Kitchen Cabinets Choices

Kitchen cabinets are a big expense, but make the most difference in the look of your home. There are a wide variety of styles, designs and materials available in new cabinets and cabinet doors. Visit home improvement stores for ideas. Many offer computerized images of your kitchen with the new cabinets.

Before shopping, it’s important to take accurate measurements. This saves time and helps with planning. Be sure to measure the appliance areas to get a more accurate picture of the cost and how your kitchen will look.

Most home improvement stores will send a representative to your home to double check your measurements before your new kitchen is ordered. This will ensure accurate measurements and you will be sure your new cabinets will fit perfectly.

Kitchen Cabinet Options

Stock cabinets come in standard sizes. A few styles and color options are available, but are more limited than either semi custom or custom cabinetry. Most consist of basic cabinet and drawer styles. Stock cabinets are often used in new construction and are the least expensive alternative.

Semi custom cabinets come in standard sizes, but you have more options in terms of style, designs and storage choices. There are more color and wood varieties available. These are more expensive than stock cabinets, but are generally higher quality.

There are many different storage options available in semi custom cabinets. Take some time to look at these before making a decision. A lazy Susan, wine rack, pull out garbage cans, vertical dividers for storing trays and pull out shelves make storing and organizing the kitchen much easier. Consider your lifestyle and the storage issues that are most pressing when making a choice.

Custom cabinets are the most expensive alternative. These are made just for your kitchen. You can have any style, size or design you want in a custom job. But you will pay for it. The quality of the wood and fit is often better than with either stock or semi custom. A designer will come to your home, take measurements and work with you to find the right design for your home.

Setting a Budget for Kitchen Cabinets

Before you buy, you will need to set a budget. Decide how much you can afford and what you are willing to spend on new cabinets. Prices among stock, semi custom and custom cabinets vary widely. The rule of thumb is that new cabinetry will make up about half the budget of your new kitchen.

Consider how long you will stay in your home when deciding on a budget. If you plan on moving in the next year or two, you may want to spend less. If you plan to stay for many years to come, you may want to go all out for the custom kitchen.

Don’t sacrifice quality in an effort to save money. You still want decent quality cabinets in your home. Try the cabinets in the showroom. Open the doors and drawers to be sure they operate smoothly. There should be no squeaks or rough movements. Look for solid construction that will last for years.

Kitchen Cabinets - Reface Or Replace?

Homeowners sometimes ask themselves if they really need to replace the cabinets. Why not just "reface" them ? To decide if your kitchen remodel warrants replacing cabinets or you should consider refacing instead, take this brief quiz:

1. What is the MAIN reason you are considering remodeling?

A. Just want a fresh new look
B. Need more counterotop work space.
C. Need more storage or to add an 'eat in space'
D. Need new appliances, sink of floor covering
E. Cabinet drawers stick or otherwise don't work or other cabinet problems

2. Is the value of your home rising?

A. No
B. Yes

3. Have others in your neighborhood remodeled the kitchen in the past 5 years?

4. How long do you plan to stay in your home?

A. One year or less before we sell
B. Plan to stay 3-5 years before we sell
C. Plan to stay in this home indefinitely

If your answer to more than one of these questions is "A", refacing might be the right choice. "Refacing" is a general term for a process of replacing doors and drawer fronts and includes placement of a veneer to match the new wood species and finish on the cabinet frames. (Some refacers also offer optional replacement of the entire drawer and drawer glide system and adding other interior functional features.)

Positive Results You May Obtain by Refacing Your Cabinets

* Costs less than cabinet replacement
* Fresh, new look for your cabinets
* More pleasant or up-to-date environment
* Possibly interior functional features for extra cost
* More appealing to potential home buyers

Refacing Cautions

* Same old traffic, workspace and storage problems have not been improved upon.
* Future decision to do the complete job and make floor plan improvements would mean replacing the countertop and sink a second time. The same for floor coverings and wallpaper.
* No opportunity to enhance the kitchen with specialty cabinets like dish or wine rack, etc.
* Interior of cabinet remains the same; so does interior maintenance
* Warranty is for new products only. Basic cabinets are not covered

Positive Results You Can Expect by Replacing Your Cabinets

* The opportunity to improve the traffic, work patterns and storage space in your floorplan
* One time sink and countertop replacement. (If a few years after refacing you decide to tackle the entire kitchen and make general improvements, countertops and sink cannot be re-installed on new cabinets
* Stronger, more durable cabinets throughout
* Solid wood face frames, not veneer applied to the surface
* The possibility of enhancing the beauty of the kitchen by adding specialty cabinets such as a wine rack or display cabinet
* Light, attractive easy to clean interiors
* Warranty on the entire cabinet, not just the doors and drawers

Best Advice

The price difference between refacing and replacing may be minimal when the overall value is considered. Replacing cabinets does dictate the replacement of countertops, sink, built-in appliances and probably floor covering. The additional cost for completely new cabinets compared to refaced old cabinets may be quite small. In some instances, the difference is as little as 10%. Be a wise shopper!

