Oak Kitchen Cabinets – A Quality Kitchen Design Choice
Cabinetry visually dominates the kitchen and provides organization and storage for packaged food, beverages, cooking ingredients, dishes, flatware, cookware and utensils. For this reason, the selection of kitchen cabinets is an important decision to make, whether you’re undertaking a kitchen remodeling project or planning the kitchen design of your new home. Oak kitchen cabinets are a quality investment for any remodeling project. In busy kitchens with changing temperature and moisture levels and the spills and mess of food preparation and cooking, solid oak kitchen cabinets will last a lifetime.
Oak is the wood of choice for home furnishing due to its excellent quality, providing homes that innate strength and beauty that lasts for many years. It is a popular hardwood because of its sturdiness and attractive rough grains and patterns. Oak comes in colors ranging from light to dark, including white, yellow, honey, red, reddish brown, and even streaks of black or green. Reddish-brown wood gives a warm, cozy feel and works well in country, rustic or traditional style kitchens. Light wood provides a bigger brighter look, making it a good choice for modern kitchens.
For people who want to incorporate accent colors, painting oak kitchen cabinets is more easily done with light wood. Along with the variety of door and drawer front styles and hardware that you can choose from, these are great ways to add a personal touch to your cabinets.
Homeowners with limited budgets can still have the beauty and durability of oak kitchen cabinets. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you can save money by buying discounted ready-to-assemble unfinished oak kitchen cabinets that you can assemble and stain or paint. Learn how to paint cabinets in this Lowe’s video:
If you are uncomfortable with tools, however, or if you have irregular spaces that will not accommodate stock cabinets, and your budget permits, you should go with custom cabinets.
You can keep your oak cabinets in top condition by wiping them down first with a sponge and warm water and then with a small amount of cleaner applied either directly or using a clean cloth. After cleaning, wipe them down with water again and remove excess water or cleaner with a clean dry cloth. As time goes by, signs of wear and use will eventually show on the surface of your cabinetry. Refinishing your oak kitchen cabinets will bring back a renewed luster, making them appear good as new.
Oak is a less expensive wood than cherry or maple. The price of oak kitchen cabinets will depend on the quality of materials used and the installation cost, which in turn is based on your kitchen size. Consult a licensed professional kitchen contractor in your area for a specific cost estimate. On average, basic stock cabinets cost between $4,000 and $5,000; expect to pay more for custom cabinets.
Oak kitchen cabinets are manufactured by Continental Cabinets, Fieldstone, KraftMaid, Thomasville and Kitchen Classics and can be purchased at The Home Depot, Lowe’s, KitchensPro.com, DirectBuy, and other stores.
