What is a working triangle?

In every kitchen plan there is a work triangle. A work triangle is the shortest walking distance between the three main working sites in your kitchen. The refrigerator is the cold storage work site. The primary sink is the cleaning and food preparation work site. The stove is the cooking work site.

The primary sink should be located between or across from the primary cooking surface and refrigerator. If these three work sites are too far away from each other than you waste time walking between them. If they are too close together your kitchen will feel cramped and there will not be enough countertop for adequate food preparation.

The distance of each side of the work triangle is measured from the center front of each appliance or sink. The three sides should each be between four and nine feet. Together the sides should total twenty-six feet or less. An island or other kitchen cabinets should not interfere with the work triangle by more than twelve inches. Major traffic patterns also should not cross through the triangle.

Obviously, each kitchen is different, and these rules cannot all be followed all the time, especially during kitchen remodels. Still, your work triangle should function well for you, and these rules should be thought of as guidelines for accomplishing this goal. Your kitchen designer will be able to get the best possible work triangle given your parameters. Call, email or come by The Savannah Cabinet Shop today and we’ll start the process together.

What are the Construction Options for Cabinetry?

In the wonderful world of cabinetry there are many different construction options to choose from. If you are using a stock line of cabinetry, most of these decisions will likely already be made for you. Semi-custom lines generally have their base construction level with the ability to upgrade certain features. With custom cabinetry you are able to choose the construction style for each individual part. The major construction decision areas are the style of cabinet box, the construction materials for the cabinet box, the construction and material of the drawer box, and the drawer glides.

Construction options have less to do with the look of the cabinetry and more with the structure and moving parts, but they can greatly affect the cost. Between look and construction, there exists a price equilibrium when working within a budget. So, if the look of the kitchen is the most important thing to you, you might consider trading off construction upgrades for look upgrades. Conversely, if construction is the most important thing, you might have to trade look upgrades for construction upgrades. Obviously if the sky’s the limit when it comes to your budget then everything can be upgraded. Your kitchen designer can help you determine what exact combination of give and take results in the perfect kitchen for you.

For the style of the cabinet box you have two options, framed or frameless. As the name suggests, the difference between framed and frameless construction in cabinetry is the presence or absence of a face frame. With a cabinet that has a face frame, the doors and drawer heads can be mounted inset flush into the frame, partially overlaying the frame, or fully overlaying it. With frameless cabinetry, the doors are mounted to the sides of the cabinet box and therefore fully-overlay the box. Once installed, both construction types are of equal stability when made with comparable materials. Framed construction can give a more traditional look to your cabinetry; especially the inset and partial-overlay styles. Frameless construction is often used in contemporary, modern or transitional areas. Frameless cabinetry is also used in industrial settings like laboratories and hospitals. Because of the absence of an overlapping frame, the clear width of the cabinet’s openings is wider with frameless construction, though the box volume remains the same. Stock and semi-custom cabinetry lines generally only make one type of cabinet box, framed or frameless. Custom cabinetry can be either and the construction types can even be mixed throughout your kitchen.

Both types of cabinet boxes can be made with engineered wood, plywood or solid wood. There are pros and cons to each type of box construction, and clients usually have their own biases. Generally speaking, engineered wood is the base construction level, with plywood construction being the upgrade. Occasionally specific projects require a solid wood box, like when using reclaimed wood, but this is rare and very costly.

Plywood is more stable than solid wood and available in many grades and species. Plywood is also relatively economical. Medium-density fiberboard (MDF), particleboard, and oriented strand board, all common types of engineered wood, offer more weight, a lower cost and a flatter panel with more surface uniformity. However, the dimensional stability, screw-holding and bending strength of engineered wood is less than plywood’s. Even though engineered wood panels have some advantages over plywood panels, some people just don’t like the idea that the panels are not made from all natural wood. Chemically sensitive clients might also react badly to the adhesives used in engineered wood which emit a greater amount of formaldehyde as they cure than plywood.

The plywood versus engineered wood choice is the same for your drawer box construction with the addition of the solid wood dovetail drawer box option. Dovetailed drawer boxes are made from solid wood stock and are constructed by cutting a series of pins in the end of one board to interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. Once glued, a wooden dovetail joint requires no mechanical fasteners. The plywood and engineered wood drawer boxes are glued and pinned together.

Once you have decided on your drawer box you must also decide on what type of drawer glides to use. You must decide if you want your drawer boxes to extend from the cabinet box ¾ of the way or in full. If you choose to have full-extension glides you will also then have the option to add a soft-close feature that pulls the drawer softly closed once pushed in 90% of the way. Soft-close drawer glides also make it impossible for anyone to slam the drawers. Each type of glide can be installed mounted to the underneath or to the side of the drawer box. Glides mounted to the bottom of the drawer box will take room from the depth of the drawer box. Glides mounted to the sides will take room from the width of the drawer box.

In short, there are many things to consider and decide upon about your cabinets’ construction. At The Savannah Cabinet Shop we can help you navigate through these difficult decisions. When you work with our design staff, our knowledge becomes your knowledge. Check out our portfolio or come in today to start your cabinetry project.

