Half Cabinets and Other Hidden Ways to Elevate Your Kitchens (and more) in The Sims 4!

Have you ever taken a look at the Sims 4’s Styled Rooms, particularly the kitchens, and wondered how they got so many different counter and cabinet styles? Is your mad search for these hidden pieces driving you up the wall? Fear not! Our handy guide will show you how to access all these secret pieces, from corner counters to curved islands to half cabinets, and more!

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So, Why Can’t I Access Half Cabinets and Curved Counters?

One thing that I think the Sims 4 has over other iterations of the game is that it’s very user-friendly when it comes to building. This can turn around a bite advanced builders though, as the game automates certain things like counter and window placement if you let it. By default, the game is set to enable “Automatic Counter Placement,” which means that the game decides what kind of pieces you’re meaning to place. You can easily notice this if you have a counter in a corner and add pieces to either side; the original counter will automatically convert to a corner piece, connecting the three.

Disable Automatic Counter Placement to access hidden options!

It’s actually incredibly simple to shut off Automatic Counter Placement and gain access to the various half cabinets, end counters, and more that are hidden in the catalog. There are two different places where the option is hiding and can be accessed at any time. When in the various Buy menus, the toggle for auto counters can be found below the catalog options (fig. 1), or you can access the toggle by clicking on the gear icon ⚙ that shows up next to the various cabinet swatches (fig. 2). Once auto counters are disabled you’ll see that the menu expands to show a whole slew of new options! Half cabinets? Check! Hutches? Check! Inner corner counters? Check!

You may be wondering if the same options apply to island counters. Quick answer: No. Full answer: No, there are even more options for island counters!

If you have Dream Home Decorator, disabling “Automatic Sofa Placement” will give you access to all of the sectional pieces as well.

Using Hidden Pieces to create unique builds

Now that you know how to access pieces like half-cabines and rounded islands, you might be wondering how useful they really are. Sure your kitchens will look a little more special, but big deal, right?

It’s actually a pretty massive deal! With a little creativity you can create all sorts of unique and custom furniture pieces with the strategic use of things like curved counters and half cabinets. Above (fig. 4), you can see a few mock-ups I threw together with various furniture pieces just to give some examples of what can be done. Every rounded island and half cabinet you see comes straight from the vanilla game, no CC needed!

Tips & Tricks

Here are a few hints for you to make the most out of these secret furniture pieces:

• Use the ALT key when placing to get precise positioning. Sometimes the various counter and cabinet shapes won’t snap together just perfectly and you might need to fiddle with an unruly corner or end piece to get it just-so. The ALT key takes items out of the restriction of the grid, so you can get it right where you want it.
• Remember the functionality. Some of the bar stools in my example above are inaccessible, which is fine for me because this was just a dressed set. If you’re building for use in gameplay though, make sure you leave things properly accessible.
• Use the 9 and 0 keys to stack and lift pieces. I find that when placing half cabinets, they always sink just a bit too low to sit properly above a refrigerator. With the moveobjects cheat activated, you can use the 9 key to lift the cabinet up a step, allowing it to sit properly over the fridge. Do the same with other kitchen cabinets to keep everything in line, or take an example from the image above and stack cabinets on top of one another. It’s a great way to make use of all the extra wall space in apartment buildings with weirdly high ceilings. Lifting also allows you to place larger cabinets over counters while leaving enough space for sims to access the counter space below.
• Check your CC items! CC creators will sometimes release cabinet or counter sets that are missing pieces, or that have completely different pieces than what you’d expect based on the catalog menu. Explore those options and you might just find a really cool object you didn’t even realize was hiding in your game.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know the secret to accessing all of the extras in the counter, island, cabinet, and maybe even sofa menus, you can really stretch your creative muscles with what you can build. A little bit of trial and error, a little bit of practice, and a lot of patience will have you creating fabulous kitchens, stunning storage spaces, and maybe even a few funky community lots. Go forth with your new knowledge and get building!

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