Best Kitchen Cabinets
Helping you choose the best cabinets for your kitchen
Open shelves in the Kitchen
If you don’t like the heavy look of wall cabinets in your kitchen, or if your budget won’t quite stretch to getting them in the quality you need, you may want to consider using open shelves as part of your kitchen design.
The Look of Open Shelves
Open shelving in the kitchen can give you several different looks.
The most common is a casual, informal look, with items in daily use arranged on the shelves as convenient, rather than with any specific “decorator arrangement” in mind. This style often goes with country or farmhouse type kitchens.
For some folks, this is too casual, and they arrange their shelves so that while the items are conveniently placed they also look good, and include some purely decorative objects too.
At the other end of the scale, even minimalists can use open shelves: this is where you see the all-white china collection carefully arranged to be balanced and attractive, with one or two special decorative items. This look may be hard to sustain in everyday use.
Advantages of Open Shelves
Open shelves have a number of advantages which make them very attractive to some people:
- easy access to items you use frequently
- easy to see what you have
- cheap to buy
- easy to install
- easy to change color and style
- easy to remove and replace with wall cabinets later
What are the Disadvantages?
- everything is on view, may look messy
- things get dusty
- may look more “busy” than you want
- shelves themselves need cleaning more often than cabinet interiors
Materials and Construction
A shelving system consists of the shelves themselves and a support system of some kind. It can range from wooden shelves attached to sides, almost like a cabinet with no doors, to wire shelves on brackets, and everything in between. Here’s a quick review of shelf materials and support systems
Shelf Materials
Wood (solid wood, plywood, particleboard; stained and varnished, painted, coated in plastic, or laminated)
Wire (plastic coated or chrome finished; different sizes of wires and different sizes of gaps between the wires; special accessories available)
Plastic (resin structural foam, light duty plastics)
Metal (rods, performated sheets, or solid sheets, often in stainless steel)
Support systems
Sides (wood, metal, plastic; shelves adjustable or fixed within them)
Individual Brackets (wood, metal, plastic; plain or decorative shapes; prefinished or ready to be painted)
Bracket Systems (usually metal; tall pillars which screw to the wall, have slots for brackets at regular intervals).
Cleats (usually wood, screwed to the wall in permanent positions to support ends and back of shelves)
If you think you may need to rearrange your shelves on the wall, go for an adjustable bracket system. However, in the real world most people never adjust their shelves after they have set them up and filled them the first time, so the benefits of an adjustable system maqy be more imaginary than real.
Arranging Your Shelves to Look Great
The simplest way to use open shelves is just to put the idems you need to store, right on the shelf nearest to where you will use them most, and never mind how it all looks. This can actually look quite good if what you’re storing is naturally attractive and you’re not over-filling the shelves.
Most of us, though, need to do a little planning to get an attractive look.
Gather all the stuff you plan to place on the shelves together on a large table or counter, and take a good look at it.
- Is there any color theme you can work with?
- Any obvious large “anchor” pieces?
- Anything that could be grouped together as a collection?
- Do you have anything stored elsewhere in the kitchen that could be added to these items to create a theme, collection or anchor?
- Is there enough room on the shelves for everything? Shelves stuffed to bursting almost never look good.
- Is there anything that doesn’t need to be on eth shelves, that could go somewhere else?
Now split up your items by shelf. Arrange each set them on the shelf in a way that makes sense functionally, but which also makes sense visually: use color, size, texture and theme to group items.
Step back frequently as you work to get a sense of the overall look.
Don’t be afraid to rearrange several times, add and remove things, even start over if you’re not happy. Live with your arrangement for a while and then revisit it. Try taking pictures and looking at them – you get a whole different view than you do when just looking by eye.
Kitchen Cabinets: Doors Create the Look
Are you tired of the look of your kitchen cabinet doors, but can’t afford to purchase all new cabinets? In these tough economic times, it may seem as though a costly kitchen renovation is beyond your reach: however, it is possible to transform the look of your entire kitchen at a fraction of the cost!
The exciting new possibility is replacing the kitchen cupboard doors. Many homes have outdated cabinetry that is often an eyesore to its inhabitants after years of constant wear and tear. Whether you are looking for kitchen cabinets that are modern in style or more traditional, there are many options that can meet your needs.
Functional cabinetry is a must in every home, and is particularly important in the kitchen – the ‘heart’ of any home. Whether your style is modern or traditional, replacement kitchen doors are an economical way to transform your kitchen and the look of your home. Often, professional designers including those on TV, will use this ‘trick’ to save money on an otherwise expensive renovation. Replacing kitchen doors is also an environmentally sound choice. Instead of wasting perfectly good cabinets, simply change out teh cabinet doors and drawer fronts.
