Hey Gary,
Have built a ton of closets, kitchen grade and otherwise. We all want it to be beautiful, but the first thing to keep in mind has got to be storage. When I'm designing for a client we totally start with what they have in the house and want to put in the newly designed space. Don't be afraid to break convention on depth or height. It's a closet, and it's for storage! I truly believe in these cases it is function before form.
To follow off JoeF, consider making boxes that wall mount and are a foot or 2 off the ground. that space is a great place for laundry baskets and the inevitable shoe box.
Lighting is vital. Consider the aftermarket, low heat, low voltage LED flexible strip lighting. (my source is ledwholesalers.com) It's inexpensive, easy to wire and in some cases acts as mood lighting
.
Allow space for a full length mirror somewhere(even back of the door as tacky at that can be), wrap it in the same material, wood/melamine/other.
If you're doing it for the wife, a perfect +1 is adding a real simple jewelry drawer. Lots of places for adhesive backed felt, and you can build some easy dividers from scrap wood, cover in felt and booya!
few ideas for ya:
Closet 1
Closet 1 digital
Closet 2 digital