Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We are working with a celebrated kitchen architect to renovate our kitchen and laundry area. The design is spectacular. So is the price! Ouch! $110K
We just had one wall of our kitchen redone.
Custom cabinets. Frameless. MDF/Melamine. Lots of drawers.
Laminate because we like its durability. And, we did not want to touch the rest of the kitchen.
Blum LEGRABOX and Blum ADVENTOS.
Precision construction for the Sub-Zero fridge and the Miele Ovens.
Cost was $15K or $1k/linear foot.
Our old house had less expensive Kraftmade cabinets. They just didn't wear as well. The finish was coming off in certain areas, mostly cabinets and drawers that saw a lot of use. The bottom of the silverware drawer was sagging and had to be reinforced. Things like that.
A lot of the things (custom drawers for specific purposes) offered now aren't really necessary. But I will say that pull-out drawers in kitchen cabinets are wonderful. You can buy these things after the fact online, but often they cost just as much or more than if you would have bought the cabinets with them.
We just had one wall of our kitchen redone.
Custom cabinets. Frameless. MDF/Melamine. Lots of drawers.
Laminate because we like its durability. And, we did not want to touch the rest of the kitchen.
Blum LEGRABOX and Blum ADVENTOS.
Precision construction for the Sub-Zero fridge and the Miele Ovens.
Cost was $15K or $1k/linear foot.
MDF/Melamine is not durable over the long haul. MDF/Melamine swells when it gets wet over time, and there is no way to prevent that. Even the highest quality laminate is going to fail at some point. Water will impregnate the core either through the cut ends of the material or through fastener holes because none of those surfaces are sealed. Could it take years to fail? Yep. Will it happen eventually? Absolutely.
Every cabinet can be exposed to moisture. Think about it.
You are putting together dinner and spill something on the countertop. You clean it up with soap and water. The area where the countertop and backsplash meet isn't properly sealed. Water gains entrance.
You are washing dishes and sitting them on a drying towel on the countertop. Some of the dishes don't fit perfectly on the towel and water runs off onto the counter and finds it's way to the back wall and gains entrance between the backsplash and countertop.
The sink springs a leak at the drain and wets the inner cabinet walls.
A pot on the flat cooktop boils over and water runs down between the cooktop and the countertop and falls onto the cabinet floor beneath it.
You are mopping floors and go a little too heavy on the water. Water seeps underneath the cabinet bases where it is wicked into the wood.
You are cooking on the stove without using the exhaust fan. Condensation from the stove gets on the upper cabinets.
Your fridge's water supply line springs a leak. Water pools on the floor behind the fridge and wicks into the cabinet bases before making it's way out onto the floor where you can see it.
These incidents can affect solid wood cabinets as well, but not as quickly as MDF. A quality grade plywood does not warp as badly as MDF.
Someone else already refuted "one cabinet exposed to water".
Properly seasoned solid wood does not warp. I have 80 year old cabinets in my house - solid wood, I believe pine, that are not warped. Yes, if they got soaked repeatedly there may be some warping. So far that hasn't happened. I can't imagine there's never been any water on them.
Plywood is laminated with glue. There are these things called "waterproof glues". They are real new, as in, they've been used since before World War Two. If you buy the appropriate grade of plywood you will have minimal trouble should it get wet. I currently live in a house with 65 year old cabinets made of plywood that have zero evidence of trouble. I can't imagine there has never been any water in contact with these cabinets.
MDF is just asking for trouble almost anywhere you use it, but especially in kitchen cabinets. About the only place I would use MDF would be in certain kinds of patternmaking where its total absence of grain could be helpful, if I could not obtain Perfect Plank.
And, MDF won't hold screws worth a darn compared to plywood or solid wood.
You people who are so enamored of current construction methods need to take some good hard looks at the construction of modest houses built before the 1970s to see how stuff used to be built to last (although I certainly am not defending tile sewer pipe or galvanized steel water supply pipes!)
Cardell brand now in Mernards. Your thoughts please: Cardell VS Kraftmaid VS Starmark, given same 3/4" plywood construction, Blum hinges, soft close door drawers, maple doors.
Cardell brand now in Mernards. Your thoughts please: Cardell VS Kraftmaid VS Starmark, given same 3/4" plywood construction, Blum hinges, soft close door drawers, maple doors.
The name!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
