The kitchen is the center of your home. It's one of the rooms that get the most activity and take the hardest hits. From the daily wear and tear of cooking to preparing large meals to entertain guests, your kitchen experiences near-constant action.
Because of all that activity, your kitchen should be built durably. It should be able to take a few hits and still look stunning. To achieve that, you have to pick the best material for kitchen cabinets.
But what is the right material for a durable kitchen? Here are the top kitchen cabinet materials you should revamp your kitchen with.
Stainless Steel
As modern and contemporary designs flourish in the interior design space, many more homeowners opt for stainless steel cabinets. This industrial-inspired trend will give your kitchen an edgy and commercial edge.Stainless steel is also a great, durable material, which makes it ideal for a kitchen. Because it's metal rather than wood, the cabinets won't warp due to the humidity in the kitchen.
Despite the many positives, many people find stainless steel cold and austere, rather than the warm and homey feeling the wood materials bring to the design.
Though there are ways to warm up stainless steel, it's not going to overtake the top material spot any time soon. It's a great cabinet material for some people, but many wouldn't consider it the best.
Laminate
Love the look of wood but want an alternative to the traditional material? Then laminate is the way to go with your kitchen cabinets. Laminate has a paper base layer, a printed and colored layer that looks like wood, and a finishing protective layer.Using heat and pressure, these layers are fused into a durable and weighty material. Most often, you'll find laminate as part of the exterior cabinetry like the front and back of doors and interior cabinet surfaces.
Laminate is durable and impact-resistant, reducing susceptibility to cracks and chips. Though there are lower quality versions like melamine, most laminates made for the kitchen are the most durable kind.
As an inexpensive material, laminate is a great option for a wood alternative. But though it's durable, it's not as durable as wood, meaning deep scratches may be irreversible.
Fiberboard
Growing in popularity, more and more furniture and cabinets are made from fiberboard. This growth in popularity can definitely be attributed to big-box stores. Fiberboard is inexpensive, which makes it an easy product to manufacture.It's made from recycled wood fibers, as well as resin and wax. Using high pressure, these materials get pressed together until they form a sturdy piece of wood.
Fiberboard is great because it's durable, and the smooth surface allows you to change the color easily with paint. However, homeowners must be cautious because fiberboard is much more susceptible to moisture damage than other materials.
Particleboard
Similar to fiberboard in the way it's made, particleboard is like fiberboard's low-density relative. Particleboard is also made by pressing recycled wood and wood products into sheets. To finish, these sheets are laminated with a wood veneer.You're sure to find particleboard cabinets in big-box stores. It's a common material to make cabinets that are inexpensive and easy to assemble. However, this is where the similarities end.
Particleboard is inexpensive, but it's not as durable as other materials and is much more susceptible to moisture damage. Because of this, particleboard is not the best material to use for kitchen cabinets.
Veneer
Wood veneer cabinets consist of a thin layer of solid hardwood. This thin layer is often sourced and peeled from a log into a sheet-thin piece of wood. Then, artisans glue this thin layer to particleboard or fiberboard to create flat panels.Veneer is used most often as a cabinet finish material rather than a cabinet building material. But veneer creates beautiful finishes and offers many finishing options; it's considered the best material for kitchen cabinet doors.
It's also a great material because it's lightweight and inexpensive, so it's great for a kitchen renovation on a budget.
Plywood
Plywood is a type of solid wood that's great for kitchen cabinets. It's made from manufactured thin layers glued together into a flat sheet. The layers are then coated with a hardwood veneer.There are different grades of plywood, with grade AA being the highest quality and most expensive. The grades then decrease in quality and price from A, B, C, D, and E. E is the least expensive with C, D, and E all holding a lower-quality in appearance.
Plywood can give you the look of wood while being a wood alternative that helps to reduce cost.
Hardwood
If you're looking for durability in your kitchen cabinets, then look no further. Hardwood is one of the strongest materials you can use to build kitchen cabinets. Because of that, it's also one of the most popular.Hardwood cabinets are solid wood rather than thin sheets glued together. Typically, hickory, maple, or cherry are the most commonly used woods for kitchen cabinets. But birch, oak, pine, spruce, and beech are also options you may find.
Cabinets made of hardwood are the most durable for kitchen cabinet construction. Many hardwood cabinets can get a water-resistant coating to ensure they last.
Though they come at a higher cost, the durability alone makes hardwood the best material for kitchen cabinets.
Find the Best Material for Kitchen Cabinets
Whether you're the nightly family dinner maker or the best entertaining host of your friends, your kitchen is going to get a lot of use. For many people, the kitchen is the center of the home because you can gather and enjoy a favorite pastime: eating.If you're going to spend a significant amount of time in the kitchen, it's essential that it's durable. Your kitchen should hold up to daily use and be able to handle heavier-duty work. So you need to choose the best material for kitchen cabinets.
Your cabinets are the foundation of your kitchen, so make sure you choose the best. Ready to transform your kitchen? We'd love to help you create your dream kitchen design.
