Cabinets
It is official. You can do anything with a kitchen. Who knew? With all the options you have today the sky is the limit and that is what I am going to talk about here. There are opportunities for a minimum budget all the way up to gold plated, so read on. We will talk about cabinets in this issue.
Imports: The Chinese entered the market several years ago and these cabinets are for the flippers and minimum budgets. They are usually all wood with finished interiors. They can come in a box or assembled by the seller. Sizes and shapes are limited as well as styles, colors and wood species. The other issue is in 3 or 4 years you may not be able to find a matching door or drawer front should you have one damaged. Suppliers buy them by the container full, plants in China open and close and sales agreements with importers are subject to change. The up side is that they are decent boxes and priced right.
Stock Cabinets: A good choice where you have open space and don’t need lots of options. Stock cabinets are built in 3” increments in width and usually come in three heights for walls, 30”, 36” and 42”. Wall cabinets are 12” deep and some manufacturers offer extended depths. Colors and wood species are throughout the spectrum with some painted options. Plywood cabinet sides are usually an upcharge with the base price offering particle board. This category is a step up in price from the imports.
Semi-customs: This category is a lot like stock cabinets but with tons of options. They usually offer more door styles, wood species, colors and glazes. There base and wall cabinets still fall within the increment and height ranges of stock cabinets but semi-customs will offer extended or reduced depth wall and base cabinets, flush sides eliminating the front overhang, full height base cabinet doors, just to mention a few options. Semi-customs will also offer extended width fronts eliminating the need for a filler. These manufacturers offer a wide verity of options like corbels, posts and full length fronts that eliminate toe kicks making an island or wall group look like a furniture piece. They also offer more molding styles, onlays and appliques than stock cabinets. This category is again a step up in price but can be a great alternative to custom cabinets.
Full Custom Cabinets: This is exactly what it says. Custom cabinet makers will usually make any cabinet, any style and of any species of wood available. Standard widths and heights are out the window because they will make anything you want. The NKBA (National Kitchen and Bath Association) has industry standards and custom shops respect those standards. The options available are only limited to the cabinet shop’s ability to reach out for resources. Many shops make there own doors as well. Lots of door styles and wood species are offered by cabinet door manufacturers and some custom shops buy there doors pre-made. Full Custom Cabinets are almost always the most expensive and rightly so.