Kitchen Cabinetry – Build Quality Tips

Kitchen Cabinetry Build Quality

The decisive factor for how long kitchen cabinetry will last all comes down to design and build quality. These two factors go hand in hand. Design determines assembly methods and assembly methods matter for durability. Build quality includes material choice that is called for by the design.

When we design custom kitchen cabinetry at Sharp we take into account materials, assembly and installation factors to ensure the highest quality kitchen cabinetry you can purchase.

This first article discusses materials and their uses, we will follow up with future articles focused on assembly and another on design.

Materials

Materials are important for longevity, durability and overall quality of the cabinetry. If you start with inferior materials you will end up with an inferior product. We believe that full 5/8 inch melamine or plywood should be used for the bottom of the cabinet and for the back panel.

The entire cabinet depends on these pieces for its overall rigidity and stability. Upper cabinets are mounted to the wall requiring a 5/8 inch Melamine back panel to ensure that the cabinet does not warp over time. Lesser back panels will definitely warp over time, and it may not require very much time depending humidity levels and what you cook in your kitchen.

Base cabinets are not hung from the wall so many cabinetry manufactures cheat on their cabinets by using ¼” back panels on base cabinets because they do not require the load bearing strength. However, we at Sharp Kitchen Cabinetry do not advise this design cheat because it creates a structurally weak cabinet that will actually twist and warp during the delivery and the installation process. This problem will only compound itself, ruining your kitchen renovation project from the very start. We recommend only 5/8” back panels on all cabinets for structural stability to avoid twisting and warping.

Melamine Kitchen Cabinetry

Today’s Melamine is stronger than ever. It is extremely durable, water resistant, does not stain and can be cleaned with just about any cleaner a consumer buys in the grocery store. It will not warp in kitchen humidity and creates a strong structural foundation for wall mounting. Melamine has become one of our most recommended cabinetry build materials for the cabinet box especially the back panel.

APC – All Plywood Construction

Plywood boxes for cabinetry remain a strong choice for handling heavy countertops. When treated properly APC offers excellent water resistance and won’t warp in humid conditions. It remains a strong choice for cabinetry foundations.

Cabinetry Joints – Dowels + Glue + Screws

There are numerous types of joints that kitchen cabinetry can be built with. For stability and durability, we use dowelled joints with glue to assemble our boxes and we also fortify this with screws for maximum strength and resistance to warping from humidity in your kitchen.

Hood Vents and Panel Assemblies

For hood vents and panel assemblies we use biscuit joints. This slotted wood assembly combined with glue creates a bonded joint that is incredibly strong.

Shelving

Shelving made from either plywood or melamine is strong and durable. The thicker the shelving the stronger the resistance to buckling underweight and warping over time. We recommend 5/8” shelving, when this is combined with our thick sides and 5/8” back panels you have a cabinet box that will not warp or twist, we guaranteed it.

Kitchen Cabinetry Hinges

Hinges come in many styles including concealed, exposed, mortise hinges, and no-mortise hinges and swing clear hinges. We use only the highest quality hardware for our hinges.

Our standard hinge is a 6-way adjustable all steel hinge with soft-close mechanisms to protect your cabinets from excessive wear and tear.

All kitchen cabinetry deserves high quality soft close hinges, we use and recommend Blum, the quality leader in kitchen cabinetry hardware.

Get all the inside information on our Custom Kitchen Cabinets.

We are a Stoney Creek based manufacturer of superior quality custom kitchen cabinetry at reduced prices. Contact us or visit our Show Room: