Beautiful cabinets make a major statement for any home. The cabinets you select for your home will reflect your personal taste and create a system for organization in your kitchen and bathrooms. Be sure when selecting cabinet options that you take into consideration that your cabinets will be a major design feature in your home. The cabinet layout can do many things to the overall design of your home including adding counter space, separating your kitchen from other areas of your home, effect the placement of major appliances, and adding dramatic effects to your kitchen and bathroom areas.

There are two primary cabinet construction styles: traditional overlay doors and full overlay doors. These terms refer to the amount of frame you can see between the doors and drawers of your cabinets. Traditional overlay doors will allow for the frame of the cabinets to show between the doors and drawers. Full overlay doors have a more contemporary look to them by spacing the doors and drawers within a quarter of an inch of each other. This hides most of the frame of your cabinets and creates clean lines that the contemporary style tries to reflect. Full overlay doors also provide the advantage of easer access to the drawers and cabinet space by making the openings slightly larger than the traditional overlay style.

There are also two basic cabinet door styles: paneled and flat. A flat cabinet door is simply an even surfaced panel with no additional detail, this most commonly is seen in white laminate finish. Paneled cabinet doors can come in either raised or recessed panels in various styles such as square, arched or with glass.

Cabinets come in a variety of different types of wood and finishes:

Oak – Least expensive hardwood and known for it grain pattern and strength. The natural oak colors range from natural, frosted, cider to the darker medium and many others. Oak is a very durable and forgiving wood that is not as easily nicked or scratched.

Maple – Is a smoother and finely grained outstanding wood. Maple cabinets come in a vast amount of color choices, natural, toffee, charcoal, cognac, and chestnut to name a few. There is also a wide range of glazes available to maple cabinets. Maple will display some wavy, curly or bird’s eye characteristics. It may reveal occasional dark mineral streaks and cross-grained worm tracking. Please keep in mind that these markings are natural in the wood and are not considered to be defects.

Cherry – A very rich, warm and inviting hardwood choice for cabinets. Cherry also has quite a few color finishes to select from for example: Natural, Paprika, Cider, Cabernet, Cognac. Cherry is a closed grained hardwood with occasional pin knots and fine grain variations appearing as curls or waves.

Hickory – Is a very dense hardwood making it exceptionally durable cabinet material. Well known for its color variation, finishes available range from natural to honey spice to cognac as well as others. Hickory cabinetry also incorporates the natural knots and streaks of the wood, giving your cabinets an added charm and homey feel.

Laminate – Known for their durability and ease of clean these cabinets make a great choice for any kitchen. There are many available attractive styles for these cabinets similar to those found in solid wood doors.