What is the Trend for Kitchen Cabinets in 2021? (Part 2)

Repaint kitchen cabinets

The trend for kitchen cabinets in 2021 is pretty impressive for people who prefer to create a modern-looking kitchen for their houses. Interior designers describe kitchens as the heart of any home where occupants and guests spend their time enjoying food and gatherings. Thus, creating aesthetics for this area is a must-do for every homeowner. Custom Kitchen cabinets with various materials, including MDF panels (Medium Density Fiberboard Panels), plywood, hardwood, etc., are elements designers utilize to enhance the area’s beauty. Furthermore, leaving out the kitchen cabinet doors when renovating the place is not a wise choice. Knowing the trend for kitchen cabinets in 2021 will help homeowners create better-looking and sleek areas for eating and hanging out.

As told in part 1 of this article, drama is the trend for kitchen cabinets in 2021. We discussed various design trends and their unique characteristics. Some of the most modern designs in 2021 include Slab door kitchen cabinets, transitional cabinets, open frame systems, etc. Additionally, currently, people are looking for assorted door designs such as raised panel doors which are also very trendy. However, other factors are left to discuss: the trend for kitchen cabinets in 2021 from a color and layout perspective.

The Color Trend for Kitchen Cabinets in 2021

In classic kitchen designs, interior designers used stained natural wood cabinets, which is not the case in 2021. Currently, custom-cut kitchen cabinets and doors are including in colors. As stained wood designs are still popular, more people prefer adding pops of hues and colors to their kitchen. Cool-toned products are the trend for kitchen cabinets in 2021, including grey, blue, green, and two-toned hues. The followings are the best colors to choose for kitchen cabinets this year.

  • Blue: The main characteristic of this color provides a classic, cool and light look for the cabinets. Most blue kitchen cabinets are not cerulean but rather a grey-based navy, making them more neutral for the area. This color also provides a requiring contrast for stark white kitchens and can create a slightly darker feel. Additionally, these are a great look for people who want to create a more relaxed area for their homes.
  • White: Cabinets with a white finish are modern, sleek and tend to brighten or open up a place that might otherwise seem dark or small. White kitchen cabinets pair perfectly with most of the popular designs. Moreover, kitchens with white cabinetry involve better flexibility with their plans and dress up areas with a high-end appearance. White colour products continue to be the trend for kitchen cabinets in 2021.
  • Green: Popular home improvement projects have shown that green kitchen cabinets can considerably enhance the area’s beauty. Olive green cabinets are trendy in vintage and contemporary kitchens as they can be a reminder of the 70s while keeping the place light and airy. Designers prefer to utilize emerald green for trendy kitchen cabinets to create more dynamics and a dramatic feel.
  • Two-toned: Kitchen cabinets with tow-toned color often feature a white upper section paired with a darker base area. For lower hues, greys and blues are suitable, but canary yellow, dark purple and mint green are also practical.
  • Gray: One of the trendiest colors used in interior designs in 2021 is grey. This hue is a perfect alternative for those who prefer neutral colors but are not fans of an extreme industrial appearance.
  • Natural Wood: Most people love the rustic yet industrial look, and for those who want to bring natural elements inside, wood products with natural textures for cabinets is a perfect choice. Similar to grey kitchen cabinets, the wood can create a dramatic yet modern vibe for the interior.

Best Kitchen Layouts in 2021

Using the best trendy kitchen cabinets in 2021 without having a perfect layout design is useless. Thus knowing a few of them will help homeowners in their projects. The most popular kitchen layouts include:

  • The one wall.
  • Gallery layout.
  • L-shaped and U-shaped kitchens.
  • Island kitchen layout (very trendy in 2021).
  • The peninsula.

However, they are two other kitchen cabinet layouts that are currently very popular.

Mixed Cabinet Styles: This kitchen layout makes the area feel larger and provides an eye-catching element for the place. Its upper section features open-concept systems, and base cabinets have entirely different styles, such as slat cabinets. Moreover, this layout is popular in industrial and rustic style homes which is very trendy in 2021.

