Trim Specialties

Trim Specialties Inc

Cabinets

The Kitchen is the new gathering spot

In recent times the Kitchen has indeed become the new gathering spot at parties, small social gatherings, and even just with the family hanging out. And by extension the cabinets have taken on a whole new priority.
Thank God the days of those dark old cabinets with the plywood doors with the saw kerf detail that were just meant to keep your dishes from falling onto the countertop are gone.

Today we have cabinets taking a feature spot in our homes. We have even gradually moved back to those darker toned cabinets. Although these are made of darker woods now like Walnut, Cherry, and exotic woods like Lyptus. There are new trends surfacing all the time like the City Scape design, where the upper wall cabinets have alternating heights. Another design feature we have seen in the last few years is a section of upper and lower cabinets in a separate color or tone from the rest of the kitchen. This separate color design can be very impressive on an Island as it is already set apart from the rest of the cabinets. The variety of wood types, wood tones and styles have exploded into a whole new field of expertise.

There are two main types of cabinets that I install. First is the face frame style. This is simply a plywood or particleboard box with a frame of hardwood around the face to cover the edge of the plywood and provide a surface to mount doors and drawers. The face frame usually is about 1 ½-inches wide. This frame will over hang the outside of the box by about 1/4 –inch and the inside of the box by 1/2to3/4-inch depending on the thickness of the plywood. One advantage of this style is you have a solid piece of wood along the edge of each cabinet making it easier to clamp and screw together. The toe kick area is already integrated into the design on these cabinets.

The other main style I work with is called the European style. This style is characterized by a simple plywood or particleboard box with a thin wood veneer on the front edge that is only wide enough to cover the plywood. The advantage of this style is without the overhanging wood on the inside and outside of the box you end up with a little more storage space. There is no toe kick area attached to these cabinets. The toe kick is created by a wood frame that the cabinet sits on or by plastic legs that attach to the bottom of the cabinet. These plastic legs feature a threaded area in the middle, which makes them adjustable in height. One disadvantage with this style is it can be more difficult to install as the boxes are screwed directly together with no space in between. This means they must be absolutely straight and level to come out right.

When I designed the cabinets in my own kitchen my wife wanted wine bottle storage, but didn't want the hastle of cleaning inside of the traditional latice style cabinet. As I was building the cabinets my self I came up with this alternative. It features, dovetail drawers with sliding dovetail stretchers that are cut out to hold the bottles. The result was a distinctive one of a kind cabinet that wasn't as hard as you might think.

   I will not delve very far here into the design aspect, there are many people more qualified for this than me. However there are some useful things to bear in mind. Many times the main sink will be located below a window. It is important here for the cabinet to be centered under the window or it will look odd. By the same token the upper wall cabinets next to a window should have the same amount of space between the window and the cabinets on each side.
   When I have a wall on each end of a run of cabinets, the cabinets will need a piece of cabinet filler on each end. I will make sure these two fillers are about the same width.

   It is also a good idea to meet with the cabinet designer and go over the plans. I will go through the boxes of extra moldings and make sure I know where they are intended to go. Many times my idea of where a piece of molding goes doesn't match what the designer had in mind, especially if they come from a cabinet company or designer I am not familiar with.
   It is also a good idea to take a good look at the mechanical aspects involved. I will take a look at the plumbing and electrical connections. Sometimes a worker has misread the plans and the connections fall in the wrong place. In that case the sooner someone knows about it the better or I will end up waiting for him to move it later.

This is also in my kitchen. I wanted a baking sheet drawer that would extend all the way and still match the dovetail drawers in the rest of the Kitchen. I used a diferent species of wood on the sides of the drawer box to make the dovetails really stand out.

If you are someone who is not comfortable designing your own cabinet layout, most of the cabinet companies will do this for you. They are familiar with new products and ideas. With some careful planning I believe most people can get great results and do it your self.