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Purchasing Quality Cabinets
Purchasing new cabinets is a detailed process that should not be taken lightly. You want to ensure you make the optimal choice for the quality of use and longevity of your cabinets. The most expensive doesn’t always mean the best quality and cheaper isn’t always better. Do your research, shop around and find the cabinets that match your style, fulfill their purpose, fit within your budget and are the quality you deserve.
When researching cabinet options, below are a few factors to consider for purchasing quality cabinets.
Plywood is considered the premium option for cabinet boxes. It’s a strong material, more secure, resists moisture, and is resilient against every day wear and tear. These benefits make it the best material for cabinet sides, backs, shelves, and drawer bottoms.
Virtually all cabinet makers offer plywood as their upgrade or top-line cabinet box material over particle board or MDF. At Reflections Cabinetry, this is our standard!
Dovetailed joints are the most durable (provided they’re tight with no gaps or looseness). Doweled and rabbet joints are next down the line with the glued/stapled joints at the lowest end of the quality spectrum. We provide 5/8″ Solid Wood, Dovetail Construction on all drawers.
Questions to Ask for Box and Doors:
- What material is it constructed of?
- If a frameless cabinet, is the box that the door connects to at least a half-inch thick?
- Does the cabinet door open easily?
- Does the door swing open wide enough to reach in without getting caught on the door edge?
- Are the hinges adjustable?
Shelves – Plywood and solid wood are the best choices for shelf material as they provide better rigidity than MDF or particle board for a given thickness and shelf span.
In general, shelf thicknesses range from 1/2 to 5/8 to 3/4 inch. The thicker 3/4 inch shelves are the preferable option based on their increased rigidity over thinner shelves.
UV protection resists fading keeping your finish as fresh as the day you installed it. Cabinets in a sunny kitchen will be exposed to fading from the UV light present in the sunlight.
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