The most desirable kitchens combine clean design and aesthetic appeal with plenty of breathable space to move around in. One important feature to think about when designing your kitchen? The custom cabinetry options available to you. Keep these tips in mind as you put the finishing touches on the heart of your home.

Cabinets: A Key Feature

Keen attention to detail is key in all elements of a custom home build. However, the importance of a room's cabinets cannot be undervalued. You'll want spacious, durable cabinets; coloured with the most fashionable staining. Another idea would be to mount them beneath high or vaulted ceilings to make them seem larger. You could also try adding illumination with tasteful undercabinet lighting to showcase them.

High-quality kitchen cabinets are as important as flooring or appliances, but often don't get the attention they deserve from new homebuyers. Below are a few quick tips to help you choose premium kitchen cabinets that will complement your kitchen perfectly.

How to Identify a Well-Made Cabinet

The quality of the materials that a cabinet is constructed from has a major effect on its price. The best and most sustainable wood materials are alder, hickory, maple, and oak. In addition, there are tough man-made cabinet materials that are practically impossible to destroy, made with ecologically sound materials that give them the look of natural wood.

The cabinet face should be made of solid wood with no noticeable knots, uneven textures, scratches, grain imperfections, or varying colours. The cabinet frame's vertical and horizontal planks should be linked together with long wooden tongues that fit into deep slots or grooves. In any place where two wooden pieces connect at a joint, the line that separates them should be as invisible as possible.

It's the Little Things That Count

Adjustable Hinges: Whether they're visible or not, hinges need to be strong as well as adjustable in order for cabinet doors to be properly aligned with their enclosing frames. Quiet, soft-close hinges are specially designed to protect against slamming and keep doors in good shape.

Good Paneling: All side and bottom paneling should be at least half an inch thick, and each piece should be made of a single piece of wood. With suspended paneling, the paneling frames on a quality cabinet's doors and face are lined with deep grooves. The paneling isn't secured in place with glue or fasteners but rather "floats" in the groove on top of small pads. This enables it to contract and expand in response to temperature or humidity changes without breaking or warping the cabinet frame.

Well-Made Drawers: Drawer faces need to be cut from just one piece of wood for the best function and aesthetic appeal. A drawer that slides in and out over two side-attached tracks is much more powerful than one that slides over just one centred track.

The most quiet and durable tracks work with wear-resistant nylon bearings, which are a little more expensive but well worth it. A sturdy nylon track has a weight load of 75 pounds at the very least and enables you to fully open up a drawer.

Strong Joints: The solid joint dovetailing of a cabinet's interior with the face frame (which is the thin wooden pieces that enclose the doors and drawers) is a sign of quality workmanship. In the lower corner at the rear of the face frame, the stile (or vertical piece) is etched with a wide mortise or groove, which attaches to the cabinet's side panels.

The thinner mortise that runs over the rail (or horizontal piece) aligns with its matching groove at the very bottom of the cabinet. Biscuit joints are cemented into these mortises to properly secure the rail to the base of the cabinet.

Secure Shelves: Each shelf should be at least three-quarters of an inch thick and made of only one piece of premium wood. Your cabinet shelves should be adjustable and kept in place with metal brackets rather than cheap plastic ones. In order to prevent the shelf from sliding around, a plastic retainer lock can be inserted into the empty groove above it.

Don't Skimp on Cabinet Quality

Good cabinet carpentry is a refined skill, and it's in the fine details where you will separate premium cabinets from inferior ones. Features like adjustable hinges, locking shelves, and the materials that your cabinets are made from are crucial to their overall appeal and durability.

Enlist the craftsmanship and expertise of an experienced cabinet company that uses only top-grade materials and techniques. This guarantees your cabinets will be much stronger and stay looking their best for a long time after you move into your new custom home.