Home Improvement Advice

Archive for the ‘cabinets’ Category

Kitchen cabinets are one of the most expensive items in home remodelling. Cabinetry costs more than replacing the kitchen furniture in many cases. If you can afford the expense, there are a wide variety of designs and styles available to update your cabinets. You can add extras like a kitchen island, lazy susan, or built-in appliance centers.

If replacing the cabinetry is too expensive for your budget, refacing is a less expensive alternative. Refacing involves replacing only the cabinet doors and exposed wood areas of the cabinets. The insides are left as they are to save money on the job. Painting is the least expensive option and can give the room new life. The job can be easily done over a long weekend with the right preparation.

You will need to decide if you will paint the entire cabinet, inside and out, or just the outside and the doors. To save time, consider leaving the inside of the cabinet alone, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

Preparing the Cabinets

Start by removing all hardware from the cabinets and remove the doors. Mark the doors, so you will remember which door goes on which cabinet. This will save you time and prevent aggravation later. Protect the countertops and floor with drop cloths, old bed sheets or plastic sheeting. These can be taped in place, especially on the floors. If you will be replacing the flooring, paint the cabinets first.

Clean the cabinets thoroughly before painting. This is important. Grease and oils from cooking will prevent the paint from adhering properly. You could end up with an uneven color. A wood cleaner with orange oil works well for breaking down grease residue. Be sure to let the surface dry thoroughly before you begin to apply the primer.

Primer is an important step in the process. It provides a smooth, even surface for the paint to adhere properly. Use a roller for larger areas and a brush for small areas. Be sure to coat all areas, including the underside of the cabinets. Consider using sawhorses for priming and painting the doors, for an easier time and a more even coverage.

Allow the primer to dry thoroughly before you begin to paint. Overnight is generally sufficient for the primer to dry. Apply the paint in thin coats. It’s better to apply a few thin coats than to use one thick coat. Allow twentyfour hours between coats for the paint to dry completely. Sand with a fine grit sandpaper between coats.

When the paint has dried completely, you are ready to put the doors back on and replace the hardware. Consider updating the hardware to match your new look. Door handles and hinges are inexpensive and can make a big difference in the look of the room.

Choosing Paint for Kitchen Cabinets

Don’t skimp on the paint. Use high quality paint that is right for the surface being covered. This will be different for wood or metal cabinets. If you’re not sure, ask for help at the paint store.

In general, you will want to use enamel paint. You have a few choices in the finish. Gloss, semi gloss or satin finishes are most commonly used. The higher the gloss, the stronger the finish and the easier it will be to clean. If you want less shine, consider the semi gloss finish.

Safety When Painting

Be sure to paint in a well ventilated room. Do the job when the weather is warm enough and leave the windows open.

Wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt to protect your skin from the paint. Plastic gloves can be worn to protect the skin on your hands.

Wear safety goggles to protect your eyes from paint and fumes.

Cabinets are essentials tools to any household of office. These facilitate organizing materials, files, documents and other things that have to be kept for storage, reference or future use.

While the design of the cabinets, particularly for a house, is of great importance, there are also other things that need to be considered before buying one or having one custom-made to your specifications.

* Size

The size of the cabinet depends on two factors: the size of the space to be allotted for the furniture and the amount of materials that will be placed in the cabinet.

Consider the space that will be allotted for the cabinet. There should be enough space in front of the cabinet that you can easily open it and take out whatever you need.

It is also advisable to have enough walking room when the cabinet is open. This means that a person will be able to pass or stand freely in front of the cabinet while taking or placing the contents.

Also consider the amount of materials that will be placed in the cabinet. It is better that you have one cabinet for organizing related things than having several cabinet in which you need to check when looking for a single thing. It is better that your cabinet still has enough space in case you acquire more similar contents so you can fit them all in the same place.

* Vertical or Lateral

The concern on whether to have vertical or lateral drawers usually arises when deciding on what to get for keeping files.

Vertical drawers are the most common filing cabinet used in offices. These require little wall space and stack two to five drawers that contain legal-sized documents. The files are arranged from front to back and are facing the user.

These are good for storing personal files, since because of its compactness, each office employee can have one. However, because these are quite deep, they might diminish the room’s walking space when the drawers are open.

Lateral drawers, on the other hand, require a larger wall space. Even if these are not as deep as vertical drawers, they have a high capacity.

These can also contain legal files arranged in two to five drawers. The files, however, are arranged facing one side or facing the user in multiple rows.

Due to its size, not every office employee can have a lateral drawer in his or her working space. Instead, a department can have a lateral drawer in an unobtrusive location, which can be accessed by the employees.

* Construction

The commonly used materials for cabinets may be wood or steel. Wood is used usually for home cabinets, while steel is preferred for important office files, due to its strength and durability.

Wood is preferred for homes because of multiple decorating possibilities and its ability to add warmth and homey ambience.

