Vertically aligning fixed height tables

Question

I'm trying to create a table with fixed height and width cells, which I have accomplished through other posts, but now the content inside my cells seems to begin at the halfway mark. As of now, the way I am achieving the fixed height is through:

\begin{tabular}[tl]{|p{2.25in}|p{2.25in}| @{}m{0pt}@{}}

with rows something like:

LEFT & RIGHT & \[3in]

but then the "LEFT" and "RIGHT" end up in the middle of the table. Is there a way to make these begin at the top but maintain the fixed heights?

The following code is what I have so far:

\documentclass[12 pt,twoside]{letter}
\usepackage[paperwidth=5.5in,paperheight=8.5in,
            inner=.2in,outer=.45in,bottom=.5in,top=.9in,headsep=.25in]{geometry}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{pbox}
\usepackage{array}
\newcommand{\1}{\textbf{1}}
\newcommand{\2}{\textbf{2}}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\lhead{\huge \textbf{K \1-\2}}
\cfoot{1}

\begin{document}
\large
\begin{tabular}[tl]{|p{2.25in}|p{2.25in}| @{}m{0pt}@{}}
\hline
\1a&\2a\\[0ex]
\hline

    LEFT TOP
    &
    RIGHT TOP

&\\[3in]
\hline
\1b&\2b\\[0ex]
\hline

    LEFT BOTTOM
    &
    RIGHT BOTTOM

&\\[3in]
\hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Answer 1

My suggestion would be to place the content in each of the cells inside its own minipage. This way you can fix both the width and height, as well as the vertical alignment with respect to the other parts of the tabular:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{| l | l |}
  \hline
  1a & 2a \\
  \hline
    \begin{minipage}[t][3in]{2.25in}
      \strut Left top
    \end{minipage}
    &
    \begin{minipage}[t][3in]{2.25in}
      \strut Right top
    \end{minipage} \\
  \hline
  1b & 2b \\
  \hline
    \begin{minipage}[t][3in]{2.25in}
      \strut Left bottom
    \end{minipage}
    &
    \begin{minipage}[t][3in]{2.25in}
      \strut Right bottom
    \end{minipage} \\
  \hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

The starting \struts help ensure a proper baseline around the top/bottom of a minipage, since this is a known issue.