Feed: Refacing Kitchen Cabinets - AggScore: 22.1

Everything You Need To Know About Cabinets

Basic Introduction to Cabinets

When you think about cabinets, more often than not, you think of kitchen cabinets. These are the hottest cabinet items in the market today because of their functionality, importance, and versatility. However, there is more to cabinets than kitchen cabinets, as cabinetry encompasses all facets of home decoration.

Cabinets are more than just storage. They speak of your personality, your taste, and your sense of style. The possibilities are endless, but it boils down to what your choice is. In terms of style, there are just too many different kinds of cabinets to chose from. But they are basically subsumed into common classifications such as framed or frameless, stock or custom made, traditional, country, or modern style, made of hardwood, wood veneers or other materials.

Stock and Custom Cabinets

Cabinets are generally classified into stock cabinets and custom cabinets. Stock cabinets are those cabinets that are pre-fabricated and can be bought “off the rack” in many cabinet shops. Custom cabinets, on the other hand ordinarily refer to cabinets that are specially built by cabinet makers to fit a homeowner’s very detailed specifications, and are usually done on site (homeowner’s house).

Framed and Frameless Cabinets

A framed cabinet is a cabinet with a frame attached to the front edges of its body. This is also known as traditional, face-framed or American-style cabinet. A frameless cabinet, as the name implies, is one that has no frame attached to the surrounding face of the body. This is the standard among European-style cabinets.

Traditional, Country, Or Contemporary Style

If one goes by tradition, all kitchen cabinets are made from hardwood and are fastened to the kitchen walls. But nowadays, permanently fixed cabinets have given way to standalone mobile cabinets that may come in unconventional materials such as glass or plastics. Traditional style cabinets are appealing to more people because of its’ ageless look.

Country style cabinets give a comfortable, cozy and welcoming feel to a room. Hardwood is the best material to start with if you want a country feel to your cabinets, as this can blend well with florals or nature-inspired textiles or designs.

There are countless other styles to choose from, enough to get you more confused on choices to be made. To avoid this, It would be best to know where to look in the first place. Browse through magazines, woodworking books, or cabinet shops. You can expand your search to websites on home and furnishings. But do not forget to choose a style that would naturally blend with design and architecture of your house.

Solid Wood, Bonded Wood, and Wood Veneers

It’s been a long time since having new cabinets means getting the services of a cabinet maker or getting down to your work clothes to make customary wood cabinets. As technology and skills improve through time, the possibilities have become endless. Old and new materials offer other different classifications of cabinets.

Solid Wood

Because of its versatility and ageless look and appeal, wood has become the most common material used for cabinets. It gives out a warm, homely atmosphere, and blends well with almost any kind of interior design and décor. The different kinds of wood species furthermore give more varied options, but your choice would eventually depend on your personal style and budget. Wood is the most sought after material for custom cabinets.

Wood materials come from either two types of trees: hardwoods and softwoods. Hardwood wood materials come from coniferous trees, or trees that are easy to saw. Softwood wood materials come from dicotyledonous or hard-to-cut trees.

Different wood species fetch different prices, depending on its availability and overall appearance. There are so many materials to choose from: maple, oak, cherry, hickory, yellow birch, or pine.

Oak was the heavy favorite among cabinet builders until recently, when maple became more popular in the cabinet industry. It is very adaptable to any kind of cabinet style due to its light and regular grain texture. Very similar to maple in terms of versatility, is the yellow birch variety. With its strength and wide range of colors, it is a favorite choice for kitchen cabinets.

Cherry wood colors range from pinkish to red-brown when aged and exposed to sunlight. Hickory is a light colored to reddish brown hardwood that is best for a staining finish. While pinewood is the most inexpensive variety, it needs special handling and preparations due to its east exposure to bums and scratches.

Exotic wood fetch higher prices as these are the more rare varieties. Among those belonging to this category are mahogany, ebony, and walnut. Mahogany is mostly come from tropical rainforests. Its’ reddish brown color and regular grain qualities make it a perfect alternative to old oak wood. Walnut colors range from dark brown to a purplish shade of black. Ebony wood generally refers to very dark or black wood.

Bonded Wood

Bonding refers to the process of making large wood materials from several smaller pieces of wood. Bonding processes vary. One way is cutting wide boards into narrow parts, then glued together to create the desired width or shape. Blocks of wood may also be glued together to make up a single part of a cabinet. Another process involves wood chips or small wood particles mixed with a gluing substance, the processed to make durable wood particleboards. And lastly, the process of bonding several layers of particleboards may be done to come up with plywood panels that are ideal for adding strength to softwood cabinets.

