Kitchen Cabinet Remodeling

Kitchen Cabinet Remodeling in Las Vegas

Are you going to construct a new house or to build a bump-out in your house? Do you fancy creating a new kitchen layout? Are your cabinet boxes, drawers, and doors in extremely poor shape? Are you planning to do a whole-kitchen remodel? If yes is your answer to any of these questions, you definitely need a kitchen cabinet remodeling. Whether you would like to overhaul your kitchen cabinets or just to give them an affordable makeover (through refacing or refinishing), Cabinet Craft is here to provide you with a detailed guide to kitchen cabinet remodeling and to walk you through it.

Kitchen Cabinet Replacement in Las Vegas

Again, kitchen cabinet replacement is recommended only if yes is the answer to any of the questions above. Apart from this, you have to familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of (kitchen) cabinetry for you to make a well-informed decision—from the structure of a cabinet, including its parts and materials to designs and styles—in the planning stage.

Kitchen Cabinet Designs

Basically, cabinets are box-shaped furniture pieces, typically made of wood. Whether in the kitchen or other parts of the house, cabinets have two basic designs or styles (i.e., framed and frameless) based on the incorporation wood frames, although other designs and styles (i.e., custom and semi-custom) are also listed below:

Framed Cabinets

Framed cabinets have a wood frame or a face frame, hence also called face-frame, incorporated around their box’s front outer edge and providing it some rigidity. This design is generally considered more traditional; it offers various styles based on the amount of door overlay (i.e., the extent to which the face frame is covered by the door):

Full-overlay means the face frame is completely covered by the doors and drawers.
Partial overlay means only part of the frame is covered.
Full-inset means the doors and drawers are designed to fit within the face frame’s opening.

Frameless Cabinets

Often described as European style, frameless cabinets do not have a face frame. Therefore, there is a greater amount of accessibility inside, and the overlay is either full-overlay or full-inset.

Custom Cabinets

Custom cabinets are arguably the most expensive because of the greatest design flexibility these cabinets allow and the highest construction quality they offer. Moreover, techniques such as dovetail, dowel, and mortise and tension are used to assemble such cabinets, ensuring they potentially last your home’s life.

Semi-custom Cabinets

Semi-custom cabinets are the more widely used but will not outlast the custom ones. One obvious advantage is the former can dodge obsolescence.

Stock Cabinets

Though stock cabinets are not in the same league with custom ones in terms of high construction quality, the former’s advantage is its availability anytime. If you need one for your bathroom right now, you can get one right away at the nearest store.

Kitchen Cabinet Components

Kitchen cabinet types can also be based where they are mounted: on the floor, wall, or both. These types are the building blocks of the kitchen cabinets.

Base Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets mounted on the floor are called base (or lower) cabinets. They usually support the countertops or can be combined to form kitchen islands.

Wall Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets mounted on the wall are called wall (or upper) cabinets, and they are located above the countertops and stoves or ovens.

Tall/ Pantry Cabinets

These cabinets are essentially like base cabinets but taller. They can be mounted on the floor, free-standing, or attached to other wall and/or base cabinets.

Kitchen Cabinet Joinery

Somehow, it is helpful that you know wood cabinet joinery, the trade term to how various wood parts of the cabinet are assembled. Listed and briefly explained below are some of the common methods of wood cabinet joinery.

Dovetail Joints

In this method, two boards or panels, whose ends are notched with dovetail-like cutouts that mesh with corresponding notches on the adjoining panel, are joined together at right angles.

Mortise and Tenon

This method utilizes a square post that protrudes from one end of a wood piece and fits into a square hole in the mating piece.

Dado

In this method, one has to cut a dado or a groove into a board or a panel (e.g., the sides and back of a cabinet drawer), so the edge of another board or panel can fit into the dadoed part.

Rabbet

This method is pretty much similar to dado, but a rabbet is a groove cut into the edge of a board to accept the edge of another board, forming a 90-degree angle.

Doweled Joint

This method uses dowels (i.e., round small wood pieces) to join the sides of drawers or cabinet boxes together. Specifically, the half of a dowel is pressed or glued into the hole drilled into one piece of wood while the other half, the protruding part, is fit into the hole of the mating piece of wood.

Butt Joint

In this method, one brings or butts the ends of two pieces of materials together, edge to edge. S/he should use mechanical fasteners such as nails, screws, or glue to hold this kind of joint.

Nails, Screws, Staples, & Glue

None of these joinery methods is classified as a true one but is included anyway because it can be used to assemble wood parts either together with another joinery method or alone.

Kitchen Cabinet Materials

Cabinets are generally based on wood, but modernity and technology have expanded the options of materials available. Here are the most common materials (wood-based, metal-based, and plastic-based), namely:

Solid wood

Solid wood refers to a completely homogeneous one, meaning it is really sturdy.

Particle wood

Particle wood is an engineered product made from wood chips and particles.

Medium-Density Fiberboard (MBF)

MBF is also engineered while this one is made up of wood fibers. In terms of texture, and it is denser and heavier than a particle board.

Plywood

Plywood is one of the many engineered wood products people are most familiar with. It is called so because it consists of plies or layers of wood glued together like a club sandwich.

Stainless steel/metal

Stainless steel is used to make complete cabinets but is much less common.

