Consumer Information
How are kitchen and bath cabinets made? Until you started shopping around for cabinets, you probably didn’t realize there are various methods for building cabinets and several material options. Most people come to us with a picture and say, “This is what I like”. While this is perfectly fine, we still like to provide some education on the different ways cabinets are made and the materials we use.
As a consumer, it’s always a good idea to know how cabinets are made. Research the construction techniques and see the quality of well-designed cabinetry before you purchase.
There are distinct choices you need to make. Here, we review them one by one to help you choose the right cabinets for your home.
Learn a few basic terms about cabinetry, a few essential things to know include;
- Materials used
- Construction techniques
- Build methods
These are the three main factors that will ultimately determine the look and the quality of your cabinets.
Even if you’re not the type of person who’s inclined to ponder- how things are put together – it’s still helpful to understand the basic parts and how cabinetry is constructed. This will help you better understand the different levels of cabinet quality and what you can expect to receive at each cost level.
Materials – What Are Your Cabinets Made Of?
There are several material options for cabinets. You should know the difference between solid wood, MDF, Plywood, and particleboard. Let’s start by having a basic understanding of these materials.
Solid wood – As the term implies, it’s solid, homogeneous wood, all the way through. The only variation might be boards or panels that are several pieces of solid wood joined together.
Plywood – is an engineered wood product, but one that’s probably most familiar to people. It’s made up of thin wood “plies” or layers of wood that are glued together in a sandwich form. Usually, plies are oriented at varying angles to each other to increase the board or panel’s rigidity and stability.
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) – another engineered wood product that’s made up of wood fibers. The fibers are combined with an adhesive under pressure to form boards and panels. MDF has a finer grain than particleboard and is denser and heavier.
Particleboard – Is an engineered wood product that’s made from wood chips and particles that are combined with an adhesive and fused into boards and panels.
Melamine – is a plastic-based sheet material similar to laminate that is applied to the exterior of cabinets. The substrate beneath the melamine is typically medium-density fiberboard, particleboard, or plywood.
Another essential point to remember about wood is its origin. If it’s important to you that your products are made in the USA, ask your designer whether they are domestic or imported. Other countries don’t have the same regulations as the US regarding the engineering of their wood products.
Walker Woodworking
Walker Woodworking