Kitchen cabinets: All you need to know when buying new or second-hand
In-frame units add some structural stability and have a determined cabinet-made look. They are a little more demanding to clean. File picture
Whether you’re going it alone or adding a cabinet or two in your kitchen with a local carpenter, it’s vital to get the carcass of your unit run right. They are the robust built-in furnishings that hold everything together, and their quality and build will be vital to the success of a new or refurbished kitchen.
It’s tempting to judge the units just by the tailoring and finish of the doors, but it’s what lies beneath that needs to be rock solid. Your cabinets are the structural support to counters floated over them, appliances terraced into them and even some worktop-standing storage.
They really get hammered, stepped on, sat upon, and routinely scrapped up with our kitchen arsenal. Get it right, and you could flip this kitchen in 5-10 years with a change of counter and doors to robust quality carcasses.
Here’s some of the practical stuff you need to know about before picking up a lightly used kitchen second-hand or falling for all that glossy gorgeous on the showroom floor. Flip back the distraction of the doors and see what’s inside.
The two materials you’re likely to be presented with at the budget to blissful end of the market for the units (with or without doors), are melamine-faced chipboard (MFC), and denser medium-density fibreboard (MDF). Both are tough contenders once sealed in 2mm ABS thermoplastic edging and feature an easy wipe, dirt-resistant melamine surface. These come in white or with a wood laminate for a few euros more.
Vastly superior to the inevitable movement and ongoing hassle of straightening up solid wood, MDF is regarded as being more durable and is less prone to warping than MFC which is made up largely of waste wood and dust. MDF has denser edges and is said to take an edge seal better than MFC, so expect to pay a little more for MDF.
Without perfect edges, both MDF and MFC are vulnerable to swelling and in the worst cases require a replacement panel (mop damage near the end of a split panel on the floor is typical). Lifted edging can be replaced in a lightly damaged second-hand buy with 0.6-1.2mm edging tape once you sand back the area, and in a more expensive kitchen, this is best done by a pro’ to ensure a perfect fit and adhesion.
Inside the carcasses, backing boards should be 8mm for good structural integrity. These are easily replaced in a recycled kitchen and should be tough enough not to bow every time you shove your tower of cooking pans to the back of the cupboard. Don’t leave base cabinets open at the back except to admit plumbing points — stray mice can enter through the size of a pencil top.
The outliner here is marine-grade or moisture-resistant plywood. These are truly gorgeous materials, highly celebrated by kitchen designers throughout Europe. Once sealed, ply can be used to assemble complete cabinets including doors. Choose from its typical wavy face or a veneer in oak or birch if you’re determined on a wood kitchen with mid-century flair. It is heavy and will require a specialist to not appear knocked together.
As with all fitted furniture, perfect installation is crucial. Just a split centimetre off can upend a €30,000 kitchen just as much as it does in a €5,000 bargain or a reassembled kitchen pillaged from DoneDeal. We all have an oddly accurate gimble in our heads — we know at a glance when something is off. Fixing mistakes can prove expensive. Unless level, perfectly joined, stable and without visible flaws or fittings to those front edges — a kitchen won’t shine from afar and on closer scrutiny. Be particularly careful of damaged ABS banding, and grotty dinged shelving which can not only look shook but can allow moisture into hydrophilic materials like MDC.
I don’t want a refreshed kitchen that looks like I installed it. If you buy a typical complete kitchen or a new run of units, chances are the company will offer you a free installation. This might not include plumbing and electrics complications. B&Q break this down as a wet or dry installation. Most suppliers have a stable of recommended kitchen installers where you pay for this skill set.
Bringing a kitchen home yourself? Find a brilliant chippie through word of mouth or trade sites, local to your area. I’ve found asking in smaller local DIY outlets to be the single best way to find the right man or woman. That long-suffering brilliant individual behind the counter simply won’t recommend some cowboy you’ll be whining about for the rest of their retail career. The right contractor can bring in other trades and lift the whole nightmare out of your life.
When buying in cabinets, you can go flat-packed or pre-assembled (rigid), and surprise-surprise, assembled is generally more expensive. If you buy a complete kitchen and pay for installation, it’s coming off the lorry in ready-made units. Putting together your kitchen, where you can afford to — vouch for rigid cabinets too with the components neatly set together in lovely parallel, straight boxes by machine.
When building a kitchen, the intricacies of kick-boards and installing hinges get harder as you tire. If you do call in extra help, chances are, those additional hours will level up the price you crowed about on those flat-packed bargains.
Always check the cabinets before accepting them when they are delivered, as it can be difficult to prove they arrived damaged after the fact. In fixings, wooden dowels glued into holes are relatively weak. If you go flat-pack, vouch for pre-fitted dowel parts that are used with cams to pull the board panels together to in a strong joint — a real time-saver.
Needless to say, don’t order in a set of fully assembled units until you have gone over their layout a hundred times, preferably using the smarts of a veteran kitchen designer (that’s not two weeks of corporate training or a virtual kitchen tool online). The scale, assemblage and positioning of these units are the supporting essentials that everything else will sit onto and into — your appliances, lighting and plumbing.
Traffic will be guided by those monolithic groups. Finally (worth considering married to a run of built-ins, especially in a heritage property like a cottage or farmhouse) — think about some freestanding furniture. A dresser or legged island in solid timber can be lifted in and shifted about — job done.
Cabinets are designed to be in-frame or on-frame, and this refers to the way the doors and drawers sit on or into the carcasses when closed. In-frame is most typically seen in Shaker-style kitchens, and the doors sit flush with the surrounding frame, forming a heritage, cabinet-maker finish.
Sitting in the opening, the doors add strength to the cabinet, and the hinges can be exposed if you like. With on-frame or frameless kitchens the doors sit over the edges of the underlying cabinet. This puts the doors and drawers edge-to-edge, creating a sleek look that’s easy to wipe, perfect for the German slab aesthetic.
In-frame kitchens tend to be more expensive than on-frame, with on-frame offering a sliver more internal room. It really depends on the branding and materials. Whatever you spend on the carcass, internal fittings, articulated shelving, full-pull-out drawers and soft close hinges will likely double its price. Bundle these extras into your showroom buy (be prepared to compromise) and make every effort to use the generous cubic centimetres of every unit to micro-manage kitchen life.
To make the most of any budget, never skimp on quality. One of the best money savers in even a solid, economy cabinet, is to stick to standard sizings in one or two doors and drawer confections. Off-the-shelf cabinets offer an excellent scope, covering widths of small base cabinets in a squeak of 30cm-40cm wide to useful larger boxes of 150mm, 300mm, 350mm, 400mm, 450mm, 500mm, 600mm, 800mm, 900mm, 1000mm, and 1200mm — depending on your supplier.
Base carcasses are 720mm in height with a tolerance created by the plinth and legs that can raise them up to 900mm. If you or one of the family are in a wheelchair, talk to your CAD designers in-house about what they can offer inaccessible heights and throw the money at those star inclusions.
