Kitchen Cabinets

I believe the first criterion for selecting a kitchen should be indoor air quality. Formaldehyde, outgassing, etc.

My understanding of the situation in the US is that due, to a loophole in EPA regulations, the particleboard, MDF, plywood, etc. used in cabinetry and other interior applications is not subject to EPA air quality regulations introduced back in the 80's on such things as formaldehyde. Structural plywood, yes, interior particleboard, no.

As a result, US cabinetmakers tend to use particleboard that would not pass the air quality regulations elsewhere, such as in Germany or Japan. It's cheaper.

In the EU (and Japan), sheetgoods, adhesives and even casegoods are marked with the four star symbol to indicate low-emissions compliance. The German standards are the strictest. If you see some producte marked with four stars, then that is a certification of low-emmission compliance. In Japan, practically all home furnishings and items for the interior of any kind now comes with such emissions compliance indications, making it very easy to spot the non-compliant outgassy Chinese made items.

IKEA apparently adheres to German standards. I am sure this applies to Poggenpohl, Builthaup, et al., and I suspect that this also applies to Scavolini and other European makers.

This gives EU made kitchens a *decisive* advantage over US made kitchens, and it's worth paying more for (or less in the case of IKEA).

In my book it's even worth cutting the luxury items like granite counters out of the budget to be able to afford these higher quality products.

Good Chinese stuff is up to euro standards too. The top cabinet companies there actually work with european cabinet designers. They get their glues, laminates, and hardware (mostly Blum) from Germany and some from Italy. The use green manufactured boxes that are well above the base German limits.

Pretty much the only place I don't hear much about green materials is here in the US.

Are there any stamps or other indications on these Chinese products showing country of origin or compliance?

Yes, the lack of concern about green or healthful materials in all this stream of discourse about US kitchens I see on the Net is puzzling. Instead of greenness, the focus is on door styles, granite, and pulls.

It's not as though Americans believe the US is free from indoor air quality problems. And it's no secret that kitchen cabinets are the biggest culprit.

If you have purchased a kitchen or casegoods of dubious origin, then the thing to do before installing it is to insist that ALL cut edges (where you can see the raw particleboard) at the back and sides be painted with four coats of a heavy sealer such as epoxy. This is one trick used by the MCS specialist contractors.

But you shouldn't have to do it.

The good Chinese stuff you can't get in the US, most Chinese exports to the US are horrific. They stuff they design for the Asian market is much better, so if you want the good stuff you have to import it yourself. You can find some grey market small stuff like faucets on eBay. But big stuff like cabinets do not come here at all. As far as the good cabinet makers I have toured their facilities and they do hold up to their word for green building practices. I think building green is still very new to most Americans, or they just don't care or know what all kinds of nasty stuff is in their products.

In China you have some that are very concerned and are trying to do things as well as the europeans and build quality, environmentally sound stuff, they you have a lot just trying to make as much money as possible and cutting every corner possible (often at the request of foreigners who want the products cheap, cheap, cheap). Sometimes you have a mix of both. China is in growing pains now and it will take about 10 years to really start to be sorted out. Only way to know what is good is to actually go yourself and check it out.

One example is KWC faucets. You can buy their glass waterfall faucet here for something crazy like $600. Or you can go to the same manufacturer who makes it for them and haggle for one for about $50-60. It is the same exact faucet. The trick is finding out who manufacturers for who, go and check out their factories to make sure everything is well run, then make a deal with them.

I about died one day in our construction when the insulation contractors showed up with fiberglass insulation that reeked of Formaldehyde. It was like being in high-school science lab doing biology dissection. Why is this stuff even still available? I have gotten wood floor samples too that also have a noticeable formaldehyde stench to them. It is ridiculous that people can still sell this stuff.

I was happy to see when I was in China that there was a growing green movement. Unfortunately growth is so rapid and uncontrolled there that environmental damage far outpaces what good is being done.

There are a couple green self sustaining cities being developed, but for those there are hundreds of large suburban cities being developed based on McMansion style western development with the help of McMansion western developers of course. The government is making it harder for the transportation staple, the bike rider, and pushing people to get cars. Right now only a small fraction of the population can afford cars and already the air in big cities makes LA smog look like fresh mountain air. China has good public transportation, so it saddens me to see them pushing gas guzzling cars on people when bikes are much better in the urban cities. The first time I went to China, the only people who had SUVs were military and police (Jeep and GMC brand), the last time I went I saw a couple HUMMERs. It made me sick to my stomach. Western excess is becoming so popular there and there is no way China's resources could ever hope to keep up.

