Cabinet Materials

Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated into kitchen cabinetry.

Contents 1 Cabinet Options 2 Cabinet Construction 3 Cabinet Finishes 4 Cabinet Hardware 5 Procuring Cabinets in the Marketplace

Cabinet Options

Cabinets consist of six-sided wooden boxes, or carcasses, closed on five sides with a door on the sixth.

Quality vs. Price and Wood Selection

Solid wood is more expensive than plywood, which is more expensive than particle board or other sheet goods. Solid wood is suitable for cabinet elements that show, such as face frames, doors, drawer fronts, etc. Among solid wood species used for door construction, cherry is more expensive than maple or oak.

Solid wood is almost never used for cabinet carcass construction. Plywood and high-quality particle board are more suitable for any panel element that is not shaped, such as carcasses, shelves, and drawer bottoms. Plywood thickness varies from 3/8 to 3/4 in. (with 1/4 in. often used for drawer bottoms). Plywood shelves and higher-quality particle board, which are stiffer than lower grades of particle board, do not sag noticeably. Particle board quality is determined by the resin used to bind together the wood filler particles (sawdust). Plywood carcasses may be assembled with screw and nail fasteners, whereas particle board is best assembled using glue or mechanical fasteners such as confirmat-cam assemblies designed for particle board applications. Plywood-carcass cabinets are more expensive than particle-board-carcass cabinets.

The higher cost of solid wood or plywood components can be justified on the basis of a long service life. Solid wood antiques centuries old are still in use today. Since cabinet components are subject to damage, the ability to repair them affects the value of the cabinet. Solid wood components (drawers, door fronts, panels) can be repaired by furniture refinishers to exactly match the existing finish on the surrounding wood. Particle board cabinets are well suited for intermediate service life.

Cabinet Construction

Cabinets may be either face-frame or frameless in construction. Each option provides positive features as well as drawbacks.

Face-frame Cabinets

Traditional cabinets are constructed using face frames, which typically consist of narrow strips of hardwood that frame the cabinet carcass opening. Cabinet carcasses were traditionally constructed with a separate face frame until the introduction of modern engineered wood such as particle board and medium density fiberboard (MDF), along with glues, hinges, and fasteners to join them. A face frame ensures squareness of the cabinet front. It also increases rigidity and provides a mounting point for hinges. Face frames confer an appearance of strength and durability, and face-frame cabinets retain popularity in the US.

An important distinction between modern (manufactured) and traditional custom-built face-frame cabinets relates to the catalog selection of cabinet components entailed by mass production. Original custom face-frame cabinets accommodated multiple sections (called cavities) in a single carcass. But stock (or semi-custom) face-frame cabinets are constructed individually and joined during installation. As a result, modern face-frame cabinets have significantly wider (double-width) stile materials overall after installation. Two 1/2 in. stiles joined as adjacent cabinets result in, effectively, a 3 in. stile. Wide stiles can interfere with access to the cabinet interior. When base cabinets were typically shelved, this was not much of a drawback. But with base cabinets increasingly being fitted with trays and drawers (using modern hardware), the extra stile width results in significantly less access to the cabinet cavity space. This drawback does not pertain to custom face-frame cabinets.

Door Mounting

For both face-frame and frameless kitchen cabinets, it is conventional for cabinet doors to overlay the cabinet carcass. Face-frame cabinets allow for various door mounting options. Traditional overlay doors do not abut, allowing a view of the face frame when the doors are closed. Full-overlay cabinet doors fit closely so that they obscure the face frame when closed. A third, and less conventional, option for face-frame cabinets is to inset doors into, and flush with, the face frame.

 

Frameless (Full-access) Cabinets

Frameless, or "full-access," cabinets utilize the carcass side, top, and bottom panels in place of a face-frame. In general, frameless cabinets provide significantly better utilization of space than do face-frame cabinets. A preference for frameless cabinet design developed in 1950s and 1960s Europe following the devastation of World War II. A burgeoning market for reconstructed housing in Central Europe provided a fertile environment for introducing improved hinge and cabinet designs. Frameless cabinets use modern manufacturing techniques for sophisticated metal-based assemblies (hinges and slides) and engineered-wood products (for strength, dimensional tolerance, and stability). The intent of the frameless design is to achieve a more streamlined appearance as well as a more efficient use of space. The proliferation of well-designed moving components such as drawers, trays, and pull-out cabinets provides better access to interior components.

Many benefits coming out of frameless cabinets have been applied to face-frame cabinets. These benefits include the inclusion of multiple drawers in base cabinets, the use of full-overlay doors, and the use of cup hinges. Accordingly, much of the hardware used by US cabinet manufacturers is imported from Europe.

Since frameless cabinet doors fully overlay their carcasses, they have an installed appearance similar to that of full-overlay face-frame cabinets (when the doors are closed). Both types also may use European cup hinges, and both require decorative door and drawer pulls (since there is no room for fingers at the door or drawer edge).

