What are the different types of kitchen cabinets available?
There are a few different kitchen cabinet types and our aim in this article is to talk you through them one by one so you have a better understanding of options when it comes to planning your dream kitchen.
Modern Kitchens
Modern kitchens tend to have slab or plain fronted kitchen doors. This is either paired with a handle which adds on lovely finishing touches, or a handle-less kitchen where a secondary colour or metal can be used as an accent as the finger pull channel/rail. At The Wood Works we don’t love the look of a vertical handle pull rail so we opt only for handleless on our base units.
The slab frontage can come in a wide variety of colours, textures and finishes. Everything from high gloss to matt, wood grain to flat colour, spray lacquered to veneered.
We have designed some absolute dream kitchens which have dining tables formed off of the island where they have room for dining chairs also but this is normally reserved for larger kitchens (it’s much harder to plan this in small spaces)
Traditional Kitchens
In the traditional range of kitchens, a more expensive cabinet type is the in-frame or front-frame kitchen cabinet. This carcass has a timber fascia attached to it that acts as a border around the unit and to which the hinges for the doors are cut into the frame itself. A front frame kitchen typically has a shaker door on it but can either be a plain flat panel shaker door, a raise and fielded door (which has a bevelled centre panel) or a lambs tongue moulded door. These can all be combined in different variations. For example our Oxford door has lambs tongue moulded rails and stiles and a flat centre panel.
In units such as fridge freezers where the door doesn’t open on a butt hinge, a frame is still pinned to the outside of the shaker door to make it look like the rest of the kitchen units.
Further to consider with food prep is whether you have your sink on the island or not? Some people find it easier for prep but others don’t like the mess it creates which is easily visible from the rest of the kitchen. This typically though is a question of kitchen range – more traditional kitchens do have sinks and taps on the island compared to more modern kitchens which typically have the hob on the island.
Why are kitchen cabinets so expensive
Not all kitchen cabinets are made equal and not all units are expensive. You’re able to buy cheaper units that have thin backs and thin ends and bottoms but ultimately if you pay for quality it will stand the test of time. Traditional, in-frame kitchen units are more expensive than modern kitchen units as traditional kitchen units require a huge amount more manual labour by highly skilled craftsmen compared to modern kitchen cabinets which is highly mechanised and much easier to process for a manufacturer.
Which are the most vital components of kitchen cabinets?
You could theoretically scrutinize every element of your kitchen unit from the fixings to hold the carcass together, the legs it sits on or the fixings used if you were to hang wall cabinets but ultimately the main factor is what the unit is made from itself (is it MDF, MFC, Veneer or plywood?), how thick that material is (good quality units tend to be 18mm rigid carcasses).
Is refacing kitchen cabinets worth the money?
In our opinion it’s only worth doing this if the carcasses are solid quality and will stand the test of time. There is no point spending money on new doors when the carcass will be falling apart in the next few years. Giving a lick of paint to bring an old unit to life is also an option that is quick and easy but probably is not a long-term solution.
What is a popular kitchen cabinet design?
Shaker kitchen cabinets are still extremely popular and are no doubt timeless – they don’t go out of fashion and should be well made. Slab panel/modern kitchen designs come in and out of fashion very quickly that it is hard to say what is particularly popular right now but I would say pastel colours are popular currently and moulded door profiles.