Back to the topic at hand. I got my Kitchen Cabinets from a company called Pianor in China. They are French and Chinese run. They build green and the quality is good. We had to import them ourselves. They ship flat-pack like Ikea.

For our bathroom cabinets we got Kraftmaid Venicia Marco. They come as fully assembled boxes, not sure the quality yet as we have not installed them but the display I played with seemed VERY solid and nice. Not sure how green it is compared to my Chinese cabinets.

Overall my Chinese cabinets seem like better quality, may be greener since I am not 100% sure the the Venicia (Salesperson said they were green but I have not seen any lit.), and the Chinese cabinets were slightly cheaper. But in hindsight, the Venicia cabinets were much easier to get and I prefer the pre-built boxes to flat-pack. The Chinese companies give you a choice of flat-pack or pre-built, we went flat-pack for easier shipping. My Chinese cabinets also eight a lot more than just about any other cabinet I have seen, they are built like tanks. I would probably do the kitchen too in the Venicia or more likely Henrybuilt line just to save on hassle of sourcing foreign cabinets. It would be like trying to get Scavolini cabinets direct from Italy and no one there speaks english and you don't speak Italian, haha.

Hello all...Just bought a condo and would like to do a full kitchen remodel (galley layout which looks out to living), and would like to keep it around $5 - $7 g's. Im considering the Ikea route of course and considering the Kraftmaid Venicia (I like the Capri Doors with the Onyx and Tygris gloss combo). I've read what people have said about there experience with Ikea, but was wondering if anyone had an opinion about Kraftmaid Venicia, or any other reasonably priced cabinet. Also I live in LA and would consider going custom. Any recomendations for a custom builder who can give me the same look?

Thanks for the help =)

Tomorrow I start installing some sleek looking cabinets I got from KraftMaid - their Venitia line at Lowes (I got the Corressa style). They are high gloss and very modern looking. Mid-range price, nice drawer construction. I'll let you know how it goes.

Christiane

We got Kraftmaid Venicia for our bathrooms cabinets, seems pretty good to me.

[quote:designedfinishes format=text/plain]Tomorrow I start installing some sleek looking cabinets I got from KraftMaid - their Venitia line at Lowes (I got the Corressa style). They are high gloss and very modern looking. Mid-range price, nice drawer construction. I'll let you know how it goes.

Christiane[/quote]

I read somewhere that the box contruction on the Ikea Akurum was better (thicker 0.7in board) then the ones used on KraftMaid Venecia line. Any thoughts? Also what is the apporximate cost per linear feet for the Venecia line? Thanks

The Akurum cabinets i installed in my last house were VERY reasonably priced, about $2000 for the whole kitchen. i would not say the boxes were better than anything, although i haven't compared them to Venicia. They only come in fake veneer or white or cream, and they were made of some really cruddy particle board. I think they're a great value, but they are by no means high quality.

jjasper, have you started importing the cabinets from China yet? We are actually doing a green reno of our 1940's tract home and were a bit stymied by the whole kitchen cabinet thing. I like the Venicia very much but stuck my head inside of the display of them at Lowes and it was pretty chemically smelly but heck, I was at Lowes so who knows if the cabinets just sucked up the smell of the other stuff around. I had one of their fantastic kitchen designers do up a plan and the price was pretty okay, 4500 or so for 22 linear feet.

My issue was that the designer/sales guy at Lowes couldn't get me any info about the materials used, off-gassing info, etc. I am amazed and confused that most american consumers don't know or care that poisonous chemicals are leaching into their food and homes through their kitchen cabinets. Sure if you have the money for euro ones their standards are strict and have been strict for decades. It would be nice if we could all afford them. The regular Joes and Janes out here in the USA are just trying to make their homes comfortable and their families safe, right? Without going broke?

I do believe that green can be done for the same price as conventional if you are willing to put in the study time and leg work and just generally willing to bang your head against the wall all day long.

So I'm really interested in a middle place between an Ikea kitchen (which is a pretty good green choice, friendly to people and planet) and a Euro kitchen. As far as quality and money goes, the China green kitchen sounds pretty great. I tried your link above to the photos of your kitchen but its broken right now.

