Kitchen Cabinet Styles

What style you select for your new kitchen cabinets depends much on what look and feel you want to create. Sometimes just matching the decor of the rest of your home is the main concern. This makes things easier. You just select a complimentary finish, stain and door style for your kitchen cabinets. Here are some of the finishes and effects you can choose from.

• Special Veneers

  Veneers, or thin sheets of wood, are cut and glued to various surfaces of the cabinetry such as door panels, tops, sides, etc. for a distinctive look or to dress the end-grain of a board. Because veneer is so thin and yet retains the figure and colour of the wood it is taken from, it can be cut and placed into various patterns for a beautiful effect as in this quartered cherry application.

• Natural Wood

  Leaving the wood unfinished except for a light transparent topcoat for protection.

• Stain

  A catalyzed process stain is applied to the wood to add colour.

• Stain & Glaze

  After staining, a contrasting glaze is applied to the wood and wiped off. The Glaze will adhere in the natural nooks and imperfections of the wood surface and between any mouldings to provide a contrast and complementary colour.

• Paint

  High-grade enamel is applied to paint-grade wood in the desired colour. Grade wood is typically a very tight-grained wood like sycamore, birch or poplar that will take paint well without any grain showing through.

• Paint & Glaze

  As with the stain & glaze a contrasting glaze is applied and wiped off.

• Rasping

  Rasping as the name implies is done with a rasp, a tool similar to a file with rough biting teeth on one surface. Rasping can be either light or hard. Light rasping gives a hand-tooled look, whereas heavy rasping leaves a rough scar across edge.

• Wormholes

  Simulation of holes left by boring worms or larva. These can either be grouped in a random pattern or as select holes in random areas.

• Round or Square Pegs

  Single round or square dowels placed in corners with endgrain showing to mimic antique joinery.

• Fly Specs

  Spatter marks resembling fly specs.

• Cow Tails

  Like fly specs except curved like a comma.

• Chain Dents/Dings

  Small indentations simulating wear and tear over time.

• Wear Corners

  Sanding through on corners to give worn effect.

Cabinet Refacing

An alternative to buying a whole new set of cabinets is to reface the ones currently in your kitchen to match the extra cabinets you buy for your expansion. Cabinet refacing is a procedure that adds either a thin wood or laminate veneer over the surfaces of your kitchen cabinets. This veneer can be made from the same material as your new cabinets, but of course doesn't cost nearly as much. Cabinet refacing achieves a look of uniformity for about a third of the cost of buying new cabinets. Although you'll know that your cabinets aren't exactly what they appear, anyone looking at them wouldn't suspect a thing.