Kitchen cabinets are probably the most important decision you’ll have to make when remodeling your kitchen. They are often considered the face of the kitchen and usually make up a majority of the visual space. There are quite a few choices when it comes to kitchen cabinets. From different materials to styles there are endless options. This article should help you understand some of the more common kitchen cabinet materials as well as a few styles.
As I mentioned there are countless material choices for your kitchen cabinets. The most common choice of course is wood. Most cabinets however are not made of a solid wood, they are usually made of a solid wood veneer over a less expensive material like plywood or fiber board. This helps keep the cost and weight down as well as stops the wood from warping as easy as if it was solid. You can still find solid wood cabinets but I would avoid them unless you have very good climate control in your home.
There are a number of wood veneers available. There’s red and white oak, both are very strong although white is stronger and has thinner grain patterns than redwood. If your looking for something a little smoother hard maple is a very fine grain, light wood which like the oaks can be stained. A couple of downsides to hard maple are it’s density (it’s less dense than oak) and it’s higher price. If you can get over the price density issues however it can be an amazing look for a modern or contemporary kitchen. Hickory is another wood with very pronounced grain patterns, it can be stained and it’s pretty thick like the oaks. Cherry wood is another fine grain wood like hard maple. Unlike hard maple cherry wood is very dense and can take a hit. It’s a good look for most styles. Cherry wood usually comes a little off color and changes with age so staining is definitely a good option if you go this route. Finally we come to birch, another good fine grain option. Birch can be fairly inexpensive and can be stained to match the look of most other types of wood. A great choice for someone on a budget that wants something that looks like they spent a fortune.
There is more than just wood options for your kitchen cabinets you can also go with the usually less expensive laminate or thermofoil veneer. They are both really good options to help you save money and you can have them look like almost anything. Thermofoil cabinets are also super easy to clean and maintain and can get a little more fancy when it comes to details, they are also less likely to chip than any other type.
Now that we’ve covered materials lets move onto styles.
There are so many types of cabinet cabinet styles it would take a book to cover them all. I’ll stick to some of the ones your more likely to run into when remodeling your kitchen.
The simplest style of cabinet face is a slab. Whether it’s wood or another material a slab cabinets have no depth or embossing, they are a great fit for modern kitchens especially when you get rid of all the exterior handles and fixtures.
Next on our list are recessed panel doors. A recessed panel door has a ‘set-in’ look. It’s created by affixing a flat panel door inside a frame and is suited to more of a country or traditional style.
Raised panel cabinets secure an additional piece of wood to create an embossed frame around the cabinet door. They are considered a more regal or elegant look suited more to traditional style kitchens.
Those are the three most common types of cabinet facing you’ll come across. Once again thank you for reading!