I've been working hard trying to sell the Ikea kitchen to myself and my husband (also known as the client on the job site b/c he's so persnickity). The client is just not going for it. He really hates the quality of their stuff - even the kitchen cabinets which we all agree are better than their furniture. I've got to say, Ikea kitchens do look great when installed correctly. BUT.....they can't even keep it looking good in their own show rooms. Drawers broken, crooked cabinets, scratched fronts - all that.

Of course we've gotten bids from the Bamboo kitchen guys in the area. 25k, 32k. 8 weeks out. Doesn't work for us.

Wow! That's hot! I am still torn between building new or buying one and fixing it up. This makes me think twice, it's just that 2 babies in diapers make it hard.

Yeah, we are getting ready to install the cabinets probably by the end of the week. Here is hoping all the parts made it from China. Neither our Chinese cabinets which are guaranteed green since they have to meet Euro standards or our Venicia cabinets which we got for the bathroom had any chemical smell. Of course it could be that my nose is now so stuff full of dust after living through construction for the past 7 months. I took down the other kitchen pictures since I no longer plan on importing cabinets as a side business (don't have the time) since I have been working 60 hour weeks on X-men 3.

Your might also look into Henry Built cabinets, they look pretty sweet and I think they are environmentally friendly too.

Once everything gets installed I will take some more photos and post them to my construction blog at
(Macs with latest iPhoto)
http://photocast.mac.com/jjasper/iPhoto/construction/index.rss

PCs or Macs with RSS reader (FireFox or Safari)
http://web.mac.com/jjasper/iPhoto/construction/index.rss

Cool. My first photocast.

Has anyone explored Alno kitchens from Germany? [url href=http://alno.com]Alno[/url]

There aren't many distributers in North America, but they are the second largest cabinet maker in the world (Ikea #1?)

All kinds of really innovative features that we didn't think were possible.

They have many leading edge features like color selectable interior lit cabinets for Maximum Funk:cool:.[url href=http://www.alno.de/2165.0.html]Libero Corner Cabinet[/url]

Not as cheap as Ikea, but much cheaper than some of the Italian brands we looked at with fewer features.

We've got a great distributor (Mike) in Ottawa, Ontario who has spent hours with us making decisions.

Thanks for that! You can find more information about this kitchen, including the appliances we used (mostly Miele), at the following website:

http://www.ikeafans.com/BAchimay.htm

Our kitchen was also featured on this month's Dwell website for the contest (see Elise Darren Bradley's Kitchen).

Im about ready to make my purchase of Venecia kitchen cabinets. Going with the Marco door (melamine) with onyx matte uppers and kaffe cherry matte bottoms. Im looking at buying 2 21 base cabinets, 1 24 base, 1 12 base, 1 24 sink cabinet, 1 24 above fridge cabinet, 1 12 wall cabinet, 1 24 wall, some filllers, legs, and additional door panels for backing. Final price for a galley style kitchen is about $3800 not including countertops, handles or installation. Is this a fair deal or should I continue looking, maybe custom? Any recomendations of custom builders in the LA area?

I like our Venicia cabinets a lot. We got the Marco cabinets in white from Lowes. Make sure to specify bathroom or kitchen, they are the same height but the depth is shallower on the bath cabinets. They are very solid and use the latest and best Blum hardware. I have compared them to our Chinese imports and to Ikea's which I almost got and the particle board is much thicker and there is a lot more support built into the box. Our Chinese imports were built better than Ikea's too. I think you will be very happy with your Venicia cabinets. Since they come pre-built with drawers and doors already installed they are cake to install. The laminate on the Chinese cabinets is some of the best I have seen even on high-end Euro stuff, they also use Blum hardware (same style as Ikea so not the latest and greatest like the Venicia) but they came flat pack with no instructions so installing them was a bit of a pain.

I have pictures of both here
http://web.mac.com/jjasper/iWeb/LA/House.html

We don't have our pulls installed on the Venicia cabinets so they look a bit plain, plus we did some adjustments to really line everything up after I took these pictures. We also have pics of our Cementi tile and glass mosaic tile too, not cleaned up, but you get the idea.

jjasper, I'm not sure what you're talking about - I've looked at Venicia and its cabinet boxes are not any more substantial than IKEA. IKEA's cabinets are 20mm thick and I don't think you can tell from looking at them what sort of particleboard Vencia uses vs. that which IKEA uses - you would need to see the PB grade which is stamped onto the material. You just cannot eyeball it to say. And I HIGHLY highly doubt that your chinese stuff is superior to the IKEA stuff!