Make sure that the drawers can be extended fully and can glide smoothly. A drawer that is stuck can lead to several other problems.

* Protection

For containing important documents, office cabinets have to be well constructed. Some cabinets also have interlocked drawers, which do not permit having more than one drawer to be open at the same time. This will prevent the cabinet from tipping.

Also consider having cabinets with locks and fire and impact resistance. Cabinets that can withstand 1700 F for 1 hour and the impact of a thirty-foot drop, bear the Underwriters’ Laboratories Class 50 rating.

* Mobility and Ease of Cleaning

If you will need to move furniture around the house when cleaning, choose a cabinet that is not too heavy to be moved a little when cleaning. It may also be better to choose cabinets that are elevated by a few centimeters from the floor for ease of cleaning.

For office cabinets, if you will need to move your files around the office, you can use a mobile file cart. Some of these also have the security features of file cabinets. These are compact and can be stored under the table when not being used.

After deciding what type of cabinet you will need, don’t forget to check online for the best deals on furniture and to compare prices.

This article is a storage cabinets buying guide aimed at educating you on practical aspects of buying storing media and entertainment units. Let us face it, no matter how simple it looks; choosing CD/DVD/Plasma TV Stands Units is a tricky affair. Narrowing down on the options within budget and your requirement needs some thoughtful action.

Capacity & Space : Since media units are constantly on the expansion drive, it is important to choose the largest unit you can buy in the space you have on hands. Try to accommodate a bigger unit for the continually expanding CD and DVD collections.

Size of the room : Measure up the room and the area you need to put up the unit. What all would like to have in your media unit—Plasma/ DVD and CD players, speakers and other media collection? You get low-slung units that allow you all of it and some more space to display art and collectibles. Then there are regular media units with racks for storing CDs DVDs and music. Compare standard shelf size and determine the kind of space you will need to store and keep adding.

Some of the storage style options and their Shelving Units

Shelving Units : Shelving units are functional furniture pieces. Metal and wood shelving systems also come equipped with casters for mobility, and are found in all different sizes to fit in almost any dimension. There are modular units that can be assembled and dissembled easily and arranged the way you like, even hung from top. You get shelving systems in conventional and unconventional material for home and offices, bamboo shelving look great and bestow a room with a decorative and utilitarian value.

Bookcases : You have bookcases that can be used to store and display books and collectibles. Then there are ledger units that allow you the freedom to stack and display in style. You get units that allow multifunctional uses in style. Some bookcases are designed to be a combination of storage and display with a glass door and extra shelving cases and drawers for displaying art and collectibles. Pay attention to the depth of the shelves to accommodate larger books, ideally a 12-14 inch shelf is great for storing different sizes of books. Normally, bookcases are designed to stack against a wall to draw support, you can get creative and also use bookcases for dividing spaces, storing books, decorative and other uses. You get wooden bookcases constructed with hardwoods, glass, metal and a combination of material to fulfill modern and traditional decorative tastes.

Media Cabinets/ Entertainment Unit : Media Cabinets are available in all designs and sizes to accommodate sleek plasmas and TVs, and also provide space for storing collection and artifacts. Traditionally, media units were sort of shelving systems with limited space. Over the recent times, with media and storage consisting of CDs and DVDs, while the size of TVs getting slimmer, media units have come to mean modified Entertainment systems that allow you to stack your players and plasmas and collections and also allow open space to display. You can also opt for models placed on spinners with shelves on four sides, like those often seen in book stores for your collection.

Curio Cabinets : Curios are great furniture units with set of shelves and a large glass door. Normally used to store collectibles, glittering chinas and antique pieces, the curio shelving system is normally mirrored at the back and some are equipped with spotlights for display. It is a decorative unit often placed in the living area, and the designs are a great combination of wood and glass. Some even entail glass shelves for a transparent display. Used normally as a decorative unit, check out if the styling and design goes with the overall theme in your living area.

Wall Mounted Shelves : For limited space, wall-mounted shelves look great. You get free-standing units and wall mounted ones, depending on your availability of space and convenience, consider factors like mobility while deciding on the best choice. Once mounted on a wall, shelving units are difficult and time consuming to move them to another location, whereas free-standing shelves can simply be picked up and moved easily.

Corner Shelves : Corner shelves are useful as both free standing and wall mounted units. Usually fashioned to fit any wall corner between two walls, they are designed to save space and provide utility and decorative value to a space. Ideal for small spaces and apartments, you can buy corner shelves in different materials and turn it into a functional corner. Used in bathrooms, kitchens and lobbies to display and hold in style.

Shelf Liners : To protect shelves, you get liners made of cloth or plastic. They majorly help you protect the surface and make it easier to clean a shelving unit. Available in a range of color and finish, they are great for preventing slipping of small items through wire mesh shelves and can be cut to fit any size.