Ways to Update Your Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

Ways to Update Your Kitchen Cabinets

Ways to Update Your Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

It’s 2020, you want to update your kitchen cabinets but you are unsure just what your choices are when it comes to cabinets.

The choices don’t just stop at what type of material is used. Beyond the type of wood, you have the choice of colour –light or dark, and hardware. Then you will have to choose between stock or custom cabinets.

What if there is a way to refinish existing cabinets in order to save money if you are on a very limited budget?

A professional can help you with these questions during a consultation. You should be able to come up with an idea of what it will cost for stock, custom, or refinishing. With that information, you will have a better idea of just what you can afford when it comes to updating your cabinets.

What is the difference between stock and custom cabinets?

Stock cabinets are those you would find in home improvement stores or prefabricated homes. Custom cabinets involve a professional cabinet maker taking measurements, talking to you about what you want out of your cabinets, storage space, etc. to come up with a design to fit your kitchen. Then what medium you choose to have your cabinets made out of, painted, stained, natural, etc. in order to build the cabinets for your kitchen and then hanging them.

Refinishing cabinets

What about refinishing? Can you sand the front faces of the cabinet and the door, use paint or laminate on the door itself and the facing and sides of the cabinets in order to give it a new look. New hardware with the paint, stain, or laminate will also help give a new look.

One idea is to use paint on the side and front faces of your cabinets, and accent colour on the doors themselves. With new hardware and the painted cabinets it could tie your appliances and counters together quite nicely.

Maybe you would like glass on your doors then your choice will be plain, frosted, stained glass. Before you decide on this consider where you live, how many people live in your house and do you have time to constantly clean the fingerprints, dust, or grease from the glass?

Hardware choices

Today there are many choices in hinges, pulls, and handles when it comes to hardware for your kitchen cabinets. There are different mediums from stainless steel, copper, porcelain, and more. Then there is the shape of each of these hardware items. What lasts the longest, which is the best choice for your kitchen design, which is the most popular.

Even if you are on a budget, there are things you should never compromise on. You do not want to replace your cabinet every few years.

Solid Woods for Cabinet Faces

When it comes to cabinet faces, solid wood remains the most popular choice. While you can have other materials for the sides, bottoms, and sides such as particle boards and plywood, always use solid wood for the faces doors because these are the visible parts and most people can tell the difference. The price of the solid wood cabinet face depends on the wood species used. As an example, teak is more expensive than cherry, and cherry is more expensive than maple, which is more expensive than oak. Glass is increasingly popular for cabinet doors as it allows you to display what is inside. When it comes to softwoods, fir, spruce, and pine are the most popular options. Different woods have different characteristics and looks – go for the wood that complements the rest of your kitchen décor.

High Quality Cabinet Body

Flat sections that do not need to be shaped like cabinet sides, drawer bottoms, and shelves can be made from high-quality particle boards or plywood. Plywood is more expensive but gives you better results. Ensure that the plywood is of the right thickness for the application, is stiff, and is strong for the cabinet to retain its shape over a long time without bending or sagging. Stiffness increases rapidly with increase in shelf thickness – a 3⁄4-inch shelf is 73% stiffer than a 5⁄8-inch shelf. Note that particle boards are susceptible to sagging and deformities and you, therefore, have to go for a formulation with the right strength and rigidity (this is a factor of the resin used).

MDF or Solid Wood Cabinet Frames

When choosing cabinet frames, stick to MDF and solid wood, or a combination of these. Laminates and surface coatings are also used. Go for a material that can be edge-shaped (pattern or round edges). Particle boards cannot be edge-shaped once manufactured and plywood cannot be shaped without revealing the veneer core (which is often unsightly). If you want to go for plywood, ensure that it is edge-shaped furniture-grade with thin plies. MDF is a popular option because once it is shaped, it can be coated with flexible veneers like thermofoil, it can be covered with wood veneers or high-pressure laminates, and it can also be painted.

Proper sizing of drawers and trays

The functional design objective of cabinet interiors is useful space and utility maximization. When choosing drawers and trays in face-frame construction, ensure they clear the face-frame stile and they are 2 inches narrower than the available space. This loss of 2 inches is noticeable. For frameless construction, size the drawer boxes nearly to the interior opening of the cabinet. This, however, is not true for trays since doors and hinges block a portion of the interior cabinet width. Use special hinges that can permit trays that have a similar width as the drawers.

As you can see there are many choices to be made when it comes to updating your kitchen cabinets in 2020, beyond budget concerns. In order to make sure you get your dream kitchen it is best to have a consultation with a professional to understand the choices available, the prices of each, and how it best fits your design and how long it will last. You do not want to spend money to update your kitchen only to have it fall apart in a few years.

Ways to Update Your Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

Ways to Update Your Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

What if there is a way to refinish existing cabinets in order to save money if you are on a very limited budget?

What is the difference between stock and custom cabinets?

Refinishing cabinets

Hardware choices

Solid Woods for Cabinet Faces

High Quality Cabinet Body

MDF or Solid Wood Cabinet Frames

Proper sizing of drawers and trays

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