What Makes A Good Kitchen Cabinet?
How to buy a kitchen cabinet that lasts a lifetime
When looking for a good quality kitchen, you are looking for good bones. In kitchens, these consist of the CARCASSES, HINGES & RUNNERS. As soon as these fail, your kitchen will start looking very tired, very quickly and there is little you can do to repair this.
By investing in solid kitchen bones and good design, you could even revamp your kitchen in a few years with new doors, giving you a brand new kitchen for a fraction of the cost.
What Should A Kitchen Carcass Be Made Of?
Carcasses should always be made from a man-made board like plywood or chipboards derivatives like Melamine Faced Chipboard (MFC). This is because kitchens fluctuate in temperature and can have a high moisture content from steam and splashes. Wood moves in these sort of environments and although doors can be made with this movement in mind, large expenses such as carcasses, need a strong lattice to withstand movement.
Small particle boards like MDF don't have the strength to withstand water so will essentially dissolve, and solid wood can warp, bow, shrink and expand, destroying itself in the process.
Plywood is a slightly more expensive man-made board for kitchen carcasses but can be veneered in millions of colours and textures and is a premium carcass material.
What to Look for in Kitchen Drawer Runners
These are the most used part of your kitchen so you want to get these right. Big brand names to listen for are Hafele or Blum, these guys are the experts and so this is not a place to be going unbranded. Both companies can make runners that hold up to 50kg - most of a person! so this is not going to fail if you load it up with La Cruset and Baked Beans. They come with soft close as standard. When I'm in a showroom, I listen to the drawers to guage the quaility, I want to hear a deep rumble, no rattles or shakes or tinny runners.
What to look for in Kitchen Door Hinges
For lay on doors (normal kitchens), you can have soft close hinges but in traditional framed kitchens, butt hinges are a must. These are the beautiful and traditional butterfly hinges but unfortunately these don't come in soft close. Each cabinetmaker has a different method of keeping traditional doors closed so have a feel and see if you like it.
Where To Find The Information
Look at the Key Cabinet Details to ensure you have chosen a quality carcass for your new kitchen. You will probably find these details at the back of a brochure or on a FAQ page.