Whether you choose to replace a portion of the cabinet doors, or give your kitchen a complete makeover, you will be surprised at the difference this one change will make both to the look of your kitchen and to your pocketbook. The incredible results speak for themselves. Whether you like more ornate styling or prefer a simpler shaker style there are many options to choose from. Perhaps you are looking to create a ‘farm-style’ kitchen or would like the modern polished look to match today’s modern appliances. Both of these looks, and many others, are available as replacement doors.
How to Find Quality Used Kitchen Cabinets
During these difficult economic times you can come across the perfect opportunity to purchase or acquire things like quality used kitchen cabinets. Many people or businesses are willing to take much less for items like these to improve their cash flow and put a few bucks in their pockets.
Whether you go the route of utilizing the internet, browsing in person, or scanning the old-fashioned newspaper classified ads, these are all great ways to find used kitchen cabinets.
Online, eBay and Craigslist are two very useful tools for finding used kitchen cabinets. EBay is great because it is an auction site and many items can be bought for much less than the “real” value if there aren’t many bidders and the seller is willing to take almost anything. Many sellers look at it from the perspective that anything is better than nothing. They could have thrown the cabinets out and received nothing if not for an offer on eBay. Many buyers come out on top with these transactions and high quality kitchen cabinets can be acquired for pennies on the dollar compared to buying the product brand new. Kitchen cabinets are items that does not attract many speculators or people buying items to resell them for profit, so the competition in the auctions should not be as fierce as high demand items like electronics, jewelry, or collectibles.
Craigslist – if it covers your town or city – is also a goldmine for quality used items such as kitchen cabinets. Many people who are hungry for cash or trying to get rid of items they have no use for anymore turn to Craigslist. Some people are simply concerned with getting rid of valuable items not for the money but to clear out space. There is even a free section on there where people give away items for free and such items can include things like kitchen cabinets and other home components and accessories. Craigslist can almost be viewed as an online flea market with plenty of diamonds in the rough.
When you go searching in person, thrift stores are an excellent option to find minimal priced kitchen cabinets. Many cities and even small towns have thrift stores that specialize in household components and furnishings and cabinets will almost surely be there. The thrift store owners or personnel pay minimal prices for these cabinets so they can pass the savings on to shoppers who are looking for discounts. Many of these items will be in decent shape, although others will need work to make them fit to use. You’ll also need to do some juggling to make them fit your space, and you might have to buy several batches of cabinets to get everything you need to complete your kitchen layout.
Even though traditional newspaper classified ads have been overtaken in many places by online equivalents (and even in small towns the newspaper classifieds themselves may be online), don’t forget to check them out in your search. Other options include the Freecycle online sharing network, your circle of friends, and used building materials stores like Habitat for Humanity’s “ReStore” chain.
These are all great ways to save on quality used cabinets and the savvy shopper would take advantage of these options before paying top retail price.
Refacing Kitchen Cabinets: Give Your Existing Cabinets a New Lease on Life
Do you have kitchen cabinets that are beginning to look their age? Don’t rip them out and throw them away; if they are well built and functional, they can be modernized by refacing. Refacing kitchen cabinets is one of the best ways to update your cabinets without having to go through extensive remodeling. As well as saving cash over replacing your cabinets with new ones, you are helping the environment! By not throwing away your old cabinets you reduce waste going to the landfill, and save the environmental impact of manufacturing new ones.
There are two methods to go about refacing kitchen cabinets: you can do it yourself, or you can use the tried and true approach of hiring a professional. Even if you choose to hire someone to do the job, you should really know how your contractor will carry out the refacing. Refacing (as opposed to refinishing) involves gluing a wood or laminate veneer over the existing surfaces of your cabinet boxes to change the finish completely. It may also involve veneering the door and drawer fronts, or you might choose to buy new doors and drawer fronts.
The first step of any kitchen refacing is to choose the finish that you would like your ‘new’ cabinets to be. Your local building store should be able to show you a wide variety of veneers and stains for your cabinets. It’s a great idea to take some samples home and try out different stains and finishes to make sure you will end up with what you see in your imagination.
If you’re going to be doing the work yourself, while you are at the store you should also pick up some wood filler, to fix dents and scrapes in the cabinet’s doors, and some sand paper to remove bumps and roughen the surface of old paint. If you are going to put veneer on your cabinets you may also need thin plywood to resurface any paneled cabinet ends or other areas which are neither frame surface or doors/drawers.