Floor-to-Ceiling Cabinetry: This layout is the perfect solution for the best use of kitchen space. It provides storage for all dishes and can be a suitable way to manage a part of the pantry. Having a floor-to-ceiling system will make the room feel taller. Additionally, it allows for cabinetry size variations and creates a unique design element for the home. However, this layout is more practical for larger kitchens.

Constructing Frameless Kitchen Cabinets (Part II)

Constructing Frameless Kitchen Cabinets

Constructing Frameless Kitchen Cabinets is a popular carpentry process for creating practical products for the interior. These products have modern, functional, and European style designs that can improve the house’s aesthetics and interior decoration. However, their design’s main functionality is for the kitchen. Manufacturers and carpenters produce these modern works with various wood materials, including MDF panels and Plywood.

Constructing frameless kitchen cabinets requires years of practice and experience. However, many people want to create their kitchen cabinets with MDF of other wood materials without hiring professionals. Thus, we decided to provide the required information for constructing frameless kitchen cabinets for such people. In part 1 of producing frameless kitchen cabinets, we discussed the basics of the carcass of the cabinets and the base options that the product can have. Thus, this part will provide more information about the process, including the frameless kitchen cabinets back options, tools for making them, and precise steps to complete the production of these functional materials.

Kitchen Cabinets Back Options

When constructing frameless kitchen cabinets, the cabinetmaker has some practical options for creating the back section of the product. Each method and option have exceptional stability and functionality.

  • Full Back: Carpenter can choose to make a full back with the same MDF panels or Plywood used for the kitchen cabinet. This configuration will provide an enclosed product with excellent strength, which is essential when installing heavy countertops or supporting heavy appliances. However, this method can be costly, but the carpenter can lower the expenditure by precisely planning the cutting method with a CNC router.
  • Nailed Back: Some people don’t mind if their cabinets have a back part or not. The nailed back option is the best for saving more MDF panels and other materials. Instead of having a full back, this method features creating two nailing strips out of the MDF panels for the top and bottom of the back, so there is a point to affix the kitchen cabinet to the wall and provide strength and rigidity to the product.
  • Economic Nailed Back: In some cases, people prefer to have an enclosed back system, but they also want to save money. Thus, it is better to use nailery as the previous method and utilize a piece of MDF panel on the back of the kitchen cabinet to provide a finished look. In addition to the lower cost of this method, it also provides a lighter product.

Tools and Materials Needed for Constructing Frameless Kitchen Cabinets

Like producing any other products, some essential tools and materials should be available for constructing frameless kitchen cabinets.

Tools: There are various tools available for making a cabinet that carpenters should have. However, the essential ones are table saw or circular saw while having a guide for making accurate cuts in the material. Other tools that can be practical are jig types and combination squares.

Materials: Experts always recommend using MDF panels or Plywood materials for both interior doors and kitchen cabinets. These materials come with different appearance grades and can accept various finishes. When using MDF panels, it is better to glue the joints and utilize appropriate pocket screws.

Steps of Constructing Frameless Kitchen Cabinets

Constructing frameless kitchen cabinets for different trendy layouts requires some essential steps. These steps will help cabinetmakers to achieve the best results for their kitchen cabinets.

  1. Calculating Kitchen Cabinet and Component Dimensions: The dimension that the cabinet maker needs for creating kitchen cabinets is the height, depth, width, component dimensions, bottom dimensions, shelf size, back and back dimensions, stretchers and sub toe kick measurements. The application determines the product’s height, and the depth has standard numbers, including the kitchen cabinets door. The cabinet depth is also equivalent to the preferences. The other dimensions are all depending on the first measurements. However, it is better to consult with professional cabinetmakers for better measures.
  2. Attaching Side To Back: This step starts with applying edge banding to the front of both kitchen cabinets sides. Then drilling pocket holes around the top and sides of the product’s back is necessary to attach it to one side.
  3. Attaching Bottom: Next step involves applying edge banding to the front of the bottom section and drilling pocket screw holes for connecting the bottom to the side and back section of the cabinet. Using a square is essential to make sure the alignments are appropriate.
  4. Fixing Other Side: Now it is time to settle and attach the other side to the cabinet assembly utilizing the previously drilled pocket holes.
  5. Stretchers Attachment: Attach the edge banding precisely to the front section of the two stretchers and then drill pockets holes for attaching them to the cabinet. For the first drawer, the bottom stretcher on the front is utilized.
  6. Installing Sub Toe Kick: The sub toe kick helps support the kitchen cabinet and adds rigidity to the finished kickboard after the installation process.
  7. Drilling Shelf Pin Holes: The last step is to drill holes with a jig in the back and front of each side of the kitchen cabinet for shelf pins. After drilling, install the shelf by applying edge banding to the front of the frame and inserting its hooks in the appropriate locations.

