Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes for table service. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated into kitchen cabinetry. There are plenty of options for cabinets today.
History
As commonly used today, the term kitchen cabinet denotes a built-in installation in which a single counter covers multiple cabinets and neither wall nor floor is generally accessible behind or under the cabinet. Kitchen cabinets per se were invented in the early 20th century. An early precursor was the Hoosier cabinet, a single piece of furniture incorporating storage and work surfaces.
- Pre-WW-I cabinet design. Typical kitchens before World War I used freestanding work tables and a pantry for dry storage. Cupboards were sometimes used in kitchens, though in larger houses dishes were more typically stored in the dining room or butler's pantry. Perishable foods such as milk, meat, and vegetables were purchased daily.
- Post-WW-I industrial era. Increasing interest in household efficiency pioneered by Lillian Moller Gilbreth led to more systematic kitchen design in the 1920s, typically including built-in cabinets surfaced with linoleum or stainless steel. Improved materials and tools also made the industrial production of cabinets possible.
- Post-WW-II cabinet design. In the U.S., countertops of high-pressure laminates such as Formica became popular. Laminates led to the adoption of a seamless flush-surface kitchen look that is almost universal today, though laminates themselves are often replaced today by synthetic solid surface materials or (in more expensive installations) natural stone. In Europe, built-in cabinets had also been pioneered in the 1920s. With improved materials, the frameless cabinet style, appealing for its architectural minimalism reminiscent of Bauhaus design, emerged in European kitchen design, and elements have now been widely adopted worldwide.
- Post-modern cabinet design trends. Other elements of kitchen design affect the choice of cabinetry as follows. In post-modern kitchens, hardwood floors are increasingly installed, earth tones are in greater use for painted surfaces, and wallpaper is less favored. Further trends include the introduction of more expensive options in kitchens, a larger number of ovens, the use of thicker solid countertops (2–3 inches), the use of higher base cabinets, the introduction of "quartz" countertops and countertops with honed rather than glossy finishes, higher countertop appliances, pervasive use of undercounter lighting, and the use of higher 9-foot ceilings rather than more traditional 8-foot ceilings formerly used in postwar construction. While not all are kitchen cabinet trends per se , they all affect the choice and design of cabinetry. Space-saving features are especially important in condos, townhouses, and smaller homes.
- Kitchens today . Modern kitchen design has improved partly as a result of ergonomic research by pioneers such as Lillian Moller Gilbreth. Functionality is important; one research study had "anthropological scientists" observing homowners " interact with their kitchen cabinets." Kitchens are larger and have more cabinets; some kitchens may have as many as fifty drawers and cabinet doors. New features today include deep drawers for cookware, pull-out shelves to avoid excess bending, sponge trays on the front of sink cabinets, pullout hideaway garbage/recycling containers, pull-out spice cabinets, lazy susans in corner cabinets, vertical storage for cookie sheets, full-extension drawer slides, and drawers and doors with so-called soft-close/positive-close mechanisms enabling drawers to shut quietly, or which shut fully after being pushed only partially. As the housing stock gets older, many homeowners face problems with visually unappealing older kitchen cabinets; in such situations, there is a choices to buy new ones (most expensive choice), reface existing ones (less expensive), or strip and refinish the existing ones (least expensive choice.) In 2009, there is more emphasis on cabinets designed with environmental factors in mind. So-called "green cabinets" are becoming more popular. As homes are becoming more airtight to save on heating and cooling costs, sometimes air quality can suffer, and gases which come from kitchen cabinets can be a factor. According to a recent report:
Considering Americans spend 90% of their lives indoors, it’s clear why this is a key issue in designing healthy spaces. Additionally, air quality is not a stand-alone issue; rather, every other component of the home can have an impact on overall air quality. Air quality can be compromised by off-gassing from cabinetry, countertops, flooring, wall coverings or fabrics; by cooking by-products released into the air, or by mold caused by excess moisture or poor ventilation.
- Cabinet refacing. This method is employed to update the appearance of a kitchen that has existing structurally sound cabinetry. Since the present cabinet frames remain securely attached to the kitchen walls this undertaking is generally quicker, less expensive, and conserves resources such as forestry and landfill space. A laminate or thin wood veneer is bonded to the original cabinet face to provide a new surface, rendering the appearance of new cabinetry. The terms "refacing" and "resurfacing" are used synonymously. The existing cabinet doors and drawers are typically discarded and replaced. Cabinet refacing does not resolve structural problems or provide a means to aesthetically improve cabinet interiors.
Cabinet wood choices
Cabinets consist of six-sided wooden boxes or "carcases" closed on five sides with a door on the sixth.
- Cabinet faces . Solid wood is an effective choice for cabinet parts seen by people such as face frames, doors, drawer fronts, and so forth. Traditional-style kitchen cabinetry remains highly popular, although some signs point to consumers being willing to compromise on choices to achieve better value for the dollar. Among solid wood choices used for cabinet doors, cherry is more expensive than maple or oak in most cases. Solid wood is more expensive than plywood which, in turn, is more expensive than particle board or similar sheet goods. Some products need special protection from moisture.
- Cabinet body . The cabinet carcase is usually made from plywood or high-quality particle board, particularly for those flat sections which don't need to be shaped, such as shelves, cabinet sides, or drawer bottoms. Typical plywood thickness in these applications varies from ⅜- to ¾-inch (with ¼-inch used often for drawer bottoms). Stiffness and strength are important factors since cabinets are expected not to bend or sag and be able to support a heavy load. The best choices for strength are plywood and higher-quality particle board. Stiffness increases rapidly with shelf thickness; regardless of material choice, a ¾" shelf is 73% stiffer than a ⅝" shelf though only 20% thicker. Shelves made of some particle board formulations, especially where not reinforced, may sag or deform. Particle board strength and rigidity varies by formulation and is determined by the resin that binds together its wood particles. Plywood carcases are usually assembled with screws and nails while particle board carcases do not hold screws or nails as well and therefore frequently use glue, groove joints, or mechanical fasteners such as confirmat-cam assemblies. Generally, plywood-carcase cabinets are more expensive than particle-board-carcase cabinets.
- Cabinet frames and doors may be fashioned from solid wood (typically a species of hardwood), medium density fiberboard (MDF), particle board, plywood, or a combination, and may include lamination of a surface coating over these core materials. A floating panel in a door could be hardwood-veneer plywood captured within a solid wood or MDF frame. Solid wood and MDF can be edge-shaped, e.g., to round or pattern the edges of doors, drawer fronts, or face frames. Particle board, once manufactured, cannot be edge-shaped suitably. Plywood cannot be shaped without revealing its veneer core, often considered unsightly, though edge-shaped furniture-grade plywood with thin plies (ca. 1/16-inch) is considered attractive for limited uses. MDF, once shaped, can be coated conformally with flexible veneers such as thermofoil or can be painted. It can also be covered with wood veneer or high-pressure laminate but only if the edge profile is square or approximately so (to within the veneer thickness). Today many cabinet doors and drawer fronts utilize an MDF core. Doors and drawer fronts may also be fashioned of particle board surfaced with high-pressure laminate. Natural wood offers its subtle combination of color, grain, pore pattern, variable absorption and smoothness of finish, and variation with viewing angle and lighting condition. The appearance of natural wood can only be achieved with solid wood components (wherever edges are shaped) or possibly veneer (where they are not); as already pointed out, the two approaches can be combined in a sin
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