Replacing Kitchen Cabinets

When starting a kitchen remodeling project, you want to make sure that you are familiar with the different materials and products available. Knowing what is out there allows you to make the best possible choice for your needs and budget. Replacing your kitchen cabinets will make an impressive impact on the appearance and function of your room. Familiarizing yourself with the various options for cabinetry will help you choose kitchen cabinets that are best suited to your lifestyle, design preferences, and budget.

When choosing cabinets for your home, there are a few choices available. Custom cabinets are created to specifically fit your kitchen layout and design. Stock cabinets are mass produced and available at most home improvement stores. Semi-custom cabinets are pre-made cabinets but offer a variety of modifications and style options that allow the kitchen designer much more freedom to create a layout that is tailored to the specific needs and tastes of the consumer.

Custom Cabinets: Custom cabinets allow homeowners to fully customize the size, shape, design, hardware, and any special features that you would like your cabinets to have. These cabinets can be created to fit into any kitchen, no matter the shape or size. This makes them an ideal choice for rooms that have an irregular shape, unusual storage needs, or specific design requirements. Most cabinetry professionals use high quality materials and construct their cabinets with the utmost care and concern. Better materials and craftsmanship means that your cabinets will add value to your home and will withstand many years of use.

Because custom cabinets are made from scratch, you will need to allow plenty of time for them to be created and installed. Homeowners who want their cabinets replaced quickly should make a different choice. Also, these cabinets are generally more expensive than other options. The high quality and customization of this cabinetry can make them much more expensive than other stock or semi-custom cabinets.

Stock Cabinets: The biggest advantage of stock cabinets is that they are readily available for installation. Many home improvement stores and big box retailers sell stock cabinets that can be picked up or delivered within a week or two. Manufacturers of these cabinets offer a variety of styles and colors that will match your home décor and compliment your style. Homeowners like these cabinets because they are very affordable and easy to find.

These cabinets are a one-size-fits-all solution to your kitchen storage needs. If you have an irregular room or need modifications, these cabinets may not be the best choice for you. Typically, stock cabinets are made from lower quality materials and will not last as long as custom cabinetry.

Semi-Custom Cabinets: These cabinets are a good compromise between custom and stock cabinetry. Semi-custom cabinets are stock cabinets that a consumer can modify to meet his or her individual needs. There are a variety of size and style options available that let the homeowner create a kitchen layout that caters to his or her tastes and lifestyle. With so many options and modifications available, the consumer can create the kitchen of his dreams that is unique and personalized for his family.

Because of the modifications available, these cabinets are not constructed until the order has been placed. As a result, it may take longer to receive these than stock cabinets, but not as long as custom cabinets. The cost of semi-custom cabinets depends greatly on the options you desire. The consumer has a lot of control in determining the style and layout of these cabinets.

When choosing cabinets, you want to make sure that you are getting a high quality product at a fair price. Shop around until you find a cabinet retailer that is knowledgeable and experienced.

Travis Parrish is the owner of Distinctive Designs, Inc. in Greensboro, NC, a full-service cabinetry design firm that specializes custom cabinetry [http://greensborocabinetrydesign.com/] design and installation.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Travis_Parrish/1071042

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6449054

New Cabinets Lake Norman

ave you been shopping for kitchen cabinetry and been dissatisfied with the selection of the big box stores and import cabinet dealers? Well perhaps you should really take a close look at considering custom built kitchen cabinets as an option for your kitchen remodel project. Here I will discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of both stock and custom cabinetry.

Stock Kitchen Cabinetry

What are stock kitchen cabinetry? Stock kitchen cabinets are cabinetry that are pre-built to a specific size and then resold by a cabinetry dealer. Stock cabinets are typically produced in 2 inch increments. In some basic kitchen layouts such as an L shaped kitchen you can lay cabinets out without much problem. But what do you do when you are fitting cabinets between two walls? Well in this case the cabinet dealer can supply you with filler pieces to take up any large gaps that will eventually occur by using cabinets that are built within 2 inch increments. These cabinet filler pieces can be cut to fit the remaining gap relatively well. The main disadvantage with stock kitchen cabinets is the aforementioned incremental sizing but also the quality. Although as with anything the lower to mid range priced stock cabinets are typically made from thinner materials and have economy hardware such as cabinet door hinges and drawer slides. There are a few advantages with using stock cabinetry the very first one that comes to mind is cost. Since stock cabinets are mass produced they can be quite affordable. Another advantage is speed, in most cases dealers have access to larger warehouses where the cabinets are stored, and you can have your stock cabinet order within a few short weeks or in some cases days.

Custom Kitchen Cabinets

Custom kitchen cabinets are cabinets that are built just for your kitchen layout, design taste and needs. Custom kitchen cabinetry can easily be built to fit between two walls or to match odd angles, something not possible with stock kitchen cabinets. There are many advantages with custom cabinets that can not be had with stock cabinetry. The advantages that are at the top of the list are selection. Since a custom cabinet maker will be producing your new kitchen cabinets you can have them make just about any style that is imaginable. You can also have them produce cabinets that are in rare or exotic woods. You can also have a much larger selection of cabinet doors and drawer fronts. Some custom cabinet makers do opt to outsource their doors and drawer fronts, in this case they will usually have a very large catalog of doors for you to make your selection. With custom built cabinets you can select the type of hardware such as cabinet door hinges as well as drawer slides. Most are currently opting for hinges and drawer slides with the soft close feature. This is not only very popular but I wouldn’t be surprise if this becomes the standard in the next few years.