It is reported that Snaidero makes the kitchen cabinets for IKEA. Furthermore, Fine Home building recently had an article in which they did a sidebar on IKEA kitchen cabinets. Bottom line observation from them was that IKEA's kitchen cabinets are a good product - the final product however, is only as good as your assembly and installation. Get lackadaisical there and you have crap. Do this correctly with all the correct tools, glue, tighten, measure and use the jigs (to assemble a square cabinet) properly - none of it rocket science - and you have a real good cabinet.

Perhaps this has been the problem with yours and realpill's experience and why it is at variance with people like those at FHB and others who took the time to assemble the cabinets with care? Its not rocket science, but it does require attention to detail, that's for sure.

I never said Ikea was bad, I just said the the Venicia cabinets had thicker particle board boxes and more support in the box design. They also used the newer Blum hinge design which look very sleek and modern. They came pre-assembled with drawers and doors already installed so installation could not be more reasonable. The Marco not very expensive either. We used them in our bathroom but if I would have had access to them sooner I would have probably used them for our kitchen.

We were all set to do Ikea in our kitchen, I spent a lot of time at Ikea with the hardware and boxes and their planning software. They are excellent value for money. BUT they are not the best boxes I have seen, and far from the worst. They are identical in every way to our Chinese made cabinets, including identical Blum model hardware and particle board thickness. Only difference was the Chinese cabinets had a wider support board on top, a lot more design choices, much thicker and nicer laminate from Germany too. Most people instantly think crap when they think Chinese, and for the most part a lot of stuff imported into the US Walmart style is junk. But if you go to China you will realize they have a high-end market sold only in Asia or Europe that we never see. KWC faucets are made in China and are of excellent quality and cost a fortune here. I bought mine from the factory that makes them for a fraction of the cost. Our Chinese cabinets are made by the french designers Pianor and China's largest kitchen appliance manufacturer Canbo. They are designed to exceed strict European standards so are very green in their materials. They also help with design, have a lot more box choices than Ikea, have a lot more specialized storage options, and had great post sales service. You also have the choice to have them shipped fully assembled or flat-pack. If it says anything, we talked to some interior designer friends in China and they said we got a good price, yet our cabinets still cost more than Ikea in the US. So just because something is Chinese doesn't mean it is crap.

So I am not saying Ikea is bad, I am just saying I preferred the Venicia cabinets over Ikea because I felt box construction a bit more substantial, a little better hardware is used, the kick board isn't a snap on piece but part of the box construction, a LOT more box size choices, cabinet depth and height choices, and very easy installation since they come pre-assembled. Venicia costs more than Ikea and in some cases a lot more than Ikea, but in general they are cheaper than a lot of the Euro-manufacturers so you are getting something that sits in that in-between area that used to be a big gap before.

jjasper, You say that Venezia had thicker PB and therefore is more substantial. KM reports 3/4 melamine-clad engineered-wood which I understand is a euphemism for particleboard. The IKEA literature says the cabinets are 20mm which is a hair thicker than 3/4, online the literature reports 3/4 - measuring my one cabinet indicates that same 20mm thickness. Now is 3/4 KM thicker than 20mm (or 3/4) IKEA? Confused.

You say that KM Venezia has the higher quality blum hardware. IKEA uses Blum tandembox and tandem glides - you can call up Blum and confirm this and get their verbal spiel. Of course, they use blum tandem with a different/european screw-hole alignment for the IKEA boxes than they sell in the rest of the US - a function of the hole templates popular in the US vs Europe/IKEA. Nonetheless, IKEA gets the blum tandembox. This is Blum's top-of-the-line. There is none higher. IKEA drawers are tandembox - Blum's top-of-the-line. For KM, that was an upcharge from the wood drawers (I checked at our local Expo) and is therefore considered by them an upgrade.

These are simple facts. Now if you want to subjectify them with but the KM feels thicker when in fact the two are the same reported thickness and indeed if one chose to split hairs we'd have to say the IKEA boxes were thicker, that is a different story. Seriously, if you don't put this stuff together carefully - you *will* have flimsy rubbish. But hopefully this debunks the subjective parts of the argument.

