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Kitchen Cabinet Designs to Beautify Your Kitchen

Planning a new kitchen involves several major aspects – flooring, appliances, and cabinets. Kitchen cabinet designs vary according to materials, style, size, color, and shape and can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 or more! To pick the cabinets that will work best for your kitchen, you’ll need to figure the size and shape of your kitchen as well as your budget.

Basic kitchen cabinet designs include stock cabinets, semi-custom, and custom cabinets. The least expensive are stock cabinets, which are pre-built in a factory and require the shortest length of time for installation.  Stock cabinets are practical and can be used in most standard kitchens, but these limit your ability to personalize your kitchen decor if you want a more custom look.

Semi-custom cabinets are built when your order is placed and are designed to meet specific needs. They have more customizable features than stock cabinets, but are not fully personalized. Then there are custom cabinets, which are truly tailored to your specifications and usually built on-site. These may take a few months to complete, so shop early on to get the process rolling.

Styles of Cabinets

Kitchen cabinet designs can be simple or fancy. They can be straight and rectangular in shape with no artistic designs, or creatively crafted at the top with decorative carvings on the cabinet doors. Some cabinets have a few glass doors to add a luxurious touch. Some are made of stainless steel, while others are made completely of maple wood, birch, hickory, oak, or cherry.  A less costly option would be veneer or laminate cabinets. Try to avoid particle board or fiberboard cabinets as these have a tendency to warp or sag when subjected to moisture over time. Also, consider if you want the most widely used “face frame” cabinets or frameless selections.

Cabinet finishes for natural wood cabinets include glaze, stain, or paint, or there are special finishing techniques such as rub-thru, antiquing, or rasping.

Shop and Compare Kitchen Cabinet Designs

Much of your kitchen decor will revolve around your cabinet design and colors, so choose wisely. Shop around and compare pricing on high quality cabinets. Choose cabinets within your budget that have solid frames, drawers, and doors.  Look for features such as reinforced corners and closed backs. Compare the storage space in each set of cabinets, and avoid fancy contraptions if you don’t need them.

What are your kitchen decorating ideas? Think of how the cabinets will look with the counter tops and flooring you choose as well as a kitchen decorating theme you would like to use. If you plan to change your kitchen decor often, opt for cabinets you can paint or re-stain easily so you can create a new look whenever you want. Go for simple designs that fit your needs to keep the expense of buying the cabinets and installing them to a minimum.

The numerous kitchen cabinet designs enable you to find just the right look and fit for your kitchen. Make this decision a priority before remodeling or building a new kitchen.

by Candice Pardue