Cabinet brands that belong to the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA) will have a sticker on the back side of the sink door or side wall of the cabinet. On the sticker there should be a code or the cabinetry name in the middle of the label.
One way is to look at the edges of the cabinet. If they are smooth and shiny, then it is likely that they are made out of laminate. Another way to tell is to feel the surface of the cabinet. Laminate surfaces are usually smooth, while wood surfaces may be rougher.
Things You Should Know
Feel the furniture and examine the wood grain pattern. If it feels rough and looks porous, it's probably made of hardwood. Examine the ends of the wood. If the grain doesn't go all the way through the wood, it's likely engineered wood.
There are three types of cabinets: partial overlay, full overlay, and inset. Each term is used to describe how the cabinet door or drawer sits on or in the cabinet frame.
The most common style for cabinets today is the Shaker-style. The Shaker-style consists of five pieces of flat-panel, creating a frame with four pieces and with a single flat centre panel as the fifth piece.
Most homeowners spend between $4,000 and $9,000 to reface all of their kitchen cabinets, which gives an all-new look for nearly 50 percent less than the cost to fully replace the cabinetry. Many homeowners are choosing to replace just their lower kitchen cabinets for a change that's still noticeable and clean.
Installing your own kitchen cabinets may seem like a complicated task, but the process is actually quite simple. It basically involves screwing the cabinets to the wall in the right order and making sure everything is level.
The only way to truly get matching cabinets would be to get a custom cabinet maker to create the exact profile and proportion cabinets to you your existing cabinets. Some "custom" cabinet makers aren't truly custom and just order doors and boxes and put them together and call themselves custom.
Cabinets' carcasses are made from a variety of materials. Less expensive cabinets are often made from MDF (medium density fiberboard) or particleboard that's covered with melamine, thermofoil, or wood veneer. Over time, cabinets made from particleboard generally don't hold up well to wear and tear.
Xylorix: Automated Wood Identification System. Xylorix Inspector is an automated macroscopic wood identification mobile app.
Still one of the most popular styles, traditional cabinets are similar to shaker, with a rectangular groove on the face of the door, except the center panel is raised rather than recessed. Formal but not fussy, they're a good choice for retaining a period feel in older homes (e.g., colonial, Tudor, Victorian).
Made of pressed wood, MD, or plywood topped by a layer of paper coloured with a heat-fused melamine resin, melamine is the least expensive cabinet material. Variety. The assortment of colours and patterns is enormous, including a rather convincing faux wood grain and textured melamine option.
The serial number label for cabinets and bookcases is placed on the left, inner side of the case. If you have difficulty locating the label, you may want to check on the back of the cabinet.
Real wood grain doesn't have a perfect, flawless grain pattern. If it varies and changes it is more than likely real. If you feel and note a perfectly repeated grain pattern you are most likely touching a veneer or even laminate of some sort. If the surface has no grain whatsoever, again, it is likely a veneer.
COST OF REPLACING CABINETS
New cabinets cost more than just swapping out the door fronts. On average, you could spend anywhere between $3,000 to $18,000 on your full cabinet replacement. Your project may cost more or less than that average, depending on your specific needs.
Can You Just Replace the Cabinet Doors? You can definitely just replace cabinet doors. If you're up for a little bit of work with some basic tools, and maybe a spare set of hands to help, you can even do it yourself.
If budget is your main consideration, refinishing is often the cheaper option.
If your goal is to update the look of your existing cabinets, the cheapest route is to simply reface them. This process involves either stripping the stain or paint from the existing cabinets and adding new stain, varnish or paint; in some cases, you might even want to refinish the cabinets with a stick-on veneer.
You'll be happy to know that you can replace your kitchen cabinets without replacing your countertops–the trick is to do this without damaging the countertops. That said, replacing the cabinets and keeping your countertops is much easier than you would anticipate.
A: Yes! That's the simple answer that we love to give. We can reface your kitchen cabinets without removing your countertops. If you have a countertop that you love, but cabinets that you don't, cabinet refacing may be a good choice for you.
Thermofoil cabinets are some of the most affordable cabinets on the market.
What is laminate, you ask? It can basically be any type of furniture, cabinets, or wood-like product that is made by attaching a thin layer of printed plastic (sometimes called Melamine or Thermofoil) to a substrate of plywood or particle board.
Base Cabinets
Also called lower cabinets, these mount along the baseboard to provide a sturdy base for countertops, islands, seating, and more. The bottoms of doors open a few inches from the floor.