Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets may all look the same but each serves a different purpose and varies in size. Kitchen cabinets are basically divided into two categories. These are the base cabinets and wall cabinets. Furthermore, these cabinets can be categorized as corner and specialty cabinets, sink-base cabinets and tall cabinets. There are cabinets that contain drawers, shelves and doors. Others may only have shelves without doors. The choices are endless. This can make your work easier as you begin to fill out your kitchen layout with the wide variety of available cabinets in your favorite home building stores.

Standard base cabinets are usually between 9 and 48 inches wide. Most often these are 24 inches deep. Basically, all base cabinets are 34 ½ inches high including the toe-kick. A toe-kick is a recess along the bottom front of the cabinet that is usually 3 inches high. Base cabinets can have either doors or drawers; or a combination of both. Typically, a base cabinet can have a single drawer over a single door. Cabinets with drawers are less costly than cabinets with doors but require more hardware. Base cabinets with roll out shelves allow easier access to the back portion of the drawers and are especially advisable for heavy items. These minimize lifting from below, outside, and above. This can be especially beneficial to people with bad back. Base units usually come with options and accessories to make your kitchen routine easier and quicker. These accessories include pull-out trash bins and recycling centers, swing up mixing shelves, slide out panels for spices and condiments, vegetable storage baskets that can slide out easily for better access and many more.

Wall cabinets basically come in standard sizes. These are usually 30, 36, or 42 inches high. Much shorter wall cabinets are often used to go over refrigerators, oven or sink. Sometimes these are even built to hold a microwave shelf or a range hood. Typically, wall cabinets are only 12 inches deep. However, there are kitchen cabinet companies that offer deeper wall cabinets and a variety of choices from their lines. These units often come with single or double doors and some are left open for kitchen display items.

Finally, be sure to consider these two important points when you are ready to choose the types of cabinets that should go into your kitchen layout.

1. Try to combine both open and closed shelving units. These types of cabinets will create visual interest and can provide your kitchen an interesting appeal. 2. Consider adding details to your kitchen design. These can be in the forms of moldings and edgings.