Tips for Planning Custom Kitchen Cabinets
By having your kitchen cabinets custom-designed by a timber joinery contractor, you can personalise them to suit your home. It can be difficult to know what's relevant when planning the storage. To help you make informed decisions, consider the following tips.
1. Drawers
There's no point installing copious cupboards if their design wastes a lot of space and you struggle to reach all areas of the storage. So make sure your kitchen cabinetry uses space efficiently and it's easy to access. One way to do this is to use drawers, which come in varying depths. You can install deep drawers to contain pots, pans and cooking trays. Other mid-depth drawers can hold crockery and baking items.
Drawers are also handy for food storage. You'll need appropriate depth drawers to contain the planned storage items. Storing cans of food in very deep drawers, for example, would waste space. L-shaped drawers are also great for corner cupboards, which are notoriously hard to access. You can pull out the specially shaped drawers to easily reach the back items. Other smart storage options include pull out pantries that consist of metal wire racks.
2. Quality Hardware
The smooth operation of your cabinets and drawers is crucial to their effectiveness. Thus, don't be tempted to skimp on hardware. Install tough, good quality hinges that won't wear out and cause the doors to sag. Additionally, solid and well-constructed metal drawer runners will allow you to push and pull the drawers easily. The hardware might not be as obvious a factor as the size and type of storage, but it's crucial for how you'll experience their daily use.
3. Hidden Appliances
Stovetops, refrigerators, dishwashers and other appliances have their unique shapes, sizes and finishes, which add to the visual contrast and detail in a kitchen. Sometimes the combined conglomeration creates a cluttered feel. You can smooth over this problem by integrating such machines behind cabinetry-doors, which will present a smooth and uniform face, so your kitchen will feel more streamlined.
If you install doors with a groove along the top for opening, the effect will be even more minimal and clean as your kitchen won't have numerous cabinet door handles dotted all over the place. You can also hide smaller elements like microwave ovens and rubbish bins behind cabinet doors. A slide-out cutting board will provide extra bench space, which can be slid back out of the way when not needed.
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