Kitchen And Bath Hardware Buying Guide

Kitchen and bath hardware requires careful selection in order to be in long-lasting use. One of the hardest-working fixtures in your house is the sink. While shopping for sinks, you will want to find ones that are durable and easy to clean, as well as pleasing to the eye. Sinks are composed of a variety of materials and are available in a vast selection of colors and shades, textures and patterns at a great price range. Appropriate choice of faucets is equally essential. It is worth scanning the options for sinks and faucets that perfectly fit your lifestyle and your design scheme.

Bathroom sinks selection has expanded along with the number and type of bathrooms in the average home. They range from tiny wall-hung versions for the smallest of powder rooms to elaborate dual-basin models for luxurious master baths.

Traditional baths are made of enameled cast iron or vitreous china, more contemporary styles use metal, glass, crystal, stone or solid-surface resins. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to make a design statement or prefer durability of less sophisticated materials.

Deck-mounted models, which can be set into or on top of a vanity or a freestanding frame, allow for storage, unlike pedestal or wall-mounted sink styles. Console sinks offer an expanded deck space for sundries. Some bathroom sinks come with predrilled faucet holes.

Kitchen sinks are the most heavily used every day; therefore the material a sink is made of is essential. Stainless steel is very practical (the heavier the gauge, the better); enameled cast iron is elegant, easy to clean and available in a variety of colors. The most durable of the choices is quartz composite; some prefer old-fashioned soapstone, some – new-style concrete.

Self-rimming sinks sit on the countertop, they are easy to install but can also collect dirt at the seams. Under mount sinks attached to the underside of the counter, stay cleaner but are more difficult to seat. Kitchen sinks generally come with four holes used for mounting faucets and sprayers, plus dispensers for liquid soap, hot water, and purified water.

Faucets are one more important piece of kitchen and bathroom hardware. You turn faucets on and off repeatedly, day after day, for many years. So, obviously you need one that not only looks great, but is convenient and safe and will provide durable service for a long time.

The right type depends upon your sink a lot. Before you buy a certain faucet you have to know the sink or countertop's hole configuration unless you are able to drill the countertop to suit a particular faucet. Kitchen sinks are usually designed for single-handle faucets (these are centersets where hot and cold are controlled by one lever or knob that's often part of the spout). Bathroom vanity and pedestal sinks are designed for widespread faucets (with separately mounted hot- and cold-water valves and spout), single-lever and centersets (single-handle or double-handle types). Single-control faucets are probably more handy both for bathroom and kitchen.

Kitchen – The Delicious Living Room

For a woman if cuisine is the door to a man’s heart, kitchen is where you have that door. Kitchen is no more the rustic workplace where women and housewives panted for several hours while they prepared meals.

Kitchen used to be a segregated room, which now is an integral part of home with almost no physical separation. It is much brighter, wider and smarter than ever before and a place where members of the family would let their creative juices. So, welcome to the exciting world of decorated new age kitchen.

Decorating Your Kitchen to Your Taste
Kitchen is where you want to decorate most after your living room. Sitting in your living room you can see the kitchen, perhaps this could be another reason for decorating it, if you forget the duration you spend there.

Carefully decorated kitchen blends with the ambience of the home. Two things help give this feel to kitchen: the no-wall connection with the living room and the décor of it. If yours is a constructed home, choose a brighter color (distemper) for kitchen; for a brighter kitchen lightens up the mood and appears wide.

Get the cabinets done up in plywood in its original splendor above dado but with softer look. Same pattern goes well on the lower row below the platform. Make sure you don’t leave corners uncabineted from both aesthetic and hygiene point of view. Mind you, the bottom line of upper cabinets must be well above your full standing height.

Standard height for dado is 2½’ above the platform, but there is no reason why it should be so. Take it as high as to touch the bottom of upper cabinets. This avoids the unpleasant strip of blank space between them. Next, the dado must match both upper and lower cabinets in décor. If you chose plywood for cabinets, stainless steel in mat finish would look great. While mat finish is pleasant on eyes, steel good for hygiene. Other option is ceramic tiles.

Plan crockery showcase near dining table to avoid the odd look if made in glass panes. This also adds to convenience and doesn’t clutter the main kitchen area.

You must have the chimney concealed within the cabinet if the cooking spot is along a wall. A hanging chimney goes well too, provided it is encased. The best places for faucet and sink are close to the stove and along the exterior wall.

If the sink is on your left, have the fridge and oven on the right, purely for convenience sake. It gives a neat look without cluttering the space.

Decorating kitchen is an endless saga. And immediately you are on a mission to maintain it.

Keep the Clogs Out of Your Kitchen Sinks

One day last week my kitchen sink got clogged, while frustrating I didn't think it was going to be a big deal.

I just grabbed the Liquid Plumber I had bought for just such an occasion, and then presto.  Nothing.

So we head off to Wal-Mart, my daughter in her jammies since she was just about to go to bed.  I found the Draino, my daughter suggested to get two just in case and after the Liquid Plumber hadn't worked I though maybe I better.

Tried it and it didn't work, so then I decided to let it really have some time to work over night.  Still in the morning a clog.