Space Utilization

Since typical face frames are 1 1/2 in. wide and frameless side panels are 3/4 in., access to the cabinet interior is 1 1/2 in. wider for a typical frameless cabinet as compared to a face-frame cabinet. A 12 in. wide cabinet accommodates a 10 in. wide drawer in frameless construction or an 8 1/2 in. wide drawer in framed construction. The 1 1/2 in. difference is most significant for narrower face-frame cabinets. Hence the nomenclature "full-access." Custom face-frame cabinets, which use one 1 1/2 in. stile to frame two cabinet openings, can also accommodate wider drawers as compared to frameless cabinets.

 

Wood Options

Frameless cabinets, which exhibit a modern appearance in keeping with the design trend of minimalism, are typically constructed of particle board, which features a high degree of dimensional stability, adherence to dimensional standards, absence of warping (as supplied), and uniformity. Accordingly, the so-called European hinge includes a 35 mm diameter cup press-fit to a bored recess particularly well-suited to particle board construction. By virtue of the 35 mm European cup design, European hinges avoid reliance on screws as a primary mechanism holding door to hinge. Plywood and/or solid wood can also be used in frameless cabinet construction, generally at higher cost.

Hinge Design Features

Those European hinges intended for use with frameless cabinets afford a quick-release mechanism that enables a door to be removed and replaced without the use of tools. Such hinges typically afford six-way (three-axis) positional adjustment by screwdriver for door alignment. Some accommodate complex motions, for example to avoid interfering with interior cabinet components while fully overlaying the carcasses (e.g., permitting the full-interior-cabinet-width dimensions for pull-out trays). Scissors-type articulating hinges support wide-angle noninterfering adjacent doors.

Inset Door Face-frame Cabinetry

A special, and unconventional, category of framed cabinets is represented by those with inset doors. An inset-mounted cabinet door is fitted to the frame just as an ordinary full-sized room door would be; such doors fit into a frame when closed. (Full-size doors do not simply cover the opening between rooms or at an entrance to a building.)

Inset doors require more precise alignment of the doors to the frames. Further, this alignment must be maintained with use. Upon opening or closing, inset doors are gently braked by the air cushion trapped between the door and frame. This desirable feature is one hallmark of high-quality inset door construction.

Frameless or full-overlay face-frame construction can superficially resemble inset construction when doors are designed to fit closely within a cavity formed by surrounding doors, drawers, or countertops.

 

Frame-and-panel Construction

Frames

In the US, solid wood frame-and-panel construction, using either mortise-and-tenon or cope-and-stick jointed frames, is traditional, with maple, cherry, oak, birch, and hickory among the most commonly used species. Mortise-and-tenon frames, with their greater strength and permanence, are more costly to produce and less commonly used than cope-and-stick frames. As an alternative, miter-jointed frames, which may be identifiable by the face-surface relief that follows continuously around the frame, have become popular. Miter-jointed frames employ embedded metal fasteners. The panel may be either solid or veneered engineered wood (either particle board or MDF).

Panels

Panels used in frame-and-panel cabinet doors may be either fashioned of solid wood or covered by paint, veneer, or laminate, in which case they are fashioned of engineered wood. The panels are typically not fastened with glue or nails but rather "float" within the frame to accommodate seasonal expansion or contraction of the wood frame.

Solid-door Construction

Doors may be fabricated of solid material, either engineered wood (particle board or MDF, but typically not plywood) or solid wood. Engineered-wood panels may be used as slabs or may be shaped to resemble frame-and-panel construction. In either case, engineered- wood panels are generally painted, veneered, or laminated. Solid wood panels are typically formed of multiple boards of the selected wood species, jointed together using glue, and may either be painted or finished. Solid wood construction offers the possibility of refinishing in case of damage or wear.

 

Glass Door Construction Options

Doors may have glass windows constructed of muntins and mullions holding glass panels (as in exterior windows). Other designs either mimic the divided-light look of muntins and mullions with overlays, or may dispense with them altogether. Cabinets using glass doors sometimes use glass shelves and interior lighting from the top of a cabinet. A glass shelf allows light to reach throughout a cabinet. For special display installations, the interior rear of a cabinet may be covered with a mirror to further distribute light.

Cabinet Finishes

Cabinets may be finished with opaque paint or transparent finishes such as lacquer or varnish. A variety of decorative finishes are available. They include distressing, glazing, and toning. There are many aspects of the apperance of a finished wood surface that can be perceived, color being one. Another is sheen (referred to as satin, gloss, and gradations thereof).

Opaque Finishes

High-pressure laminate (HPL) has become ubiquitous in the modern industrial world. HPL is formed of a resin and paper components under high pressure (ordinary wood does not sustain such pressures, and can readily be crushed to less than half its natural thickness in a hand-operated arbor press). The high pressure confers a density and a resistance to damage simply because any utensil, tool, or other object that may come in contact with, or strike, the HPL will not impart a force greater than what was employed to form the HPL itself. In effect, the HPL has been "dented" in advance. HPL can be decorated in any pattern. It is applied using contact cement and is pressed in place using a "J-roller." HPL is cut slightly larger than the panel on which it is to be installed and is trimmed using a router-like laminate trimmer along the edge. It may also be filed to obtain the final edge. Since the 1970s the trend has been away from HPL in favor of wood.

