What to Consider When Choosing Cabinets

What Is Your Preferred Aesthetic?

Whether you’re considering new cabinetry for your bathroom, kitchen, office, or even garage, you’ll want to pinpoint your preferred aesthetic before you come to a decision. Are you trying to conjure up a zen, spa-like environment for your bathroom? A cozy, cottagey feel for your kitchen? An office with a modern and sleek look? Once you settle on a stylistic theme for your space, you can track down the best type of cabinetry more easily.

What Type of Cabinet Style Would Best Fit the Space?

To emphasize and attain the perfect aesthetic — whether that’s farmhouse or minimalist — you need to choose the perfect type of cabinetry. Cabinet doors are a large focus for a space’s visual appeal, since they are always exposed. 

Traditional-style cabinets are generally darker wood with ornate details and raised or recessed center panels, while modern or contemporary cabinets are typically flat with simple slab doors. Modern and European style cabinets tend to have slab doors to showcase the beautiful grains and lacquers. Contemporary cabinets are also known for their minimal hardware. Glass cabinets are a great choice if you’re looking to show off your glassware, recipe books, or other knick knacks, and country-style cabinetry evokes a cozy, familial environment with lots of creams, yellows, light blues, and other warm tones. 

The different cabinet styles are endless, with other options including Craftsman, rustic, cathedral, Shaker, beadboard, and mullion, to name a few.

What Other Customizable Cabinet Options Are Available?

Other than the general style of your cabinets, you can further emphasize your chosen theme or style through several customizations.

Lighting

Adding lighting elements to your cabinet setup is not only attractive, but extremely functional. Lighting installed on the underside of cabinets can complement the space’s overhead lighting or illuminate workspaces such as a kitchen stovetop or office desktop, eliminating shadows and adding ambiance. Adding LED lights with dimming capabilities can also be a major energy-saver.

Finishing

The finish of your cabinets is a major factor when it comes to achieving your desired look. Paint finishes come in a variety of colors, and the option to have a glossy or matte finish allows you to personalize your cabinets even further. 

If you’re looking to enhance the natural look of your chosen wood, especially if you are aiming for a cozy, traditional, or rustic vibe, wood staining is a beautiful method. A glazed finish adds a polished depth and dimension to your cabinet, while a suede finish mattifies the paint or wood stain and oftentimes provides more resistance to fingerprints and scuffs.

Corbels

Corbels are decorative brackets that can be utilized as shelf, cabinet, or tabletop supports and add a personalized touch to any room. Wood corbels are typically used in kitchens, and when matched with the kitchen’s cabinet style and finish, enhance your overall design. From ornate decorative corbels to simple corbels that play with shape and orientation, you’ll surely be able to find one that adds to the ambiance of your space.

Island Legs and End Panels

If your kitchen includes an island, small details such as end panels and leg supports are great opportunities to further customize your space. Kitchen island legs can be recessed, turned, squared, profiled, flat, and in a number of sizes, adding detail to your kitchen while also giving the illusion of more space by lifting your island from the floor. End panels provide a finishing touch to the sides of islands or ends of cabinets and can either mimic the look of your cabinet doors or work as more of an accent piece. 

Panel-Ready Appliances

Panel-ready appliances are a great option to streamline not only your cabinet doors but the appliances in your kitchen or garage as well, such as a refrigerator. These custom covers can be installed over the face of an appliance to match the rest of the cabinetry.

Although you may feel overwhelmed with options when it comes to customizing your space with cabinets and other details, we promise you’ll be able to achieve your desired look if you take it one step at a time. 

Harjo Construction is happy to help with any and all questions in regard to cabinets, designing a space, or any larger renovations you have in mind. Contact us today for a consultation!

Featured Image via Our Magnolia Kitchen Remodel