To add the veneer, first glue plywood to the exposed ends or sides of your cabinets, this will give you a base to work from. The plywood can be secured with glue or small finishing nails, glue being the best. Make sure all edges are sanded flush with the adjoining frames.
After the plywood has been secured to the cabinets, you are ready to install the veneer. To do this remove the paper on the back of the veneer to reveal the sticky side. Stick the veneer to the plywood, being careful not to leave any air-bubbles – start at one end and roll the veneer into place so that as little air as possible is trapped, then use a roller to press the veneer firmly against the base. Trim any excess veneer hanging off the side of the cabinet, using a small utility knife. Once the larger end and side panels have been veneered, the face frames also have to be covered. This is quite a painstaking process and too long to describe here, but I highly recommend the book Refacing Cabinets: Making an Old Kitchen New by Herrick Kimball which gives very complete instructions.
Now that the veneer has been applied to the cabinet you have another choice to make. Are you going to refinish the doors of your old cabinet, or buy new doors? Although your first thought may be to keep the old cabinet doors, and that’s definitely the greener choice, it really depends on the style and condition of your existing doors. In some cases it may make more sense to replace them with newer doors. Several companies specialise in making doors for existing cabinets.
The last step is to hang your doors. A drill is recommended for this process, as well as a helper to hold the cabinet doors level while you screw in the hinges. Keep holding the doors until both hinges have been installed to prevent the doors from sagging. Finally, you can attach knobs to your door. Then feel free to stand back and admire your handiwork!
Customizing Your Kitchen Storage
Whether you’re building a new kitchen or updating an old one, there are many ways to improve your storage capacity by customizing your cabinets. That doesn’t mean you necessarily need custom cabinets – even stock cabinets come with a variety of accessories which can be added. And there are many accessories which can be retro-fitted to existing cabinets to make them work more efficiently for storage.
Drawers, Roll-outs and Pull-outs
The traditional form of storage in base cabinets is a door with shelves behind it, often with a drawer at the top. The only easy access items in cabinets like this are in the drawer or on the upper shelf, at the very front. For everything else, you have to get down on your hands and knees on the floor and dig around in the cabinet. It’s hard to even remember what’s back there, let alone get it out and use it!
There are three main ways to solve this problem.
- “All drawers”. This means that you have a stack of three or four drawers, deeper ones at the bottom, as wide as the base cabinet. With modern heavy-duty drawer slides, even a 36″ wide, 12″ deep drawer pulls out and slides back in easily and can be loaded up with a lot of stuff. Drawers are about the easiest access you can get to closed storage: one movement and it’s open, a push of the knee and it’s closed. Soft close hardware means no banging, either. Some people worry about being able to what’s in the drawer when looking at things from the top instead of the side, but it turns out not to be a problem: it’s easy to label the tops of containers if you need to, many commercial packages have the name on the top anyway, and it’s also easy to store things on their sides. Baking trays and shallow baking dishes are particularly convenient when stored on their sides in a deep drawer with dividers, almost like a filing drawer.
- Roll out tray shelves. These are like drawers with low sides and fronts, but they are behind doors inside the cabinet. While they give much better access than plain shelves, you do have to open the door and then pull out the shelf, making them slightly less easy to access than drawers. However, if you prefer the look of doors, they are a big improvement over standard shelves.
- Pull outs. In this case, a set of shelves is attached to the back of the door, and the whole lot rolls out on heavy-duty slides when you pull on the door. These are often used for pantries. You can adjust the height of each shelf to pack the most into the space, and you can see and reach right to the back. The downside is that access is from the side, so you need to be able to get at both sides of the fitting when it’s pulled out.
Interior Fittings for Pantries
A pantry needs different treatment depending on whether it’s a walk-in or step-in separate closet, or a cabinet in the main kitchen.
For the closet (or small room) type of pantry with a closable door, the usual storage fittings are open shelves, since the closed door will keep much of the household dust at bay, as well as hiding the hodge-podge of items on the shelves. Some walk-in or step-in pantries include base cabinets, counters, wall cabinets, even sinks and countertop appliances – almost like a second small kitchen! Butlers pantries especially tend to be this wey. Open shelves have the potential to have storage accessories of their own: bins hung underneath like drawers, hanging or standing wire shelves, etc.
