Kitchen Cabinet – doors, hardware, refacing…

If you are planning on tackling a kitchen renovation project on your own, it is inevitable that you will run into a situation where you are having a hard time fitting everything that you need and want. The difficulty usually lies in the corners, where it may be difficult to maximize the utility of the base cabinets. Luckily there are a few options to help with tricky corners when you are laying out your kitchen cabinet design.

Most people don’t have a problem figuring out the wall cabinets, but when it comes to the base cabinets, it is really going to come down to three choices- a diagonal corner cabinet, and blind base cabinet, or leaving dead space. Your decision on which to use will usually be based on a combination of available space, overall look, and need for storage space. With that in mind, here are some pro’s and con’s for all three.

DIAGONAL CORNER CABINET- Most stock cabinet manufacturers or rta cabinet importers will have these in one or two different size base cabinets, and they will usually come with a lazy susan kit installed. In terms of available storage space, this cabinet will definitely give you the most. It gives you easy access to the space by utilizing a bi-folding cabinet door. While it is the most commonly used cabinet for a corner space, it does have it’s drawbacks. The cabinet is usually 36″ on both sides, which means that you are limited on how you can arrange the cabinets on either side of it. While is gives you access to the full space, the lazy susan unit will sometimes limit how you can use that space. Even with the drawbacks, it is still the most common corner cabinet used in kitchen design.

BLIND BASE CABINET- When space is not available on both walls in a corner, the blind base cabinet is the cabinet to use. The blind base cabinet is basically a two door cabinet that has one door removed. It comes with an extra thick stile in the middle to allow the cabinet to be shifted left or right to fill the space. The unique feature about a blind cabinet is that is can occupy anywhere from 42″, up to 48″ giving you versatility when laying out the kitchen. The drawback to this cabinet is the fact that you don’t have easy access to the half of the cabinet that is hidden. This can make it awkward to remove items placed back in there.

DEAD SPACE – If you are limited on both walls, and the blind cabinet would take up too much space, the last alternative would be to leave dead space. While losing storage space is the last thing you want to do, it is sometimes unavoidable (especially in small kitchens). When neither of the options above will work, you have to think about maximizing the space around the corner. To do this, you will be butting the edges of the cabinets from the two walls together. The tricky part comes when you have drawers. By simply butting them together you will not be able to open the drawers. To get around this, you will need filler strips in the corner to bump out the cabinet and allow room for the drawer(s) to open.

So if you are tackling a kitchen renovation on your own, it is important to focus on the corner cabinets and the appliances, filling in the gaps from there.

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Lets face it, the kitchen is one of the most expensive rooms in a house to build or renovate. Other than your countertop selection, kitchen cabinets are going to be the most expensive part of your kitchen remodel. Custom kitchen cabinets can cost anywhere from $10,000-$100,000 depending on the type of wood, brand name, and amount of detail you are looking for. With the current state of the mortgage industry, and the slowdown in the housing market, most people are looking for a way to increase the resale value of their home without a huge financial investment that they may or may not get back when they sell their house. Is there such a thing as budget kitchen cabinets?

RTA Cabinets have become a great option for both the novice homeowner and the seasoned builder. They have been around for quite a while, but because of manufacturing improvements over the past couple of years, there are now more and more companies manufacturing and selling Ready-To-Assemble Kitchen Cabinets, with higher quality standards. This category of cabinets includes everything from the flake board cabinets you find at Ikea that you assemble yourself, to the pre-assembled cabinets you find at Home Depot or Lowes, or the RTA cabinets that you find on-line that have plywood sides and come ready-to-assemble in a box. As you can see by the descriptions, there are different levels of quality and material used in Ready-To-Assemble (RTA) cabinets. Some of the RTA cabinets that you find on-line end up being stronger and sturdier than the name brand cabinets because they are using a solid plywood cabinet box for their construction. When looking at the structure of the cabinet, always make sure that they are using solid wood for the cabinet face and stiles, plywood for the cabinet box itself, and a plywood or solid wood back for a strong connection to the studs in the wall.

Lead times are another huge advantage of using RTA Cabinets. One of the biggest problems with custom cabinets is the lead time required to order and get your cabinets in time for installation in your house. Most require 6-8 weeks in order to produce and ship your cabinets. With RTA cabinets, you can walk into a home supply store and buy them as needed, or most RTA Importers/Distributors traditionally ship with 1-2 weeks (some even faster). This allows you to adjust to the inevitable changes that will occur in your project, plus it doesn’t slow you down in the event of miscalculations… a miscalculation with custom cabinets could delay your project for an additional 2-3 months.

The key to a high quality Ready-To-Assemble cabinet is how the cabinet is held together. Some of the lower end RTA cabinets use wood glue and staples, screws, or a system of metal clips with screws to hold the cabinet box together. These types of kitchen cabinets have a tendency to separate or split apart where the staples or screws connect to frame. For a high quality RTA cabinet, make sure that they use a cam lock assembly. The cam lock comes in two versions: one is a hidden assembly that uses a combination of pegs and rotating locks, while the other one is an exposed cam lock which also uses rotating locks. Both systems are simple use and do not require any assembly experience, which makes it a great option for home owners and/or novice DIY Handymen.

What it ultimately comes down to with Ready-To-Assemble Cabinets is the cost. A full kitchen of ready-to-assemble cabinets can cost as little as $2,500 where as the same kitchen built with custom cabinets could be 5x, 10x, or even 20x that cost before installation. RTA Cabinets make renovation an easy DIY project that you can tackle on your own and avoid the high labor costs associated with custom cabinet installation.

Whether you a seasoned builder, property manager, or a handy homeowner looking to remodel your kitchen or bath, RTA cabinets should not be overlooked if you are trying to add sturdy cabinets at a reasonable price. The money you will save will be amplified by the equity that you will be added to your home or rental unit.

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I have been remodeling house for 15 years, and I have the secret to getting high qualitykitchen cabinets at an affordable price. Interested in finding out my secret? Follow these links to find out the secret to getting kitchen cabinets at 30-40% below retail prices