Cabinets are at the heart of your kitchen storage, so you'll want to pay careful attention to their form and function. Choosing off-the-rack or custom kitchen cabinets is entirely a personal choice and depends on the taste of every individual homeowner. Whether you choose readymade or custom-built, kitchen cabinets are expensive, so you'll want something timeless and durable to last you for a long time. Follow these considerations when building custom kitchen cabinets.

Choose Between Face-Framed or Frameless Cabinets

The beauty of custom kitchen cabinets lies in the fact that you have control over the style you desire from the start –– so you will need to decide whether to invest in face-framed or frameless cabinets. Face-framed kitchen cabinets come with frames that hide the joinery and hinges of the boxes. The cabinet doors are inset into the box frame for support. The frame adds sturdiness and offers a strong foundation for hinges. Framed cabinets look good in larger kitchens and offer more vintage appeal. Frameless cabinets consist of panels on both sides with a simple laminate strip or banding on either side. A flat door is fitted to the box to cover the opening. Frameless cabinets have modern designs and work well in small kitchens with less movement space.

Decide Your Materials and Finishes

Choose your finishing and materials by weighing your budget carefully. You'll need to decide between medium density fibreboard (MDF) wood, metal, laminate or composite for your kitchen. Ensure that the material you select is water and moisture resistant because of the high cooking temperatures in the kitchen. You'll also want to invest in quality hinges that don't get easily damaged. Wood and metal are relatively more expensive, but these materials are likely to last you for several years, in comparison to cheaper materials like vinyl and laminate. Once you have chosen your materials, you will need to choose a finish to resonate with the rest of your kitchen's footprint. Custom kitchen cabinets can be polished, glazed or painted, depending on the finish you're trying to achieve.

Decide the Size of Your Cabinets

Since you're investing in custom kitchen cabinets, you have the flexibility to choose the size based on your requirements. Take care to consider the space in your kitchen before choosing your cabinet size because you don't want overwhelmingly protruding surfaces taking up all the space in a small kitchen. For example, if your kitchen movement space is limited between the cooktop and the cabinets, you'll want to reduce the width and depth of your cabinets to use the space seamlessly. Choose a comfortable size that blends effortlessly into your kitchen without looking like a monstrous addition.

The flexibility of building custom kitchen cabinets is immense –– you can easily mould them to complement your kitchen's design and your storage needs. 

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