Home Repair and Paint Guide

... For something unique, you can hire a custom cabinet shop to build one-of-a-kind units made from your personal choice of wood. The custom approach works especially well in cases where wallspace is limited or has a lot of angles to deal with. Traditional base and wall cabinets come in standard sizes. The base cabinets are usually around 34 inches tall and 24 inches deep, and widths start at 12 inches. Wall cabinets average about 12 inches deep and 30 inches tall and are built in the same widths as base cabinets. Wall cabinets also come in heights ranging from 15 inches up to 48 inches. Of course, there are custom sizes available from a lot of cabinet companies. One of the nice features of custom kitchen cabinets is that they can be made as one common unit instead of separate boxes that are screwed together. The advantage is the lack of vertical seams where two cabinet boxes would mate to each another. This provides a clean, professional look to the installation. The main difference in quality (besides the type of designs) are the materials used to build the cabinets. Lower priced cabinets are made with engineered lumber that’s selected for low cost instead of quality. Over time, these have a tendency to separate or sag. This is especially true if you place heavy objects in them such as traditional china. While it’s not necessary to spend a fortune on kitchen cabinets, you should stay in the middle to upper price range and go with solid wood instead of something like pressboard. If you are buying from a home improvement center, ask about the cost of installation. Although cabinets can be installed by most people with average skills, you may find that the cost of a professional installer is low enough that it’s not worth your time to do it yourself ...