Melamine is utilized as a coating for furniture board panels often utilized in building cabinet carcasses. Melamine is a unique, white-in-color chemical formulation that is advantageous for chemical and impact resistance, not unlike HPL. Melamine-coated boards are widely available in home centers for purposes such as shelving.

Thermofoil is a plastic coating applied to furniture board. Oftent he coating is milled, shaped, or routered, so that it can assume a fairly complex profile. It can be made with a very glossy sheen. In this sense it is unique. The drawback is that thermofoil cannot be repaired and is not as resistant to damage as HPL.

Paint can be used over cabinets where desired. Paint is considered very traditional and can be beautiful.

Cabinet Hardware

Hardware is the term used for metal fittings incorporated into a cabinet extraneous to the wood or engineered wood substitute and the countertop. The most basic hardware consists of hinges, drawer or door pulls, and drawer slides. Only hinges are always included in the category of hardware, however, since pulls can be fashioned of wood or plastic, and drawer slides were traditionally fashioned of wood. In a modern kitchen it is highly unusual to use wood for drawer slides; ball-bearing metal drawer slides are greatly superior in quality.

Drawer Slides

The primary design parameters of any slide are its extension, weight rating, and position. Separately, durability and serviceability are important as are the smoothness of operation and the availability of features such as soft-close buffering. Slides are used not only for drawers but also for trays and pull-out cabinets of various designs.

Drawer extension is the proportion of a drawer that is exposed when fully opened. Traditional drawers built with wood-on-wood runners cannot be opened beyond about three-quarters extension. Drawers with sliding ball-bearing runners can be opened all the way.

The typical weight rating for a drawer or tray is 75 to 100 lbs, sufficient for ordinary use.

Drawer slides may be mounted on the side or the bottom of the drawer. On the drawer bottom, they are completely out of sight in normal operation. When mounted on the bottom, drawer slides can accommodate the widest possible drawers in a frameless cabinet opening while still maintaining a respectable weight rating. However, the depth of the drawer is slightly less for undermount installations. (Conversely, the width of the drawer is slightly reduced for sidemount installations.)

Drawers have become quite popular for base cabinets since they allow the contents to be accessed from above without any uncomfortable squatting. Either drawers or trays improve accessibility at the cost of reducing the usable space. The reduction in space is sizable for pull-out trays and for face-frame cabinet drawers (semi-custom or stock). In frameless (full-access) cabinets, drawers occupy nearly the full available width. Regardless of cabinet type, trays are generally narrower than drawers to provide clearance for the cabinet door and a symmetric installation. To compare with a shelf, the width of a tray may be 5 in. narrower than the interior of the cabinet.

Such reductions in width are more significant for narrower cabinets (21 in. or narrower) since they amount to a larger proportion of the overall cabinet width.

Specialty Hardware

There is a large variety of specialty hardware for kitchen cabinets. Special hardware for corner and other blind cabinets makes their contents more easily accessible. For example, the Lazy Susan, which may come with or without a wedge cut out, allows contents in the back of the cabinet to be spun around to the front. Tray slides enable the hidden corner space to be occupied with trays that slide laterally as well as forward and backward. Sponge drawers, another kind of specialty hardware, use special hinges that fit between the cabinet front and the sink.

Procuring Cabinets in the Marketplace

Cabinets may be "stock," "semi-custom," or "custom." The term semi-custom is somewhat outdated since both stock and semi-custom cabinets are produced in incremental widths, typically 3 inches. The distinction between semi-custom and stock that remains significant, however, is that stock cabinets are manufactured in advance and are available on short order (about 1 week) from a warehouse or home center, whereas semi-custom cabinets are produced to order and take approximately 4 weeks.

In general, there are three categories of cabinets from any manufacturer: base, wall, and tall. Base cabinets are typically 24 in. deep and 34 1/2 in. high; a countertop surface is normally at 36 in. above the floor. Wall cabinets are typically 12 in. deep and most frequently are used in heights of 30 in., 36 in., or 42 in.

Cabinets can be mounted with an open top for display of ornaments. For higher ceilings, another level of cabinets can be used if desired. Among the three size categories, multiple catalog offerings may be available depending on the manufacturer.

Custom cabinets are designed and built to the dimensions required by the kitchen plan; delivery schedules are longer. Custom cabinetry offers several advantages at higher cost. First, cabinets of arbitrary dimensions can be supplied to most efficiently and attractively fit the available space, and provision can be made for out-of-plumb or out-of-level walls or other surfaces. Second, custom cabinets can combine more than one opening and can eliminate unsightly doubled stiles in face-frame installations. Finally, custom cabinets can provide aesthetic choices such as unusual woods or finishes, the use of inset cabinet doors, styling to match existing or period furniture styles, and other features.

Some manufacturers offer the possibility of mixing custom and stock cabinetry of identical finishes to accommodate custom dimensions at a lower cost than an all-custom cabinet run.

Cabinet Manufacturers

Cabinets are designed and sold through multiple channels including specialty retailers, kitchen remodelers, home centers, on-line retailers, and ready-to-assemble furniture manufacturer–retailers. Kitchen cabinets are frequently sold as a package deal involving measurement, specification, and installation services.