Taking A Look At Kitchen Cabinets And How They Are Made

By Matthew Kerridge

When looking at kitchen cabinets and how they are made one comes to the realization that these versatile and highly functional storage areas within any kitchen are an integral part of that most integral of rooms in the home. Without cabinets to complement and support a kitchen, all of the various implements, dishware and other items (including food) that go into the kitchen with need to go elsewhere.

There are a great many different styles of kitchen cabinetry that are found in typical kitchens these days. Usually, the most common styles include several well-known types. Contemporary or modern cabinets are usually standard-build cabinets in many new homes, while Scandinavian or some type of early American or colonial style may be seen in customized kitchens. Contemporary and Scandinavian are the most popular.

There are normally two general types of cabinets found within a kitchen; freestanding cabinets that are made to stand alone on the floor or along the wall or in the corner and built in cabinets that are made to be affixed to the wall or some other sort of frame within a kitchen. And though the term "built-in" implies custom, most cabinets are generally mass-produced and then fitted to a kitchen.

Freestanding cabinets are generally well-known to people and include things like hutches or some sort of standalone furniture that can be found at many retail or other outlets. They can be placed into a corner or in a pantry or the like and used for storage of items. Built-in cabinets also have several common construction elements, with the first being that it is frameless, for the most part.

What this means is that the cabinet is made from materials that are man-made in nature such as compressed sawdust (sometimes known as chipwood), plywood or other such materials. Often, these cabinets are covered over in some sort of synthetic or timber veneer. They may come in fully painted colors or they may look more natural in wood tones and actual woods.

When a cabinet is built it is constructed either as a frameless cabinet or is made using a face frame, though that method is hardly ever used in this country. Rather, most makers of cabinets go with what is more commonly known as European-style, or frameless, construction. Cabinets are also distinguished by the fact that they have a top, and enclosed bottom and storage compartments.

When it comes to kitchen cabinets and their construction is generally helpful to remember that they come in several different styles, with contemporary and Scandinavian being the most popular today. Additionally, they are usually -- at least in this country -- built using frameless construction methods and with a variety of man-made materials such as plywood or compressed sawdust covered by veneer. - 33383

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