Wood Veneers

Wood veneers are thin layers of wood materials from superior species of wood. These are glued to the main cabinet material, usually plywood or plasticboard. This is the best option for a more versatile wood cabinet accented by different wood patterns and textures. Wood veneers are aesthetically effective not only for raised panel cabinet doors, but also for flat or recessed cabinet doors.

A word of caution for the budget conscious: While wood veneer as an alternative to wood seems to imply that is an inexpensive material, very elaborate veneering designs would result in more expensive work pieces.

color ideas painting kitchen cabinets | ikea kitchen cabinets

Links

Ready To Assemble Kitchen Cabinets

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Curio Cabinet Display And Care Tips

Curio cabinets are the best way to display your curios and create focal points in a room. They are showcases to hold art objects, memorabilia, collectibles and items that share a common theme. Any curio cabinet, however, just will not do. It is advisable that the right showcase cabinet should be chosen carefully or even custom-made in order for it to be able to highlight the contents in the best possible way.

1. The Size

Curio cabinets can be small wall-mounted showcases and are recommendable to use if you have limited floor space and they can be also as large as 7 ft. x 7 ft. which are good to have if you have enough space and a lot of items to display.

2. Design

You can choose a curio cabinet made of teakwood, white cedar, rosewood or even plywood depending on your budget, taste and your living room’s theme and ambience. For example, if your living room has antique furniture, then it is better to opt for curio cabinets that are made of hardwood and are intricately carved with brass inlay and other elaborate embellishments. Consider also the number of shelves you will need for the cabinet and the material it has to be made of. These can either be made from clear glass or wood. As a style option, you can alternate glass shelves with wooden shelves to break the monotony. You can also use smoked glass.

3. Display Tips

Curio cabinets can have a single glass door, a double glass door or no doors, at all. It is recommended, however, that you choose those with doors to prevent dust from setting to your displays. If you have children or pets in your home, consider fastening the glass sides of your curio cabinet with a lock to prevent items from falling and breaking. Aside from these design considerations, you can also consider getting a curio cabinet with a mirrored back for visual expanse feeling especially if your living room is not spacious. The mirror does not only reflect the light in the room but also helps give an all-around view of the items displayed in the cabinet. To make cleaning easier such as vacuuming and dusting, consider installing casters underneath the cabinet.

4. Maitenance

- Use a damp cloth for wiping
- To polish the wood frame, use a hardwood polish every six months.
- For the glass sections and panels of the curio cases, use a damp newspaper to wipe it
- Cloth, no matter what kinds, leaves residue and never, wipe the glass surface dry because dust can settle on it which can cause some scratches
- To clean the curio pieces inside the cabinet, clean it with a damp cloth, soft brush or vacuum cleaner once a week
- For items made of crystal and glass, wash these in running water once every 3 to 6 months and wipe them with a dry soft cloth

5. What To Display

The color of the room plays a role in determining the type of object you should display as the base color. Such that glassware, white color based art objects and glassware will look great if the living room is predominantly white in color. If you have a small curio case and you have smaller items, then you can display your items individually. For those with curio cabinets, you can group together similar items of color, theme, or size together in 3s, 5s, or 7s. These items can be displayed alongside each other in a straight line or in a semi-circular fashion. To avoid a cluttered look, make sure that you leave some spaces on the shelf.

For collectors, a large curio cabinet can be used to display all collectible items over the years and it can be the focal point of the living room. As a tip, you can display collections together according to their color, the year of the collection and their size. Make sure that the bigger items are located at the back of the shelf and the smaller ones are in front so that all items displayed are visible.

6. Lighting

Lighting in a curio cabinet can make a person looking at the items displayed delighted because light does not only enhance the visual appeal but it also makes the entire collection have a dramatic effect. When considering lighting, choose soft focus lights to be installed in the center of the top shelf. Avoid installing lights on the corners or sides of the cabinet to make the light highlight the pieces evenly without making a shadow. In order to prevent the focus light from glaring, it is usually the case that it is hidden with a wooden panel on the shelf’s front.

painting kitchen cabinets | refacing kitchen cabinets

Links

Ready To Assemble Kitchen Cabinets

Painting Kitchen Cabinets