When I remodeled my ex-GFs kitchen, we refaced her cabinets by sealing and painting her oak facia white. Her cabinets had ~8" oak filler pieces to take up the extra space between the last cabinet and the wall. I decided she needed cubbies, she agreed. I made a vertical set of cubbies out of scrap in under an hour and it looked factory! Painting them took longer than building them. She loved the upgrade, they added character.