Make the most of cabinet space
Cabinets are one of the top ticket items of remodeling, no matter how small your project.
In order to calculate the budget for a kitchen or bathroom remodel, you need to assign a dollar amount per lineal foot of lower and upper cabinets. Add in appliance costs and other fixtures, such as sinks, faucets, sprays or toilet and tub for bathrooms.
Cabinet prices, like everything else, relate directly to quality.
There is a vast range when we talk about quality. You might select mass-produced cabinets from IKEA, or American-made KraftMaid, Dynasty or Omega brands. They are generally a particleboard, a medium density fiberboard or a plywood core with a veneer on top.
Also available are thermofoil finishes that are applied to MDF sub-straight material. When you buy this level of cabinet, there are limitations with regard to dimensions and finishes. In reality, they are what we in the industry refer to as "semi-custom" in terms of the actual fit.
Go to a local woodworking shop and you will learn about the styles and finishes available. Generally, an independent cabinetmaker buys the door fronts and drawer fronts from a large national company like Decorator's Specialties. However, they will make the cases or boxes to fit your specific area and then prepare filler pieces and details as required by your project.
One of the benefits of true custom cabinetry is that you are in the driver's seat when it comes to special uses; this is especially useful when it comes to smaller kitchens.
For example, if you have room for an island, you might design it to mimic the one shown here and create cubbies for either family mail or wine storage. Your island could have shallow drawers to hold flatware, place mats, dinner napkins or folded table clothes.
An island can hold extra appliances, such as an ice-maker or a pop-up cavity for a heavy mixer or juicer. Open shelves in an island might store large serving pieces or maybe even everyday dishes. The point is that you can tailor the storage for your particular family needs.
Custom also means you can set the height for main counter areas and islands. You might decide you want a small section in your kitchen or butler's pantry to be at your personal best height for rolling out pastry dough. Or you could determine an optimum height for children to work at a section of counter top. The smaller the kitchen, the more critical it is to make every few inches count. If your layout has an extra 8 inches, the custom approach will enable you to convert those precious inches into vertical slotted tray storage or into an efficient spice pullout.
Know that the goodies that seem so magical when you investigate high-end products are available to you no matter where your cabinets come from because it is a matter of installing the right hardware. Visit the hardware websites of Blum or Hafele to get an idea of what you can order to make things slide, glide, retract and pop up!
Invest in a specific piece of relatively expensive hardware that very well may be the secret to getting your small kitchen to function on a higher level. You can afford to get what you want when you only have ten lineal feet of counter top. Another creative approach to kitchen design is to search for some type of unique vintage piece of furniture to adopt as an island. This can range from a worn wood table to an industrial piece. I met a young man who bought and used an old autopsy table that was solid stainless steel! I've seen a country French butcher's worktable used as a pine library table. Bathroom vanities might be made of an old dresser or wood cabinet with a worn marble top.
Don't shy away from mixing old with new, or two different types of counter materials, as long as they are friendly together.
• Christine Brun is a San Diego-based interior designer and the author of "Small Space Living." Send questions and comments to her by email at christinebrun@sbcglobal.net.
© 2015, Creators Syndicate