1. Kitchen cabinet design
Designs: contemporary, Scandinavian, Farm house, Industrial, Minimalist, Modern, Transitional……
Piglet and I preferred the minimalist style.
2. Kitchen cabinet carcass
The inner frame of the kitchen cabinet is known as carcass. There is a variety of material such as
Chipboard < Blockboard < Plywood < Solid wood
Solid wood is the strongest wood and chipboard is the weakest.
I had initially requested a quote for chipboard carcass. The kitchen cabinet designer showed me block board. It is a sturdier material than chipboard and 30% more than the original pricing quote. Block board has better screw holding ability and is less prone to bending.
3. Kitchen cabinet door
We wanted a matt neutral colour cabinet with minimal maintenance. We felt that white cabinets would discolour over time and decided to go with light to medium grey as it would hide dust and dirt.
- Matt finish-melamine, lacquer, acrylic (limited), laminate
- Shiny finish-melamine, lacquer, acrylic, 3G glass, 4G glass, aluminium
- Wood finish- veneer, solid wood, melamine (fake), laminate (fake)
- Termite resistant- aluminium & stainless steel
Matt ones:
- Acrylic? It did not have the colour we wanted. Fingerprint and stains are easily visible.
- Lacquer? Only certain cabinet manufacturers did lacquer and it was really costly.
- Laminate? A possibility that the pattern on the laminate will not be consistent due to way the laminate is joined.
- Melamine? Melamine is susceptible to water damage.
4. Hardware
Kitchen cabinets hardware consists of knobs and pulls. There are many designs available.
5. Cupboard vs Drawers vs Open shelving
Drawers
Deep drawer makes it easier to reach into deep 2 feet drawers and can fit more items into the drawer. I eventually decided to add two more set of drawers for miscellaneous items such as storage of food containers.
Open shelving
Open shelving can make storage items more accessible. It can look aesthetically pleasing if done right but can also look cluttered. It is not the best method of storage for those who are unorganized and do not like to clean frequently. The kitchen looks more spacious with open shelving and the alternative would be to have glass cabinets for visual space.
I had planned a 3 feet width open shelf each in the dry and wet kitchen. I could decorate it as minimalist kitchen looks quite ‘cold’ at times. The dry kitchen one can house the LED strip light underneath it for task lighting. The wet kitchen one is used for pots and pans storage.
Cupboard cabinet
It is easier to store heavy large item or fragile items e.g. glassware in cupboard.
All my cabinets in the wet kitchen are cupboard style. I just went with a reasonable set of cabinets for the wet kitchen as I was not sure how long it would last with heavy cooking.
6. Kitchen cabinet accessories
Pull out shelving
Hidden corners: Lazy Susan cabinet, magic corner pull out, corner kitchen cabinet drawers
I wanted kitchen accessories particularly tall pull out shelving but decided against it. It is expensive, large containers does not fit in the pull out rack and there are other options such as nick knacks from Daiso, Mr DIY and Ikea.
7. Measurements (standard)
- Base unit depth- about 60cm
- Countertop Height- Standard height of 85cm with 10cm skirting/ toekick
- Wall unit depth 30cm.
We chose:
Matt light grey laminate + plywood for the frame and white melamine + block board for the carcass with no kitchen accessories and 3 sets of drawers.