You kitchen cabinets have so many add-on features available deciding which ones to choose can be a difficult task. A few of these features are available primarily on more costly cabinets, but most of them are available as an upgrade to most any cabinet style you choose. Let’s go over some of the most common features and how they can benefit you when using your new kitchen design.
Self-closing Drawers
Drawer Slides are the system by which drawers open and close. A standard drawer slide will just allow the drawer to slide against the wood of the cabinet or on plastic guides that reduce friction. A step up from those are slides that attach to the bottom side edges of the drawer box. They feature rollers that fit into a track mounted to the cabinet. A basic upgrade for these includes full extension drawer slides that let the drawer open all the way, allowing better access to the rear of the drawer. In newer kitchens most people with choose self-closing slides which returns the drawer to a fully closed position with just a gentle push. Hidden drawer slides are another popular alternative. These mount under the drawer box making them invisible. Finally, for deep drawers that will hold pots, you should opt for slides which are rated for heavier loads.
Self-closing drawers are a nice feature that can help keep your kitchen looking tidy. Give the drawer a slight push and it will gently and quietly close all the way. A standard drawer will typically require a firm shove to close and often results in a noisy bang as they slam shut. Self-closing drawers are still an upgrade, you will certainly be glad you chose them for the added convenience.
European Style Hinges
These cabinet door hinges mount entirely inside the cabinet and are completely hidden from view. These hinges are a popular choice for modern style kitchen cabinets and are important when you desire a kitchen with clean lines. European style hinges are popular with manufacturers and come standard on many cabinets. Another benefit of this style hinge is that they are self-closing.
Self-closing cabinet doors are a great way to keep a kitchen looking neat. Gently push the door and once it gets to the last couple inches it will pull itself tightly shut. This helps to reduce the noise of doors slamming closed.
Lazy Susans
These are circular platforms you will usually use in corner cabinets. They mount inside the cabinet and can spin bringing items from the back of the cabinet to the front. Corner cabinets are usually too deep and can cause a lot of wasted space. A large lazy susan turntable allows you to conveniently store and retrieve items in these large cabinets.
Appliance Garages
These will basically extend the upper wall cabinet all the way down to the countertop creating a nook for storing small appliances. The term garage is due to the roll-up doors which resemble a garage door that comes on these. This handy feature allows you to hide small appliances but keep them convenient to where they will be used avoiding the visual clutter.
Silverware Organizers
The advantage of these built-in organizers is that they typically take up the entire drawer. Inserted organizers will only fill a portion of the drawer and often leave wasted space around the organizer. One drawback to built-in organizers is that they take away the flexibility that comes along with inserts.
Pull Out Spice Cabinets and Drawers
These can be placed in upper or lower cabinets and are commonly chosen for drawers hidden in the stove surround. These can be a nice feature because they are built to handle the normal size spice bottles you would get at any grocery store. Bulk packaged spices do not usually fit so you would need to transfer them to smaller containers for daily use.
Pull Out Shelves
This handy shelf is found in bottom cabinets and is probably the single best improvement in cabinet technology in the last 50 years. Open your base cabinet door and you will be able to pull the shelf all the way out allowing access to everything inside. No more getting on your hands and knees and fishing around trying to find the platter that has been pushed all the way to the back of the cabinet.
Drawer Pegs
These pegs are becoming more common in newer kitchen cabinets. The bottom of the cabinet drawer has a grid of holes into which you can insert heavy-duty pegs. These pegs allow you to create custom sized niches for storing dishes or other items and help to keep things from moving around when the drawer is opened and closed. These are particularly useful with china that is stored in lower drawers or pull-out shelves.
Wine Storage
Built-in wine racks are available for both upper or lower cabinets. They replace a single cabinet with crisscrossing supports creating a grid to store wine bottles on their sides. Although these are often suggested for upper cabinets, keep in mind that heat rises and storing your wine in a hot kitchen near the ceiling, where the heat is, really isn’t such a good idea. Even though it may not look as nice, a better location is to store your bottles is in a lower cabinet, such as in an island. Kitchen storage space is usually very precious and so giving up an entire cabinet to store wine may not be the best use of space. Wine refrigerators are also very popular and may be a better choice than storing wine in a rack.
Pantry Cabinets
Swing out pantries are large built-in cabinets, roughly the size of a standard refrigerator. They feature interior shelves that swing out allowing complete access to everything inside. Instead of large, deep shelves of a standard pantry cabinet, where everything in the back can be difficult to reach, multiple small shelves maximize the ease of finding and reaching all your pantry items. The purpose of these cabinets is to maximize the use of space while keeping everything in sight.
These are just a few of the most common considerations that you might want to keep in mind when thinking about renovating your kitchen. We will be happy to set up a consultation and go over each of these along with other options. Give us a call to schedule an appointment today.