When Choosing Kitchen Cabinets

Your kitchen cabinets play a vital role in the heart of your home. Other than helping maintain the organization, they are also the building blocks-one of the most visually dominant features of the area. Thus, when choosing kitchen cabinets both functionality and beauty should be considered. But with the wide array of options, going through the selection can be overwhelming. This article goes through the main considerations-crucial things you need to know when choosing kitchen cabinetry.

About a third of the entire kitchen cost goes to the cabinets alone, so to make the most out of your investment and add value to your New York home it pays to do your homework well whether you are in Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, Brooklyn or Manhattan. Here are the important factors to look into when choosing kitchen cabinets:

Cost

This factor considerably affects the decisions of many homeowners. With the economic condition and the long running New York housing crunch, people should be more wary on how money is spent. The key to making the most out of your kitchen cabinet investment is through finding not the cheapest but the most valuable product features that meets your needs effectively. The cost of kitchen cabinets vary widely depending primarily on the material and cabinet type you choose.

Materials

When it comes to kitchen cabinet materials there are three options to choose from-wood, metal or laminate.


Wood. Throughout the ages, wood never ceased to give homes of all generations and design that exquisite warmth both in look and feel. In the kitchen, temperature changes are common and this will cause expansion and contraction, but with modern and advanced hardware, such problems are mitigated. The cost for wood varies greatly depending on the rarity of the timber chosen.
Metal. Especially marketed for contemporary designs, metal kitchen cabinets are gaining popularity. The durability that it offers comes with malleability that results to versatility in form. So if yours is not an ordinarily laid out kitchen, metal cabinets would fit in perfectly.
Laminate. Kitchen cabinets need not cost an arm and a leg and this is what laminate proves. Other than being the least expensive, laminate offers the widest array of colors and patterns to choose from making sure that you'll get the best fitting style for your taste.

Cabinet Type

Kitchen cabinets come in three construction types-stock, semi-custom and custom made (ordered from cheapest to most expensive). Stock cabinets are commonly found in home improvement stores and though they come in limited models, they are made in the most popular materials, finishes, designs and sizes. Semi-custom, like custom is available in standard sizes and shapes but offers more options. Custom-made kitchen cabinets fall among the priciest options for a good reason. If your needs are more than basic, then this choice is best for you as you can have these laid out and made to look completely in accordance to your needs and taste.

Choosing Wood and Finishes

With metal and laminate, what you choose is already what you'll get. But choosing wood entails a whole new set of decisions to take. The choices range from birch, cherry, oak, alder, hickory, maple, pine, walnut, mahogany or ebony; and each offers different grain and color. To enhance the look of wooden kitchen cabinets, there are different finishes you can choose from including having them varnished, stained, or painted.