Plastic laminate

Plastic laminate is formed through the fusion of paper and plastic resin under heat and pressure. Moreover, this material is virtually the same as the one used on laminate countertops, but the only difference is that the former is usually thinner when used on cabinets.

Melamine

Like plastic laminate, this material is also plastic-based. It is used to cover cabinet surfaces and particle board panels used in making cabinet boxes.

Thermofoil

Thermofoil is made by heating a rigid film and forming it over the substrate material. This material is a thin vinyl film that one can use to cover cabinet boxes, doors, and drawer fronts.

Kitchen Cabinet Maintenance

Since kitchen cabinets are mostly wooden, you must consider what you use to keep them clean. At CabinetCraftVegas, your money’s worth is valued, so here’s how you can take care of your cabinets and preserve their beauty over time.

The golden rule is that you must use only a soft cloth to clean the cabinets.
Damp the soft cloth in warm water.
Gently wipe the cabinets you’d like to clean and dry them immediately with another soft cloth.
Please avoid the following products and ingredients, which can damage your cabinets:
1. petroleum-based products
2. solvents
3. bleach
4. strong detergents and soaps
5. nail polish removers
6. paint thinners
7. plastic brushes
8. steel wool
9. scoring pads
10. ammonia
Avoid the following too:
1. excessive moisture
2. temperature and humidity extremes
3. light damage (i.e., sunlight)
4. exposure to harsh cleaners (e.g., ammonia) and waxes
Finally, guard against the following:
1. scratching and abrasion
2. plastic and rubber

Who’ll Replace Kitchen Cabinets

There are two ways to replace your cabinets. First, you can hire cabinet installers from home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s or individual contractors. Second, you can be a DIYer if you’d like your remodeling project to be cost-efficient. Just remember that cabinet replacement is 30% heavy lifting of wall cabinets and 70% precise leveling of base cabinets.

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing in Las Vegas

Replacing your kitchen cabinets will undoubtedly hurt your pocket, but there’s an economical alternative to that. If your cabinet boxes are in excellent condition, if you want a cost-efficient kitchen cabinet makeover, and if you want to keep your current kitchen layout, you might want to opt for kitchen cabinet refacing.

Moreover, in terms of eco-friendliness, kitchen cabinet refacing is an eco-friendly option because only cabinet doors and drawer fronts get landfilled. On the other hand, kitchen cabinet replacement is less eco-friendly because every part of the cabinets to be removed gets landfilled, although such parts can be donated to recycling yards.

Two Major Components of Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

Refacing kitchen cabinets is essentially replacing them, but only their skins and has two major components. The first one is the installation of new drawer fronts and doors that are removed. The second one is the veneering of the cabinet boxes.

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing Materials

Listed and briefly described are some of the refacing materials:

Non-Adhesive Veneers

These refacing materials are thin, and they rely on adhesive for installation.

Pressure Sensitive (PSA) Veneers

These refacing materials are also thin. They are supplied with a 3M Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA) applied to the back.

Plywoods

These materials are versatile in that they can be used in all areas of a cabinet (i.e.., sides, backs, fronts, and undersides).

Who’ll Reface Kitchen Cabinets

Like kitchen cabinet replacement, there are two ways to reface your cabinets. First, you can hire a professional if you can’t trust yourself to do it. Second, you can be a DIYer, and apart from the tools and materials that you need to reface your cabinets on your own, precision is a crucial skill to pull it off.

Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing in Las Vegas

Kitchen cabinet refinishing is another economical alternative that focuses on repainting kitchen cabinets still in good condition. Just like refacing or replacing cabinets, refinishing them can be performed by either a professional or a DIYer. However, that DIYer should have experience or advanced skills.

How to Refinish Kitchen Cabinets

Here are the steps in refinishing kitchen cabinets.

Clean the Surfaces

Before you begin refinishing your cabinets, scrub them. In order to do so, remove them from where they’re mounted or installed. Then, clean them and do not forget to give them time to completely dry. Also, it might help to label your cabinets with numbers, so you know where to put them back.

Protect Yourself and the Kitchen

Use large drop cloths to cover kitchen countertops, appliances, and floors. As for yourself, wear gloves and eye protection when you use a wood cleaner.

Soak the Hardware

The hardware has to be cleaned too, so place them in a large basin filled with soapy water for half an hour. Before rinsing them, lightly scrub them with a soft brush. Then, allow them to completely dry. Finally, apply a polish to them and let them dry again.

Strip and Refinish the Cabinets

The stripping here refers to the removal of the cabinets’ finish. To remove your cabinets’ finish, you have to use a stripping agent that depends on the type of your cabinet’s finish. Here is a list of stripping agents depending on the finish:

If the finish is shellac, a few drops of denatured alcohol will dissolve it.
If lacquer, a few drops of lacquer thinner will do.
If water-based, a few drops of Xylene will do.
If polyurethane or varnish, varnish remover will do, but you might do some sanding.

Sand, Prime, and Paint the Wood

Once you’ve done stripping your cabinets’ finish, repair any holes or scratches in the wood with a wood filler. Then, sand the patch once it has dried as well as the rest of the cabinets. Finally, paint the cabinets and put them back once they’ve dried.

Kitchen Cabinet Remodeling