Constructing Frameless Kitchen Cabinets (Part I)

Frameless Kitchen Cabinets

Frameless kitchen cabinets are European style products that interior designers offer for their customers to enhance their kitchen aesthetics and functionality. These frameless products are ideal for the kitchen and practical for the bathroom, office, home theatre, and other renovations. This article is not just about constructing these practical products, but it contains everything you should know about these particular products.

Many people desire to make frameless kitchen cabinets for their homes, and learning the constructing process is often challenging due to the shortage of information on the internet. Therefore, people should search and read a lot to find and combine the requiring information for creating these practical products. Thus, we decided to provide all the information you will need, and we tried to make things easier for you.

Frameless kitchen cabinets are affordable and easy to build. They are beneficial for the homeowner by providing extra storage space over face frame cabinets. They are various methods that are used to build frameless kitchen cabinets. However, they all follow the same principles. Construction of these products is relatively straightforward, and the most challenging aspect is planning and sizing.

Frameless Kitchen Cabinets Carcass

Frameless kitchen cabinets have a more contemporary appearance and can be dressed up with elegant doors and trim for having a more classic feeling. The essential step of creating these practical products is building the cabinets carcass. The cabinet carcass is the main body or box of the product, which does not contain doors, drawers, boxes and fronts. It is possible to configure this structural piece in different methods to allow drawers and doors to suit your needs.

The most straightforward kitchen cabinet design to install and provide strength is creating an entire back cabinet carcass with MDF panels or other robust wood materials. It should consist of top stretchers, and it can be constructed from a single sheet of MDF panel. The carcass often has some essential parts, including two sides, shelf, bottom, back, sub toe kick and three stretchers.

Base Options for Frameless Kitchen Cabinets

Each system has its unique benefits and limitations. There are four separate ways to configure the lower section or the base of the frameless kitchen cabinets. These base producing methods are as followed:

Standard Base in Frameless Kitchen Cabinets

The standard base used in frameless kitchen cabinets has the sides and back of the product extend down to the floor. This type of base is notched in the front for providing a toe kick. A sub-toe kick in this system can provide additional support for the bottom and makes it easy to apply finishes such as decorative baseboard with MDF panels over a continual stretch of cabinets for a seamless appearance. Building this type of base is relatively tricky and utilizes a bit more MDF or plywood material. However, it can provide a single kitchen cabinet unit with advantages and fit the area’s layout. It is essential to remember to shim each kitchen cabinet individually for making it level. Most of the semi-custom kitchen cabinets available in the market are constructed with this method.

Common Base Without Toe Kick

Some interior or kitchen designs do not require a toe kick when they need a built-in cabinet system. This type of base has pros and cons similar to the standard base system, except it does not involve toe kick. Instead, this method accommodates with a decorative MDF panel or plywood with the same kitchen doors thickness. They are applied all over the base of all frameless kitchen cabinets after the installation process is completed.

Separate Base Platform

One of the best ways to construct frameless kitchen cabinets is using the different base platform technique. This system consists of a frame made up of hardwood flat panels, MDF panel, or plywood top providing toe kick with various heights. The most noticeable advantage of this technique is that the cabinetmaker can level the platform before installing the products. Then the only thing required is to place the kitchen cabinets on the panel without having to do much if any extra levelling. This type of base system is also more substantial and more stable than other types attached to the cabinets. Additionally, it is possible to create toe kicks on the sides of the frameless kitchen cabinets where necessary, such as the end of a kitchen island or a cabinet run.

There are other essential things to discuss the frameless kitchen cabinet construction systems we have provided in the second part of this article. We recommend you read it if you consider making a perfect cabinet for you your kitchen or you need to know how manufacturers create them.