What Are Cabinets Doing In My Kitchen?

A cabinet is built in furniture usually installed in bathrooms or kitchens

. Many people store food, cooking equipment, silverware and even dishes in kitchen cabinets. Cabinets are often custom made to fit large appliances like dish washers, ovens and fridges.

Today the term kitchen cabinet is used to talk about a built in piece of furniture with a single counter top covering many cabinets. Normally in this situation the wall and the floor is no longer accessible behind or under the cabinet. These types of "kitchen cabinets" where invented in the early 20th century. Before the modern cabinet the Hoosier cabinet, a single piece of furniture including storage space and counter top all in one, was the norm.

Before World War I the typical kitchen used a free standing work table and a pantry for dry storage. Cupboards were sometimes used in kitchens, in larger houses dishes were typically stored in the dining room. For the upper class the dishes would be put in the butler's pantry. Perishable foods like milk, meat, and vegetables were purchased daily because without a fridge you could not keep these for long.

After world war I Lillian Gilbreth led a movement for efficiency in the home, this led to a more systematic design for the 1920's kitchen. Moving from the free standing work tables to built in cabinets surfaces with linoleum or steel. With improvements to manufacturing cabinets were able to to be made with improved materials.

In the time following world war two, counter tops with higher quality materials like formica became very popular. With the increasing use of laminates the fashion of kitchen design turned to a seamless flush surface look that is almost universal in today's kitchen.

Laminates themselves while setting the standard for kitchen fashion are no longer popular. Now kitchen counter tops are usually a synthetic solid surface, or in more expensive homes, natural stone.

Another fashionable change in cabinetry is the frame-less cabinet style. With improved materials and appealing for its minimalist design the frame-less cabinets first emerged in European kitchens and have been accepted by the world wide community.

Many other things come into play when designing a kitchen that effects your choice of cabinets. In many post modern kitchens hard wood floors are becoming more and more popular. With more and more hard wood floors earth tones are in greater use for painted surfaces, wall paper choices are also effected. High end kitchens are more and more popular including more expensive options like thicker counter tops with honed finishes.

Larger ovens, under counter lighting, higher counter appliances, and nine foot ceilings are all common place now days. While these are not directly related to cabinetry these design choices affect what kind of cabinets you will want in your kitchen.

by: Gary Hall

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