Custom Cabinet Cost

Most people want to know how much more custom cabinetry will cost as compared to stock cabinets. This is almost impossible to answer with any degree of accuracy. The real truth of the matter is that custom cabinets are going to cost more that the lower lines of comparable stock cabinetry. But we have seen custom cabinets be very competitive with the mid to higher range stock cabinets. Despite the higher prices of custom kitchen cabinets it is almost always worth the extra cost. The cabinets are built in a much more solid fashion as well as most custom cabinetmakers will use a ¾ inch thick cabinet case material, it doesn’t get much more solid than that. All cabinet shops will have varying prices, so we do recommend you always compare the same exact kitchen design from shop to shop for the most accurate estimations.

Custom Cabinets San Jose [http://adamscustomcabinets.com/cabinets/custom-cabinets-san-jose-ca/]

Custom Cabinets Pleasanton [http://adamscustomcabinets.com/cabinets/custom-cabinets-pleasanton-ca/]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Stan_Kloskey/1522552

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7564115

Stone Fireplace Makeover

Stone cladding is an eye-catching exterior for a home, making it look classic and ageless no matter what the architectural style. But that is not the only way this kind of stonework can transform a home. From major projects such as a complete home exterior make over to smaller jobs such as cladding a boring fireplace or floor to create a depth of character in an individual room, stone work can make your house feel like a whole new home.

The variety of options available is dazzling. From rustic brick looks to sophisticated cream stone styles, today’s stone cladding is revolutionary in both appearance and ease of installation. So what you can do with it? How can you use it to create a completely new and gorgeous look for your home?

Stone Cladding for Outside the Home

• The Exterior of the Home – The most obvious use of stone cladding is to cover the exterior of the home or to create one or two accent walls on the exterior. A home with the appearance of grey cut stone exterior walls stands out with a certain sophistication, and a porch with sandstone walls is a bright and welcoming entrance. A stone clad home has a timeless look because it recreates an ancient material for a new, fresh look that makes it stand apart.
• Garden Walls – The garden is an oasis in the fine weather and even in the winter it can be a joy to look at from the comfort of a chair by the window. Garden walls can be simple boundary markers, or with the right stone cladding they can be a landscape feature that serves as a stunning backdrop to the plants and other features in a garden. Stone cladding can also be used on lower walls such as the retaining walls around a landscaped slope.
• Paths and Patios – A simple way to add style to the outside space of your home is to redo patios and garden paths in stone cladding. Patios are an outdoor living space and coordinating the stone veneer for your patio with one used inside provides continuity between the indoors and the outdoors. Gravel might give a path a certain charm, but it scatters and gets messy quickly, which makes for a lot of extra work. Stone work offers the visual appeal with much less hassle and maintenance. The path to the front door are the introduction to a home, so this smaller scale project has a big visual impact and can add substantially to a property’s kerb appeal.

Stone Cladding for Inside the Home

• Interior Walls – A very large space can show amazing character when an entire room or more features stone cladding walls, but even smaller spaces can be enhanced with an accent wall in stone. An entryway or hallway sets the mood for a home, and cladding those walls with stone tells guests that their host has distinctive good taste. A rustic brick clad wall can create a warm and homey feeling in a kitchen, and stone cladding in a conservatory with a solid wall can really give it the feeling of an exterior space but without the exposure to the elements.
• Fireplaces – The fireplace is usually the focal point of a room, and a ho-hum fireplace can undermine otherwise lovely decorating. People are drawn to fireplaces, even if there isn’t a fire, so re-doing a fireplace is a high impact change in a room. In the kitchen or the sitting room, a stone veneer finish adds to the primal appeal of fire. Stone veneer also always homeowners to change the overall shape of the fireplace. An arch, for example, can be created in a square opening, making for a dramatically different look and feel for the whole room.
• Floors – Using stone cladding for flooring is a great way to add the beauty and charm of stone to a smaller space or one with a lot of cabinets or other features on the walls. Stone veneer creates the sense of an older space without limiting how wall space can be used. It’s a wonderful option for kitchens or narrower hallways that would feel crowded with stone clad walls. Floors and fireplaces can be done in coordinating stone veneer to develop a strong decorating theme for a single room or throughout an entire home.

Stone cladding can a reasonably priced investment to give a home a complete make-over whether the home owners are looking to upgrade their living space or increase its value because they are planning to sell. This is a lasting change for a home, but one that means enduring beauty and less maintenance than painting or pebble dash for the exterior and a dazzling transformation for the interior.

Stephen O’Connor has been a specialist in the trade of stone cladding for nearly 10 years. Visit his website Like-Stone UK for more information. View the gallery of before and after pictures to see complete transformations and find out the benefits of cladding your home.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Stephen_O’Connor/2049767

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8850737