Kitchen Cabinets: What to Consider When Choosing

Selecting kitchen cabinets, the first thing you need to decide is which material will be used in the production of your cabinets and kitchen countertops. They can use different materials in the main parts and doors of the cabinets. Also, the highest quality material producters use in the body is MDF (Medium-Density-Fibreboard) material.

They obtain it by mixing and pressing MDF wood fibres with synthetic resin adhesives that harden in heat. The material they obtain by covering the MDF plates with decorative paper, which becomes fireproof and waterproof by impregnating melamine resin and glue with technological impregnation machines, is melamine-coated MDF. Chipboard is a simpler material they obtain by pressing simple wood pieces with synthetic resins. Due to the fact that it is more economical, buyers often prefer chipboard material in kitchen cabinets.

What are the differences?

If you are going to use your cabinets without contact with water, there is no difference between the two in terms of appearance. Because both can be covered with the same material and they can be made to look better in terms of aesthetics. However, it would be better to use MDF material, which is more water resistant, in an area that is constantly in contact with water, such as a kitchen. If you do not know these two materials and you want to know how to distinguish them, let’s explain right away.

The woody color visible on the coated surfaces of the MDF material is smoother. The parts that make up the plate are sawdust, so they have a smoother appearance. Since chipboard is made of larger pieces of wood, both these pieces of wood are visible and the surface is rougher. Chipboard material is less resistant to impacts. MDF is more durable. Chipboard material is lighter, MDF is heavier. Chipboard material is more economical in terms of price.

–Kitchen cabinet prices are one of the important costs in the house. For this reason, do not forget that you will make a choice that can be expensive if you change your mind when choosing a kitchen cabinet.

– Instead of cheap kitchen cabinets, you should look for the best quality kitchen cabinets your budget allows.

Determine the Features of the Kitchen Cabinet According to Yourself

– First of all, you should make a list of the electrical items you want in the kitchen such as refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, oven, microwave, TV, Food processor, telephone etc.

-You should determine which of the items on the list will be in your built-in kitchen cabinet.

While projecting the kitchen cabinet, do not forget that you can also place a small TV recessed into the cabinet. Having a TV in the kitchen can make food preparation time enjoyable.

– When designing the kitchen cabinets, you should also consider the opening direction of the refrigerator door. Otherwise, you will have to change it.

– After designing the kitchen cabinet, it is time to prepare the kitchen for the new cabinet. A new kitchen cabinet means a new plumbing and electrical wiring in the kitchen. Before making a kitchen cabinet, it is up to you to find the electricians and plumbers, as you may need to install a new electrical and plumbing system according to the project. But, since the companies that make the kitchen cabinets already work with the electricians and plumbers, if you agree on an all-inclusive basis, they will provide all these themselves and it will be more economical than finding one by one. You just enjoy the process.

– The closing speed of the drawers and doors is very important. Even when you close quickly, you should choose hinges that allow them to close slowly thanks to the braking system. These hinges increase the life of the cabinet.

– The visual side of the kitchen cabinet is the doors. In other words, only the doors are visible from the outside. They are the only things to give visuals. The most preferred doors are Acrylic doors.

Let’s give some information about the materials

No matter how you make the doors, their bodies will be made of melamine-coated chipboard or melamine-coated MDF.

The main material of MDF is hard and softwood woods. Melamine-coated MDF is obtained by coating the decorative paper, which becomes fireproof and waterproof by impregnating melamine resin and glue with technological impregnation machines.

MDF is an artificially engineered composite wood material. It is obtained by compacting wood chips at high density. Also not very resistant to water and fire.

It is not as resistant to screwing from the edge as chipboard. Different wood types can be used as the raw material of MDF. These products, produced in thicknesses between 2.5-30 mm, are covered with impregnated melamine paper and used in the furniture industry as a melamine-coated MDF product. Melamine-coated MDF is mainly used in the furniture industry as the body of kitchen cabinets, bathrooms and others. They use it as a ready-made body in a wide range. It adds more weight to buildings than chipboard, and the hard logs used in its production cause more damage to the environment as it uses more wood than chipboard.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of MDF Board as Kitchen Cabinets?

MDF bursts when screwing, as it is harder than chipboard. For this reason, separations occur from the junction points under heavy loads. In order to prevent this situation, it is better to open a screw socket with a drill before screwing and then screw it, this process is vital for kitchens with melamine-coated MDF body.

Chipboard, on the other hand, is a wooden plate, an alternative to first-class timber, in which cheap and thin wood is used as a raw material. It , as in MDF, can be coated with melamine and be colored by covering with decor paper.

Chipboard is a board obtained by mixing wood flour with certain chemical combiners and pressing them. It is frequently used in the furniture industry. Also, produced in various thicknesses within certain standards. It is not resistant to water and burning (if you let the water contact chipboard swells by 8mm). They produce it in various qualities and its resistance to impacts varies according to its quality. In the screwing phase, there is no separation in the chipboard as in MDF, and the screwing can be done as desired. Chipboard is produced as:

-Wood is cut into small pieces in wood shredders.
-It is lowered to a certain moisture level in the drying oven and mixed with glue after the sieving process.
-It is laid in layers, in the lower, middle and upper layers.
-The material pressed under a certain temperature and pressure becomes a “massive” material with the reaction of the glue.
-The sheets that are sanded later are brought into use after being kept.

What are the expert opinions?

What we understand from the usefulness of a kitchen is that everything is easy to reach and everything is at hand. In our opinion, the use of drawers instead of normal door modules in the lower cabinet modules increases the functionality of the kitchen cabinet. Imagine how many times an item is bent over and taken from under-counter cabinets in the kitchen during the day? Making a cabinet full of drawers instead of under-counter cabinets makes it a lot more useful.

How is the Body and Door Relationship at Kitchen Cabinets?

Previously, furniture doors and cabinet bodies were the same material. Customers were preferring polished or lacquered painting. So that the body color and the door color are the same. With the advancements in technology, new materials were started to be produced and different door systems are now used in furniture, especially in bathroom cabinets and kitchen cabinets. The types of covers used in the furniture market today are:

-Acrylic Cover,

-Membrane Cover,

-Laminate Cover,

-Lacquer Cover,

-Glass Covered Cover.

The above cover types take their name from the type of surface coating. The body material’s color is a coating called melamine. But, the color of the cover and the body color cannot be the same. For this reason, furniture manufacturers try to overcome the color confusion by using cream color or white color. Only visible places in furniture and kitchen cabinets are a cover material, the remaining modules are melamine-coated chipboard or melamine-coated MDF. If your cabinets bored you with the appearance or think that they became old, you can have a brand new look by simply changing the covers.