sherwin William's Ice Cube is one of my all time favorite whites. 

Voila! No more wasted space. And I can finally have somewhere to put the cake stands (which held two of the cakes at our wedding).

 Seriously, how did I live without this space for two years?!

 Now the tiling project can actually move up on the project list!