So I call a plumber and he had the clog fixed in no time, and he gave me a bit of advice that I am going to be using now.

He told me once a week to fill up both my sinks and then let the water out on both at the same time.  He said the cyclonic action of the water would continue all the way through my pipes and keep me from having a clog.

He said as long as you don't put a lot of grease down your drain you should never have a clog.

So I thought I would share this tip with all of you.  I figure it doesn't cost anything and takes less than 5 minutes so why not.

Another tip someone else had given me that I forgot to ask the plumber about is to take a can of salt every month and flush it down your toilet.  They told me it would keep tree roots from growing toward your pipes.  So since I have trees in my backyard I salt the toilet once a month too.

Keep That Kitchen Sink!

Have you ever heard that expression, “They threw everything out but the kitchen sink!”? Do you know why they didn’t throw out the kitchen sink in that saying? It is because the phrase originated when the average kitchen sink was made from cast iron. If you are unfamiliar with cast iron then you may not be aware that this is a very heavy and dense material. Simply put, a kitchen sink made from cast iron was too heavy to throw out the window!

A cast iron sink was commonly coated in enamel. Now this enamel was baked onto the cast iron so that it would not come off. If you have ever seen a damaged cast iron sink coated with enamel, then you have noticed those “brown spots” in the sink. Those brown spots are what happens when that enamel coating is broken off and the cast iron underneath is exposed to water. Naturally it, like all metals, rusts.

One of the great things about an old cast iron kitchen sink coated in enamel was that you could get them in almost any color. Although white was the most common, a wide variety of other colors were available. A lot of people matched their cabinets and counter tops with their cast iron sink.

Unfortunately, the cast iron sink is virtually a dinosaur of days past. People have opted instead for a lightweight kitchen sink made from a composite material or perhaps a solid surfacing material like some of the countertops are made out of as well. Occasionally you will see a stainless steel sink but many of the contemporary homes are built with non-metallic materials.

But a cast iron sink is an absolute classic and is a great addition to any restoration project. Vintage lake cottages look wonderful with a cast iron kitchen sink because most were equipped with one when they were new. But what do you do when you come across an old cast iron sink—especially if it has seen better days?

A fully restored and functional cast iron kitchen sink can actually add value to your home—they are that rare and coveted! If you find one that has the “brown spots” mentioned earlier or other damage to the enamel finish, there are still experts out there who specialize in resurfacing enamel and porcelain. For a fraction of what it would cost you to buy a comparable sink, a resurfacing expert can make your cast iron kitchen sink look like new.

Even if you find a cast iron sink that is impractical for your particular home, don’t throw it away! There are a number of companies that specialize in restoring cast iron sinks so don’t hesitate to jump on the web to find one in your area. Hey, they just aren’t making the classics any more so the more that can be preserved, the better!

About Ceramic Tile Kitchen Countertops

Ceramic tiles for kitchen countertops have become a must have in home buyers' kitchens.

Whether you prefer glazed, porcelain, quarry or mosaic, these tiles are versatile and come in an array of designs, colors and shapes. A design savvy look, country flair, artistic interest or upscale appearance can enhance your kitchen countertops surface that's low maintenance but high in style. Tile countertops are also a great idea for completing your kitchen renovation since tiles are not only durable but are heat resistance.

Be creative and always design your kitchen tile layout the way you like it. One interesting way to do it is to tile your backslpash. Be sure to put colorful, unique and single designs tiles in between plain fields tiles. You can do multiples of the same design tiles or each can have a different design or color. To make your kitchen come alive, use beautiful kitchen tile with attractive colors or designs. Your kitchen tile can standout or contrast, but you always want them to blend in with what you've got going on the cabinets and the floor. You do not want to get dizzy walking into your kitchen from all the "busyness."

Murals also are a nice addition for your backsplash or you can add picture, marbles or things you collect for added interest. You do not want to get dizzy walking into your kitchen from all the "busyness."

It seems though more and more home buyers are demanding granite kitchen counter tops.

Granite provides a beauty and warmth and it is ideal for aesthetic appeal in home design. Granite and its popularity are a little pricey with prices starting at 60.00 a foot installed. Although they are very popular, solid granite countertops may not be for everyone. A homeowner may not be willing to pay the price because of limitations on resale value. In situations like these you can always go to the granite tile countertops as an alternate means. The granite tile countertops are designed from the same desirable stone as the solid granite with all the desirable elements remaining the same. Granite tile countertops can withstand putting hot pots/pans on the counter. They also serve as an excellent surface for handling dough and confectionery. Granite tile countertops have such a natural beauty that compliments almost any style cabinetry. Granite tiles are very versatile and offer a wide range of ideas and options for installations. If you are not wanting to install granite tiles all over your kitchen consider doing just your island top for a focal point and conversation piece. These will make the tiles pop against the design choices you have made in your kitchen.

Granite tiles provide a great choice for the homeowners on a budget and can easily be done as a week-end project. The practicality choice of granite tile countertops can be set into any other material including laminated counter tops or solid wood. Clever design plans allow the homeowner to present their own style and taste without great expense.

The granite countertop appeal can not be compared to any other.