The pantry door also has storage potential if it’s not glass: there are many hanging racks which will fit on the back of the door to hold small or light objects. Watch out for can racks though – you’ll need a solid door and good fasteneings to hold the weight.
Cabinet pantries are usually fitted with pull-out or roll-out shelves as described above, but you can also create a pantry with drawers below and pull-outs above, or use a set of unfolding narrow shelves which make every part accessible but take up rather more internal space than the wire pullout racks.
Backsplash Accessories and Storage
The backsplash area is in the range of easiest access for most people, right in front of us as we work at a counter. So, it makes sense to use it for storage, not just for pretty. There are many systems of rails which you can attach to the wall, then hang accessories from (hooks for utemsils, shelves, baskets, paper towel roll hoders, etc) but you can also install shallow shelves, hooks, and racks for specific items. In the prep area, for example, hanging your knives on a magnetic rack and your cutting boards right next to them is very convenient.
Door-Mounted Shelves and Racks
The inside of cabinet doors is another prime, but often ignored, storage location. While you need to be careful about adding too much weight (depending on how strong your doors and hinges are), there are many light items that can be stored on shallow shelves or racks inside a door, such as spices, wraps and bags. A cookbook holder is another possibility, assuming you don’t mind leaving the door open while you use the cookbook, while information sheets like first aid reminders, lists of what’s in the freezer, or weight and volume measure conversions for recipes are all very convenient but normally out of sight when posted inside a door.
Spice and Herb Storage
Spices are awkward to store because they come in small containers, you want them easily accessible, you often need to use them in more than one location, and the mixture of containers can look quite messy if it’s out in the open. Consider a drawer next to the range or baking center (you can buy inserts so the spice jars can lie sloping on their backs and the labels are easy to see), a narrow pull out in the base or wall cabs, a separate spice rack on the wall or backsplash, or a rack inside a cabinet door. And don’t forget that if you use your spices in more than one place, you can split the collection and have your baking spices where you bake, and your cooking spices by the cooktop. If you buy herbs or spices in bulk, you probably only want small quantities out for daily use, so a spot in the pantry for storing backup supplies may be needed too.
Toekick Storage
There’s wasted space in most kitchens behind the toekick at the bottom of the base cabinets. If it’s done right, toekick storage can be great for keeping large flat items out of the way – anything from big platters to paper for kids crafts to a small stepladder. With a new kitchen you can make sure that the area under the cabs is clean and sanitary and will stay that way, but retrofitting to an old kitchen may be a bit more difficult.
Under-Cabinet Accessories
The underside of your wall cabinets is another potential place for storage accessories, from shallow drawers to drop-down knife racks and cookbook holders. The main thing to watch is that if you have undercabinet lighting, your accessories don’t cover it up or come too close to hot halogen bulbs for safety.
Custom Built-Ins
If you’re getting a custom kitchen, then you can have your cabinetmaker build exactly what you need to make best use oif all the odd corners, nooks and crannies. Don’t give up if you have to use stock cabinets, though: it’s often possible to use accessories, storage items from other sources, or pieces you build yourself to get the best use of your space.
Special Purpose Kitchen Cabinet Types
Every kitchen will need cabinets that are made for specific purposes and locations, as well as regular base and wall cabinets. Here’s an overview of what the possibilities are.
Corner Cabinets
If you will be building a L, U or G shaped kitchen, then you’re going to have at least one corner in your base cabinets. Corners can be awkward to access, but there are several ways to improve access.
- Access from the other side: if the corner backs on to another room, perhaps because it’s part of a peninsula, then the hard-to-reach corner can open into that other room.
- Lazy Susan fixtures of several kinds are available. These need a cabinet which is equal in length on its two sides, and often has a door set diaginally across the corner.
- Similar to Lazy Susans, kidney- or half-circle shaped shelves can open out through a single door and give access to a large portion of the interior.
- Complicated wire pull out fittings can allow you access to almost the whole inside space, but need space beside the door to open up, and are quite expensive.
- Plain “blind corner” bases with no fancy fixtures give you access to the area immediately behind the door, but getting into the corner area is a struggle.
- A bank of drawers can extend diagonally back into the corner, with faces either flat or shaped like a V. You lose two triangles of space beside the drawers, though.
- A cab similar to that used for a Susan, with a bifold door but no interior fittings, is another option but also hard to access.
- Corner wall cabinets are also available to improve access, including those that fit diagonally across the corner, and some which include lazy susans.
