What's In Store For Your Kitchen? Stock Kitchen Cabinets

By Leslie A.M.
RefacingCabinet.com Columnist

If you want a contemporary look for your kitchen including smooth white or sleek black kitchen cabinets, then you might be able to save a lot of money. Frameless white or black kitchen cabinets are often available as stock kitchen cabinets made with medium density fiberboard (MDF) covered with white or black melamine veneer.

Stock Kitchen Cabinets: An Out of Box Experience

Kitchen cabinets that give you a uniquely modern feel in your kitchen are readily available as stock kitchen cabinets. You can buy them in standard sizes that come in a boxed kit similar to any shelf unit you can put together with an Allen wrench or screwdriver. Measure your kitchen carefully before you buy your new cabinets.

Affordable Kitchen Cabinets

Buying the MDF version of kitchen cabinets can save you 20-25% off your costs for a basic wood like oak. Your savings could be even more if you're looking at maple cabinets. The advantage of MDF is that it does not expand and contract throughout seasonal weather changes like solid wood, which is more temperamental in damp conditions than MDF.

Also make sure to check for a low volatile organic compound (low-VOC) MDF to minimize the off-gassing that can pollute your home.

Custom Cabinet Doors

MDF is also used with custom cabinet doors and cabinet framing with a wood grain veneer. Raised panel doors and other options can make the cabinets look pretty similar to real wood and can save you money.

Before you buy stock or custom kitchen cabinets, take a peek down the next aisle and see if you can get the same look for less with MDF. Happy shopping!

 

About The Author

Leslie A.M. Smith lives in a 1929 house in Long Beach, California. When she isn't fixing things and redecorating, she is a freelance writer and public relations consultant.