How to Select the Right Material for Your Kitchen Cabinets: Pros and Cons

 Kitchen Cabinets are built-in furniture installed in kitchens to store food and cooking equipment, often along with silverware and dishes for serving. They may also house refrigerators and dishwashers. Other important features include sinks, countertops, and lighting. Cabinets may be constructed of wood, engineered wood substitutes, or metal. Cabinet hardware includes hinges, drawer pulls, knobs, and handles.

The largest outlet for cabinetry

The largest outlet for cabinetry, consuming more that half of total production, is residential, including single-family dwellings and home additions/alterations. Other outlets include commercial and institutional applications, and multi-family building projects. A concurrent trend of consumers willing to expand the use of cabinets to media rooms and laundry areas fuels further growth in the industry.

Cabinets are sold by retail dealers, wholesale distributors

Cabinets are sold by retail dealers, wholesale distributors, architects/designers, builders, home centers such as Lowe's or Home Depot, and direct-to-consumer. Retail dealers accounted for 44 percent of sales in 2006 for the larger companies that report annual revenues of $25 million or more. Builders and remodelers made up 27.3 percent of sales.

 Lean manufacturing techniques to reduce their production lead times

Larger cabinet makers utilize lean manufacturing techniques to reduce their production lead times, allowing them to better weather the ups and downs of the housing market. KraftMaid, for example, has cut its lead time from three weeks to one week. Its parent company, Masco, is also diversified across multiple industries such as building products and office furniture, providing a sort of cushion against downturns in any one industry.

Lower cabinets permit access without discomfort or crouching

Other innovations in kitchen cabinetry are improving storage capacity, accessibility, and durability. Drawers and trays in lower cabinets permit access without discomfort or crouching, and they make more efficient use of cabinet interior space than shelves. Specialized cabinet hardware can enable corner and blind cabinets to be accessed by utilizing lazy susans with or without wedge cuts out, or tray slides that allow a hidden compartment to be occupied by trays that slide laterally as well as forwards/backwards.

Conclusion

Staining is a common finishing process for cabinetry. It consists of applying a water or solvent-based dye that penetrates and colors the wood grain. This coloration is usually contrasted with a clear or semi-gloss topcoat that protects the finish from stains, scratches and dents. Factory-applied wormholes, compression marks and oversanding are sometimes used to give a distressed, old-world rustic look to the doors. The staining process itself involves wiping and spraying the cabinets to achieve an even coat of color. The resulting finish is then buffed and sanded to smooth out the surface. Some manufacturers use a high-gloss polyurethane coating on cabinetry to add durability to the finish and provide easy-to-clean surfaces. A wide range of specialty cabinet hardware is available. Push to open door hardware enables the door to be opened and closed with one finger, and is a popular option in contemporary Kitchen Cabinets. Specialty hardware includes self-closing hinges and spring-loaded mechanisms that enable the doors to open automatically.