Kitchen Units

This is one of a series of kitchen design advice sheets. Here, we compare and contrast different kitchen units that we have fitted since 2004.

Calculate your storage requirements by counting and measuring what you have at the moment in drawers and cabinets.  Do you need more, or less, or the same?

With your basic layout on paper, visit a few suppliers to see how their particular kitchen units fit. Don’t forget that a real kitchen requires end panels and other features that you may not have considered. Different ranges have different corner units, each with its own dimensions. Your supplier will reproduce your sketch with their range of units.  They will also ask about your choice of appliances, worktop and splashback, and produce a 3D view to help you visualise the completed kitchen.

There are several ways to access those hard-to-reach corners:

• You might decide to have a basic, fixed shelf for rarely-used items.
• A magic corner is fixed to the door.  As you open the cabinet, it pulls out two wire baskets with 2 shelves, effectively giving easy access to items stored right in the corner.
• A carousel is simply a mechanism with 2 rotating round shelves – being circular, you lose some of the capacity of a square cupboard
• A Lemans mechanism optimises the space with its lobe-shaped shelves.

The look of a kitchen cabinet is all in the detail. For a traditional or country look, choose cabinet doors and cornices with mouldings and tongue and groove side panels. For a more contemporary style, choose a design with less detail. Modern designs tend to have flat doors and drawers with integrated handles.

The timeless shaker kitchen design is extremely versatile.  With a few tweaks to the detail, they appear traditional with a cock bead moulding and a deep fielded panel, or contemporary with a simple shallow panel.

In-frame kitchen units, have cabinet doors and drawers fitted into a framed surround. They look great in a more traditional setting, but watch out for cleaning the inside.  Because each door is surrounded by a frame, the front corners create crumb traps.

Lay-on door and drawer designs literally lay against the front face of the carcass.  The framed appearance around the cabinetry is created by separate side panels, pelmet and cornice. Lay-on designs are generally more contemporary and, unlike in-frame designs, allow you to sweep crumbs straight into your hand.

Where the space continues beyond the kitchen, you can see how this run of units ends against a narrow partition.  This defines the end to the kitchen and the start of the next space. In some cases, particularly where a room has been knocked through, the units can end against the structural nib wall.

Islands take up a lot of space so you need to design them with adequate circulation for a working kitchen. 1m is usual;  900mm is an absolute minimum. They look fantastic in a large kitchen providing extra work surface, storage, and breakfast bar.

Your choice of knobs, handles and various door and drawer mechanisms is endless:

• Soft close mechanisms are very popular.  These work with concealed door hinges but not with more traditional butt hinges.
• Knobs and handles – the world is your oyster.  However, consider carefully their orientation and alignment.  If you leave the installation to the fitter, you will probably end up with a combination of vertical and horizontal handles.  We prefer to fit them all horizontal (see photos on this page) – otherwise you end up with horizontal and vertical handles fighting each other.
• Integrated handles – these designs have a finger groove, typical of a modern design.
• Push to open – push, and the door or drawer springs open.  A more expensive solution but very sleek. Cheaper designs have a plunger that sticks out too far, whereas more expensive option is more subtle.

The quality of kitchen cabinet doors and drawers varies considerably, as does the price you pay.

• Foil wrapped doors are found at the cheaper end of the market.  They comprise a chipboard or MDF core, wrapped with a plastic / vinyl foil.  MDF tends to be more robust than chipboard, but both may delaminate at the corners through wear and tear.  Water can also get into the foil joins, resulting in bubbles.
• Acrylic doors may be solid or faced onto MDF, usually to give a hi-gloss finish.
• Lacquered doors are lacquered on all sides so there is no join.  Again these offer a hi-gloss finish, usually in high quality ranges.
• Solid timber doors – tend to be more expensive.  Oak is common, but more exotic timers are also available at a premium. Wood does change with time, particularly in kitchens with bright sunlight.
• Veneered doors – offer the look of real timber at a reduced price.  Veneers also allow you to choose more interesting finishes more cheaply.  being real wood, the veneers also change with time.
• Painted doors – whilst there may be a limited range of colours for off the shelf doors, bespoke doors come in any colour you like.

Base units offer built-in bins, but you do need to be sure that these are practical.  Catalogue photos show integrated bins with waste neatly positioned, but how often do you fold your rubbish into an art form? Unlike some designers, we have no problem having a separate waste bin, provided it looks smart and is kept clean. We put clean recycling out of sight in a separate cupboard.

We have been designing and installing kitchens in Bath since 2004. Ours is a complete service from initial concepts to completion, covering everything from building work and electrics to flooring and finishes.

As mentioned earlier, we also offer additional kitchen design advice sheets for you to consider; there, you’ll find links to other kitchen fittings such as kitchen worktops and kitchen splashbacks.