Choosing The Right Material And Style For Your Kitchen Cabinets
http://www.homesaaz.net/articles/2083/1/Choosing-The-Right-Material-And-Style-For-Your-Kitchen-Cabinets/Page1.html
Ahmad Abdullah
Ahmad writes regularly on several websites including his Digital Kitchen Scale website. If you want to know more about kitchen scales, check out his site at http://digitalkitchenscaleguide.com By Ahmad Abdullah
Published on 06/12/2008
There a wide range of materials and styles for kitchen cabinets in the current market. This article highlights the types of materials and styles to consider in choosing the right one for your dream kitchen.
Kitchen cabinets are one of the most important furnishing in a kitchen. They decide how the whole kitchen will look like though the kitchen's size and needs would be the deciding factor in buying suitable kitchen cabinets.Though kitchen cabinets function mostly as storage, they usually take up most of the kitchen space and fill most of your eyesight. Therefore, you would want to avoid choosing what will be an eyesore to watch.
As the main purpose is storage, kitchen cabinets should possess durability to withstand not only the kitchen's heat and mess but also the act of frequent opening and closing. What material would be best for the cabinets then?
The three main materials used in kitchen cabinet productions are wood, metal and laminate. Laminate kitchen cabinets are made of multiple layers of kraft paper, decorative paper layer and a plastic sealant bonded together under extremely high pressure. They are inexpensive and come in all sorts of colours but have the downside of being chipped and unrepairable.
Metal cabinets made from stainless steel are far better in durability and very easy to clean, costing a lot more than any other materials. The only problem with this material is its nature that makes fingerprints visible on the surface and the disadvantage of getting scratches all over.Nevertheless, stainless steel cabinets are very popular and widely used in modern, contemporary kitchens.
The best material and mostly used in urban and country kitchens would be wood. It has both durability and comes in various colours and finishes.The disadvantage of this material is it might warp over time and expands due to the humidity of the kitchen's atmosphere. This causes problems especially to stick-prone wooden slide drawers. Fortunately, this problem could be easily avoided by choosing wooden kitchen cabinets with ball-bearing slides or track-roller slides drawers.
If wood is your choice then there's also a great range of wood to choose from. Whether the inexpensive Birch to easily coloured Alder. Or the currently popular Maple and Mahogany. The highly durable Oak and Hickory would also be a great choice and if you're not worry about spending on your kitchen cabinets, dark elegant Cherry, Ebony or Walnut wood would be great.
Choosing the right style for your kitchen is also important and kitchen cabinet styles are defined by the doors' designs. If you love the traditional country style kitchen cabinets then the recessed panel door style is for you where a panel is fitted behind the frame of the cabinet door. If the frame has two divisions than it is no longer country but Mission-like style. There's a choice of having the doors with cathedral or curved arch on top for this style.
If you're the simple type and can't stand too many cluttering patterns or colours, you might like to choose the slab door style that's smooth and covers the front of the cabinet entirely. Formal kitchens in hotels or big restaurants usually have kitchen cabinets with raised panel doors. They are framed with wood glued on top of the door and might or might not have a decorative edge giving them an elegant look. What will be your choice?
Getting new kitchen cabinets or refacing them consumes money and also time. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the material and style suit your taste and needs, lasting for a long time to worth the investments made for them.
As the main purpose is storage, kitchen cabinets should possess durability to withstand not only the kitchen's heat and mess but also the act of frequent opening and closing. What material would be best for the cabinets then?
The three main materials used in kitchen cabinet productions are wood, metal and laminate. Laminate kitchen cabinets are made of multiple layers of kraft paper, decorative paper layer and a plastic sealant bonded together under extremely high pressure. They are inexpensive and come in all sorts of colours but have the downside of being chipped and unrepairable.
Metal cabinets made from stainless steel are far better in durability and very easy to clean, costing a lot more than any other materials. The only problem with this material is its nature that makes fingerprints visible on the surface and the disadvantage of getting scratches all over.Nevertheless, stainless steel cabinets are very popular and widely used in modern, contemporary kitchens.
The best material and mostly used in urban and country kitchens would be wood. It has both durability and comes in various colours and finishes.The disadvantage of this material is it might warp over time and expands due to the humidity of the kitchen's atmosphere. This causes problems especially to stick-prone wooden slide drawers. Fortunately, this problem could be easily avoided by choosing wooden kitchen cabinets with ball-bearing slides or track-roller slides drawers.
If wood is your choice then there's also a great range of wood to choose from. Whether the inexpensive Birch to easily coloured Alder. Or the currently popular Maple and Mahogany. The highly durable Oak and Hickory would also be a great choice and if you're not worry about spending on your kitchen cabinets, dark elegant Cherry, Ebony or Walnut wood would be great.
Choosing the right style for your kitchen is also important and kitchen cabinet styles are defined by the doors' designs. If you love the traditional country style kitchen cabinets then the recessed panel door style is for you where a panel is fitted behind the frame of the cabinet door. If the frame has two divisions than it is no longer country but Mission-like style. There's a choice of having the doors with cathedral or curved arch on top for this style.
If you're the simple type and can't stand too many cluttering patterns or colours, you might like to choose the slab door style that's smooth and covers the front of the cabinet entirely. Formal kitchens in hotels or big restaurants usually have kitchen cabinets with raised panel doors. They are framed with wood glued on top of the door and might or might not have a decorative edge giving them an elegant look. What will be your choice?
Getting new kitchen cabinets or refacing them consumes money and also time. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the material and style suit your taste and needs, lasting for a long time to worth the investments made for them.