Beautiful cabinets are a major selling point for any home. The cabinets you select for your home reflect your personal taste and create a system of organization.
There are two basic cabinet construction styles: traditional-overlay doors and full-overlay doors. This describes how much frame you see between the cabinet doors and drawers. With traditional-overlay doors, the majority of the frame shows, which reduces the size of the openings for drawers and doors. With full-overlay doors, only a small amount of the frame shows. Doors and drawers are usually spaced within a quarter inch of each other creating a clean look, increased storage and easier access.
There are two basic types of cabinet door styles: paneled and flat. A flat cabinet door is simply an even-surfaced panel with no additional detail. Paneled cabinets can incorporate different styles such as recessed, raised, arched or cathedral.
Cabinets are available in many different species of wood, colors and finishes.
Oak – Oak is the least expensive hardwood and is known for its strength and predominate grain pattern. The striking grain pattern ranges from straight grains to arcs. The natural oak colors range from light tans to deep reddish browns. When finished with a light colored stain, noticeable differences in color will be evident between the open and closed grain areas of the wood. A darker stain will provide a more uniform appearance. Oak is durable and forgiving of nicks and bumps, making it an ideal cabinet wood.
Maple – The smooth, even graining of maple makes it a clear design choice for any room. Maple is a finely grained, exceptional hardwood. Maple's natural colors range from creamy to light blonde tones to dark reddish-browns. As with other wood species, darker stains will reduce the natural wood color variation. Maple will display some wavy, curly or bird's eye characteristics. It may reveal occasional dark mineral streaks and cross-grained worm tracking. Please keep in mind that these markings are natural in the wood and are not considered to be defects.
Cherry – Cherry is the hardwood of choice for fine furniture and is known for the warm, rich and inviting look it creates. Cherry is a closed grained hardwood with occasional pin knots and fine grain variations appearing as curls and waves. The natural color of cherry ranges from a pale yellow sapwood to deep reddish brown heartwood. Staining reveals subtle variations and colors, which typically darken over time.
Hickory – Hickory is a very tough, dense hardwood, making it an extremely durable cabinet material. It is known for dramatic color variation, ranging from deep reddish-brown heartwood to pale-white sapwood. Darker stains moderate the color variance in hickory. Unlike with other hardwoods, wood selection for hickory cabinets does not attempt to minimize discrepancies in wood color tones. Knots and streaks are considered an inherent aspect of the charm of hickory cabinets.
Thermo-Foil – This finish allows white cabinet doors to exhibit the same fine styling and detail usually found in solid wood doors. Thermo Foil finishes are extremely durable and easy to clean. The finish found on the front of white cabinet doors is produced when a PVC molded plastic is bonded to a pre-machined care material using heat and pressure. The core of a white Thermo Foil door is medium density fiberboard with a white melamine back.
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