Kitchen cabinets carry so much visual and functional weight in your kitchen. With that, you definitely want to invest in the best kitchen cabinets design and cabinet style that suits your needs. In this article, we go over what you should know before doing any new kitchen cabinet installation. Doing so will help you plan out and narrow down key features in a kitchen cabinet to ensure that you end up with the best design.
As The New York Times pointed out, the decision-making process for choosing kitchen cabinets is quite involved. You’ll want to ensure that the function, design and detail is worth your investment. Here’s what you need to know before choosing kitchen cabinets to ensure you end up with a setup that you genuinely love.
Find the Correct Dimensions and Measurements
Before you even begin any construction and installation, you have to know the exact dimensions and measurements for the space you’ll be allocating to kitchen cabinets. Take accurate measurements of the width, length, and depth of your kitchen cabinets and match them accordingly to the space they’re built on. The last thing you want is to end up with ill-fitting kitchen cabinets.
Know Your Overall Kitchen Aesthetic
Depending if you’re overhauling your entire kitchen, or only changing up your kitchen cabinets, you’ll want to consider the overall aesthetic.
For instance, if you’re redoing only your cabinets, you’ll want to select a design that will fit in well with the existing look of your kitchen. If you’re overhauling your entire kitchen look, ensure that your cabinet design works well with the other new visual elements that you’ll be incorporating.
Pinpoint Your Organization Style
One of the more fun and creative portions in the process of choosing kitchen cabinets is mixing and matching the organization style of kitchen cabinets. You’ll definitely want to have a good idea of what kind of organization style you’ll want incorporated in your kitchen cabinets.
Typical organization style options include open shelving or closed shelving. A mix and match of vertical shelving or strictly horizontal shelving. Pull out doors or sliding doors. Built-in dividers or open spacing etc. Do you want designated shelves with a custom storage solution like having shelves with larger storage space for hanging pans.
There’s no one size fits all when it comes to the organization style of your kitchen cabinets. This is where planning and pre-designating comes in. Take some time and get your kitchen inventory in order. You’ll give yourself a clearer idea on what kind of storage and organization you’ll need to accommodate your kitchen paraphernalia.
Opting For Stock Or Custom Cabinets
When it comes to purchasing cabinets, you can opt between stock or custom-made cabinets.
Stock cabinets are more readily available and are easy to work into many kitchen layouts as they follow standardized dimensions. They are also generally less expensive than their custom built counterparts. With that said, stock cabinets come in all kinds of gorgeous designs. While the design choices can become overwhelming, you can narrow down your choices by finding a retailer who’s general style and aesthetic resonates with your own. For instance, if you’re aiming for a rustic looking kitchen, find retailers that specialize in this style to find the right cabinets.
Custom-built cabinets on the other hand can match your design and organization needs down to the very last detail. This can be very appealing for homeowners who like to curate and have a say in every component of their kitchen. For instance, you can specify designated areas for key items that you want to store in a specific way. This could be anything from a custom spice rack, built-in mounts for hanging glassware, etc.
Along with their unique style, custom-built cabinets can fit seamlessly into your kitchen aesthetic as exact measurements will be taken down to the millimeter to ensure a perfect fit. Lastly because custom-built cabinet shelves tend to be made of higher end materials, they increase your home value.
Cabinet Door Styles
When it comes to door styles, keep in mind that these are essentially the ‘face’ of your cabinets. If there is any component of your kitchen shelves that need to match the rest of your kitchen, it will be the cabinet doors. Get to know the various common types to help you better determine and communicate what kind of style you want.
- Partial overlay: Cabinet doors cover a portion of the face frame
- Full overlay: Cabinet doors cover the entire door frame
- Inset cabinet doors: Doors that that fit within the frame
- Recessed panel doors: Cabinet doors that feature a large indented center panel
- Shaker style doors: Simpler recessed panel doors with a streamlined outer and center panel.
- Raised panel doors: Doors with a thick and raised center panel
- Beaded cabinet doors: Cabinet doors which are marked with lines and grooves
- Slab cabinet doors: Simple cabinet doors made of a single slab of wood.
- Mullion Doors: Cabinet doors that look like window frames
- Open Frame cabinet doors: Cabinet doors with a wooden frame and glass center panel
Know Where Your Appliances Will Go
Lastly, save yourself from any fitting inconveniences by knowing where your appliances will go before choosing kitchen cabinets. Appliances are large pieces and need to be accommodated in the final layout of kitchen updates. For instance, you’ll want to build kitchen cabinets with the correct dimensions around your refrigerator to ensure that your refrigerator fits back into its place and there’s enough clearance for you to open the door. You may want to dedicate cabinets to house appliances like your microwave dishwasher.
Knowing exactly where your appliances will go will ensure that your new kitchen cabinets and appliances blend in together seamlessly.
Overall, choosing a new kitchen cabinet design requires some time to review your current kitchen and your personal preferences when it comes to cabinet style design and function. The big idea is to get to know what you’ll be working with and what exactly you want to change. By knowing beforehand your kitchen dimensions, your organization and style needs as well as how your new cabinets will fit in with other components in your kitchen, you can make a well-thought out choice for kitchen cabinets that you’ll be sure to love.