I won't argue with the fact that KM may have more doors and finishes and fronts etc. They look very good indeed. However, lets keep that one aside from IKEA's supposed insubstantial thicknesses and lesser-quality innards because that is quite easily trumped.

That is really weird, because I happened to be at Ikea today buying the door pulls and Blum hinges (for a built in wall cabinet) and measured since the online info says 3/4 like you said. The display box I measured was just shy of 11/16 or a little over 1/16 shy of 3/4, probably close to or right at 18mm??? This leaves me confused as you say yours are 20mm. Sure enough I check the UK site and it lists the cabinets as 18mm thick??? So I am extremely confused and this is why they looked a little thinner. 1/16 does not seem like much but on the whole it gives the Venicia cabinets, which are exactly 3/4 thick a beefier look when added with the much heftier headers. Our Venicia cabinets came with two 4 1/4 headers and I forgot to measure this but the Ikea one looked very thin like 3-3 1/2 in comparison and there was only one header even on the non-sink boxes. Our Chinese cabinets are also 18mm but have a 4 header, but only on one side on all boxes just like Ikea.

The Blum hinges I got from Ikea look to be the Modul model and are the same as what is on my Chinese cabinets, and that was what I saw on the displays too. The Venicia cabinets come with the Clip Top hinges which have a much more sleek and modern look and some extra adjustment features and a cool clip system for removing doors.

http://www.blum.com/usa/en/03/02/01/index.jsp;jsessionid=0000AgqarC3Acbp6AP5ud1nX04d:-1

Ikea, KM, and Pianor are all using Tandembox drawers.

So while they are subtle differences, you can see where I got my perception. As far as the actual box thickness Ikea sells now I am confused, we seem to have 4 different thicknesses given (one more in a link below). The local display and the UK web site size at 18mm
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15576catalogId=10103storeId=7productId=21884langId=-20parentCats=15576*15720*15725
, the US web site size at 3/4, and yours at 20mm which is thicker than 3/4, probably close to 13/16 I would assume. On another page they say they are only 0.7!
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/complete_kitchen_guide/kitchen_know-how/basic_elements/cabinets.html

This is what drives me nuts about Ikea sometime and I say this as someone who is using a lot of Ikea stuff in our interior design. For instance I used their online sizes to design our Stoleman setup for our closets. When I got to the store the tag sizes did not match what was online, when I got them home they were not either size and ended up being 1 too big to fit so I had to hack them to get them to work. I had wanted to do PAX originally but their box selection is limited to two sizes and just would not fit. It was the same problem with the kitchen, it just would not fit in our kitchen space in any useful way. So we almost went with Scavolini after checking out many Euro manufacturers, but then we found some great cabinet makers on one of our family visits to China so we imported. This was before Venicia cabinets were available.

Anyone else buy Ikea cabinets recently that can measure? I am really curious now since we got so many sizes from them.

Just a hunch on all the variation...
But Ikea is probably sourcing their product from dozens- if not hundreds- of factories that depending on their machinery produce a great variety of product. It would not be a great stretch to see 18mm vs 19mm boxes and subtle variation given the huge number of cabinets that Ikea puts out.
It could also be a reason for the variety of quality reported here and elseware.
The Nobia Group (big swedish kitchen conglomerate) produces stuff all over europe and will shift production to meet it's needs. not all the factories producing all the products are outfitted with the same technology or machinery. I would guess that Ikea is in a similar boat.

1947 Vintage Kitchen for sale-- I saw this on Thursday its in amazing condition and still for sale

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemitem=4451520656rd=1sspagename=STRK%3AMEUS%3AITrd=1

jjasper,

A couple of notes since I thought I'd check in today

(1) I checked the cabinet wall thicknesses not just of my cabinet but also those in displays at IKEA Stoughton: I used the cm/mm scale and each of the cabinets I measured - some uppers, some lowers, some wider, some narrower, I measured something between 19mm and 20mm - always more than 19 and a bit less than 20mm. This was true of my cabinet readingss also. I wonder why the disconnect.

(2) Re: The UK cabinets, I did not factor those because the uK cabinets are different dimensions in other significant ways that could easily translate to needing different thicknesses. I was in London in Jan so went to IKEA to pick something not available in the US IKEAs for a friend and measured some cabinets in the IKEA-London kitchen displays . The base cabinets there are 22 deep (front to back outside measurement) as opposed to 24.5 in the US. (These are the ikea-usa vs. ikea-uk measurements I'm reporting). Since the basic dimensions are different in such a fundamental way, I imagine that all sorts of standards can be off as well, hence I was not pulling the UK specs into the debate. The uppers are also a different depth front-to -back than you would see in the IKEAs here (the UK uppers are deeper than the US, this is true of the UK-ikea uppers and the US-ikea uppers, also).