Range Hood Cabinetry
Range hoods come in a variety of shapes and types. Some are intended to stand alone above the range, with no cabinetry attached to them. Others attach below a high wall cabinet. Others come in teh form of a liner intended to have cabinetry built around them which can be extremely fancy and impressive, including columns, corbels, and giant hearth-like structures with storage and lighting built in.
Range and Cooktop Enclosures
If you have a standalone range, then your cabinets will simply stand to either side of it. However, drop in and slide-in ranges require a specialty cabinet to support them. Cooktops which are not part of a range drop diretly into a countertop: these sometimes need space in the cabinet below them for mechanical or electrical components so that a drawer can’t be placed below the counter. Others will allow a shallow drawer.
Cabinets for Sinks
Sinks come in various types which need different cabinets:
- Standard counter-mounted (undermount or dropin) sinks just need a cabinet with a plain front or sometimes a dropdown front where the top drawer normally is. You’ll need to make sure that the width of your cabinet allows for the width of the sink you’ve chosen, especially if you have a multi bowl sink or one with attached drainboards.
- Sinks which take up the entire depth of the counter, like some sinks with drainboards, need a similar cabinet to 1 but they will have a different attachment method since they do not attach to the counter.
- Apron sinks (farmhouse or Belfast sinks) in any material need a cabinet which is cut away at the front to make space for the apron. Metal sinks like this are manufactured to close tolerances, but some fireclay sinks are handmade and may vary by 1/4″ in any dimension: the sink cabinet in this case has to be custom-adapted, if not custom-made, and scribed to fit exactly round the front of the sink.
Fridge Enclosures and Side Panels
Some fridges are made to be completely built in to cabinets, and these obviously need a special cabinet. But even standalone fridges can be surrounded by cabinets to reduce the huge look of them and to integrate them into the kitchen. You need to consult the manufacturers instructions to find out how much free space must be left behind, to the sides, and on top.
Side panels are often used to disguise the sides of the fridge: base and wall cabinets can be butted up to these. Cabinets over top of the fridge are often supported by the side panels, or open shelves can be used. Upright storage for cookie trays etc is a particularly good use of the space above the fridge. The side panels can be plain sheets (plywood, edged and painted or stained to match the cabinets, or melamine coated sheets), or they can be something more elaborate made to match the cabinet doors. If you have a side panel which doesn’t have cabinets butted up to it, it can be a good place for a bulletin board or chalkboard.
Dishwasher Cabinets
While dishwashers are often installed in what amounts to a simple space left between cabs under the counter, you can use a special cabinet to raise the dishwasher several inches to a foot off the floor. This can make it much easier to load and unload, especially if you have back or leg problems. Of course, the counter above the dishwasher will be higher too: you could install wall cabinets directly on top to be used aS a pantry, or use the raised counter for display.
Built-in Oven Cabinets
Built-in wall ovens need a special cabinet with an opening that matches the exact measurements of the oven. Be very careful here: while there are “standard sizes” for wall ovens, they are approximate, and the actual size of ovens varies from one make and model to another.
A custom cabinet allows you to adjust the oven height to be exactly right for you. Before you order, try mocking up the oven at the height you plan to use and see how easy it is to open the door, see inside, and put things in and out.
Paneled Fronts for Appliances
Many appliances nowadays can be “integrated”: that is, they are the same depth as the cabinets and they can have a custom panel attached to the front which exactly matches the cabinet doors. This can make the appliances disappear so well that people unfamiliar with your kitchen may have trouble finding the fridge!
Pantry Cabinets
While a walk-in pantry is what many people would like to have, it’s not always possible to fit one in, and that’s when pantry cabinets come into their own. While they are often full height, they can also be base or wall cabinets. What they all have in common, though, is interior fittings which allow packing as much as possible into the available space while still making it all easily asccessible. The main ways of doing this are:
- Pull-outs (where you pull out the door and the shelves all come out with it, and you access them from the side
- Roll out shelves that come out individually and are accessed from the front, but again give you full access right to the back of the shelf
- Swing out sections, each with shallow shelves built into it.
Over-Range and Over-Fridge cabinets
These short cabinets are meant to go over the top of the fridge or the range hood. They often need to be modified to fit around ducting for range hoods, and are hard to access unless you are tall or use a ladder. Fridge top cabinets can be full depth, which makes them easier to reach.
As you can see, there’s a huge range of special cabinets available. Make sure you consider everything available when you’re planning your kitchen, so that you don’t miss any opportunities to maximise space, looks and function.
Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets Vs. Refacing Kitchen Cabinets
Refinishing kitchen cabinets or refacing them, instead of cabinet replacement, lets you upgrade your kitchen at a price you can afford and allows for the new custom look you desire. If you are planning to remodel your kitchen you have found out that it is not cheap and that a significant portion of the cost is for cabinetry. Also, new kitchen cabinets can be costly and time consuming to install. All is not lost though. As long as your cabinets are in decent shape, with these alternatives you can give your kitchen a fabulous new look quickly, without busting your budget.
The most visible and used elements of your kitchen are also the most abused, the kitchen cabinets. So it makes sense that after a while cabinets start to look tired and worn and so does your kitchen. The fact is that most kitchen cabinets are in good shape structurally and only in need of a new look. With many colors, stains and wood veneers refinishing or refacing kitchen cabinets is a surefire way to transform your kitchen from old and worn to a dramatically fresh new appearance, which is best for you.
The least expensive solution of the two, if you do not want to spend time and money on a big kitchen remodeling job, is refinishing kitchen cabinets. Kitchen cabinet refinishing is achieved by either painting or staining the cabinetry and cabinet doors. This is very inexpensive compared to cabinet replacement and can improve with dramatic effect the look of your kitchen. For the best results, a professional should paint or stain the cabinets. Great results can be achieved by a trained refinishing professional, inexpensively. However a DIY job is possible, if you have the time and tools you can easily refinish your own kitchen cabinets and save even more.
Refacing kitchen cabinets is more expensive than refinishing cabinets but still a fraction of the cost to replace them. Here is how it works, the old cabinet doors and drawers are removed, stripped, and inspected for damage then the door and drawer fronts are replaced with new surfaces ranging from new wood veneer to laminate. The cabinet frames and exterior surfaces are covered or refaced to match and the inside of the cabinets are cleaned and painted to complete kitchen cabinet refacing.
If the kitchen cabinet hardware is not damaged it can be cleaned and re-installed. But, this is a great time to choose new cabinet hardware, doing so will let you really add your personality to the kitchen and complete the stunning transformation of your new look, refaced or refinished kitchen cabinets, on the cheap.
The time required for refacing or refinishing kitchen cabinets depends on the size of the kitchen but usually can be completed within 3-5 days. This means that your kitchen will not be a unusable total wreck for weeks or even months that cabinet replacement requires.
Buying all new cabinets for a complete remodeling of the kitchen is not in the budget of most homeowners. But as you can see up dating your kitchen need not break the bank or be time consuming. Your kitchen and home can have a stunning new look by simply refacing kitchen cabinets or refinishing kitchen cabinets.
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Why Buy Laminate Kitchen Cabinets?
There’s a huge range of kitchen cabinet finishes and materials available. Why would you choose laminate kitchen cabinets? Are they the best kitchen cabinets for you?
Hard wearing
High pressure laminates are very tough and hardwearing and perfect for family kitchens where pets, kids and toys tend to be hard on cabinets, especially base cabinet doors and drawer fronts. Low pressure laminate – melamine – is less hard wearing but stull tough enough for most kitchens.
Economical
Laminate cabinets are often on the lower end of the price range (although you can also find some pretty expensive ones!) and give you a very good “bang for the buck” if you don’t have a lot of money to spend.
Good looking
Do you like the Euro-look? Then laminate may well be your finish of choice, in hundreds of colors and patterns, glossy or matte, smooth or textured. Laminate kitchen cabinet doors are often flat slabs which give a clean, modern look and are a fine showplace for assertive colors and patterns.
Long-lasting
Unless you cut on them (and who cuts against their cabinet doors, for goodness sake?) or beat on the edges really hard, laminate finishes will last a very long time. My mother’s laminate kitchen is still going strong after 40 years.
Fashionable
Yes, really! While we look at old laminate counters and cabinets today and often think “dowdy”, at the time they were the height of fashion, and you can get today’s trendy colors and finishes in laminate too. If you’re the kind of person who changes their kitchen more frequently than most in order to be in fashion, laminate lets you do that for less cost than high end wood or stainless steel cabinets.
Easily available
Laminate cabs are a mainstay of home centers and RTA vendors like IKEA. If what you want is a popular style, you may be able to drive up to the store, buy your kitchen and take it home today! How easy is that?
Green
Yes, laminate is plastic. But the substrate (the panel products it’s attached to) can be made from waste materials like wood chips and even wheat straw, using eco-friendly adhesives which don’t off-gas formaldehyde or other poisons into your home. These eco-friendly cabinets are less commonly available but they are available – if you want them, you’ll need to do a bit more research.