Remodeled Cabinetry Showroom in Savannah

The Savannah Cabinet Shop announces their newly remolded cabinetry showroom. Located in Savannah’s historic district just off the corner of Abercorn Street and Park Avenue in historic downtown Savannah, our cabinetry showroom occupies what used to be the local candy shop. The 1890 building holds The Savannah Cabinet Shop showroom on the street level and SkyRun Savannah Vacation Rentals’ premier rental property on the second floor.
When The Savannah Cabinet Shop first acquired the building, the bottom floor was little more than some plastered walls and a lot of dust. After extensive remodeling and restoration, we are pleased to invite you to the best place to purchase cabinetry. We designed our cozy and sophisticated cabinetry showroom to feel more like a home and less like a store.
We added a full bath, including a floor to ceiling glass tile shower stall and river rock tiles floor. We exposed the original brick wall, added a wide plank, reclaimed heart of pine floor, extensive interior moldings and architectural details and a full gourmet kitchen. There is also a living/sitting area with a large flat screen TV, a dining/meeting area in the front bay window, several large hutches and other assorted cabinetry pieces. We also enhanced the exterior of the building by adding stamped concrete resembling cobble-stone on the walk, black awnings on the ground and second floors, pigmy palms and a whole new exterior paint scheme.
The Savannah Cabinet Shop caters to new home builders, contractors and clients wishing to remodel their existing home in the greater Savannah area. With knowledge and experience in both new construction and Savannah home remodeling, The Savannah Cabinet Shop can handle any and all projects large and small. Our in-house interior design service is available for kitchen and bath design, color consultancy, materials selection and space planning. So, if you are building a new home or remodeling an existing one, come down to our newly remolded showroom and let’s get the project started today. Please visit our portfolio for examples of our work.

What are my options to update my existing kitchen?

When hoping to remodel your existing kitchen cabinets there are a couple of options available to you. You can reface your cabinetry, replace your cabinetry, or undergo a complete kitchen remodel. Each of these options carries with it a certain “downtime” or period of time during which your kitchen will be out of commission.

Also, depending on the size and scope of your project, each option has a specific price range. Generally speaking refacing is the quickest and most cost effective way to update the look of your kitchen cabinets. A total remodel of the space will require significantly more time and money, but will allow for the most change and result in the biggest impact.

When you reface your kitchen cabinets you are keeping the box of the cabinet you already have. Because of this, if the quality or function of your existing cabinetry is a problem for you, this option will not fix it. However, if your cabinet boxes function satisfactorily and your only real problem is with the general aesthetics of your kitchen this is an option you might want to consider.

Refacing can be as simple as hiring a decorative painter to refinish the doors and boxes of your kitchen cabinetry. You might also take the opportunity to change the hardware to match the new look. Refacing can also involve replacing the doors and drawers of the cabinets with a different door style or wood species. If you have framed cabinetry that you are refacing, it will be necessary to match the face frame to the new look, especially if you switch the door’s wood species or finish. It is up to you if you wish to replace the countertops or appliances at the same time, but doing so will add cost and time to the project.

If the function, aesthetics and/or construction of your existing kitchen cabinets is part, or all, of your problem, but the function of your work triangle is not, then replacing the cabinetry is your answer. This allows a total change in the aesthetics to take place without major construction on the room itself. Plumbing and electrical are not moved in this scenario, so if the placement of your appliances or sinks are an issue for you in your current space, then this is not the option for you. Because the countertops are removed in order to remove the existing cabinetry, most of the time they are replaced in this process as well. Of course, this adds to the downtime of your kitchen. If your existing flooring runs underneath your existing kitchen cabinets, or you are planning on replacing the flooring during the process, than the kitchen cabinet plan is open to change. If the floor is staying and does not run under your existing cabinets then the new kitchen cabinetry will have to follow the same general floor plan as the old. The type of cabinet box and organizational features within are still free to change, though, so even when keeping the same outline, function and aesthetics can still be greatly improved.

Lastly, if not only the aesthetics, the construction and the function of your kitchen cabinetry is bothering you, but the function of your work space across the board, or the aesthetics of the kitchen as a room in general are a problem, then the only solution is a complete kitchen remodel. This is obviously the most costly and time consuming of the options, but it also offers the most opportunity for change and improvement.

Plumbing and electrical can be relocated to form a better work triangle. Walls can be knocked down to open up or enlarge the space. New wall, ceiling and floor coverings can be installed during the construction time, as well as extras such as lighting, or even exterior doors or windows. A total kitchen remodel often involves replacing everything from the kitchen cabinets to the appliances to the countertops.

When trying to decide which kitchen update is right for you, consider what your issues with your current kitchen cabinets are. Next, be honest with yourself and your kitchen designer both about your budget and how long you and your family can live with an out of commission kitchen. Together you can decide based on your customized pro/con list, which option is best for you. Call, email or come by The Savannah Cabinet Shop today and we’ll start the process together.