(3) I don't know what to make of the 0.7 spec on your third link. I can believe the 3/4 and I can believe numbers like 19+ to 20-mm since every single one of my measurements was in that range regardless of whether those in my home or IKEA Stoughton. When I looked at the inch scale, it was some number close to but more than 3/4. Since I had a 32nds inch scale, it was easy to see that it was something more than 24/32, not 22/32nds which your measurement would suggest.

(4) When I mentioned tandems, I was speaking of the drawer hardware. I didn't know about the hinge classifications. Thanks for that info.

(5) Interesting about the various factories that produce IKEA components. My understanding was that meant that the carcass is made in one place, door style A is made in another, door style B is made in a third, the metal support rods are made in a fourth etc. not that everyone everywhere makes everything. I don't think that could possibly be the case as it won't amount to any cost savings at all - just a logistics headache. Based on my experience, all the carcass came from one of the Slovak countries, the doors I ordered came from Italy, the drawers and hinge hardware was all Austrian (Blum), the metal bar for the wider doors was made in Sweden.

Its very possible that there are multiple factories producing the carcass. However, there are standard specs on what product they are using. I have a bit of a hard time believing that you could wind up with one part of a cabinet 18mm thick and another 20mm thick. I can't imagine that the hardware or its installations would work at all well under those variations. Certainly that is at variance with anyone's observations if they've assembled properly, cinched and tightened the hardware and what-not.

jasper, good luck with your other ikea stuff. We were not too wowed by some of their non kitchens items, have you looked at BoConcept for another alternative for furniture? Not too expensive: we seem to have gotten most of our recent furniture acquisitions from DWR and are looking at Boconcept for some more.

One last point:
If I understand what you mean by headers, there are always 2 headers on our cabinets never one - same with any display I have ever seen. I don't see HOW you could secure the cabinet to keep it from racking with only one header! Anyhow, the ikea cabs I saw have 2 headers (cross bars that forms the upper part of the box). I'll concede to you that they are 3.5 or whatever inches and not 4 as I have not measured those thicknesses but I have NEVER seen a cabinet with one header bar only, certainly not an ikea one.

Also, re: the metal bar I wrote about earlier - I meant to say the metal bar for the wider cabinets are made in Sweden not ... the wider [em]doors[/em] ... . Sorry about that typo.

Well the odd thing is I went to another Ikea to get my brother-in-law a Malm bed so I measured the cabinets there. They were exactly 3/4 so slightly bigger than what I measured at the other store using the same scale. The doors at both Ikea's were around 1/2 were the Venicia and Pianor doors are 3/4.

When I say header I mean the horizontal particle board that runs along the top of the box to give the front support. I measured at both stores and it is actually only 2 1/2, which surprised me, and both stores the boxes only had one header along the front.

Unfortunately there isn't a BoConcept store in LA, but I have been eyeballing their beds online. I have checked out their stuff at Bova in Cincinnati which sell a lot of their stuff along with Lignet Roset and such. If I was a rich man I would be all over the Peter Maly bed from Lignet Roset.

DWR is out of the price range we are looking at now. Last time I was in there the beds were all well over $2k just for the frames. I like their stuff but it is pretty expensive.

Great forum.

This kitchen thing is bewildering. $5K Ikea vs $60K Bulthaup for similar products. Sure there are differences between the Pinto and the Cadillac but on many brands the 3/4 cabinets and Blum hardware are standard with huge price fluctuations.

Anyway, we are about to decide on a cabinet maker and are struggling with the finish (amongst a pile of other things).

Any advice on wood grained laminate vs veneer? We are leaning toward laminate because of durability.

Also, we are thinking about going with 3/4 plywood rather than mdf or particle board. Any thoughts?

All input is welcome.

On a side note, but related, where is the best place to get Blum hardware if I were to construct the cabinets myself?

Try rockler.com. They are a great source any type of woodworking project.

I want to redo my kitchen cabinets but I don't even know where to start. Right now they are all white wood with gold knobs and I absolutely hate it. Too much white, I need some color!! Any suggestions?


Alyssa Anders
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