The European Kitchen Cabinet - Popular In The US Too!
As the incidence of kitchen remodeling has snowballed over the past few years, certain items that were once rare in an everyday house have become much more commonplace. First on this list would be stainless steel appliances. Five years ago, only top-of-the line appliances came with stainless skins. Now just about every refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher, regardless of price range, is available in stainless steel or a lookalike finish. Next we have stone countertops, specifically granite, which were until recently also primarily reserved for the elite. Now they're the most popular countertop choice when it comes to remodeling. Finally, the European kitchen cabinet used to be seen mostly in....well, Europe, in addition to a few upscale American kitchens. Now they're almost as popular as our traditional type of cabinet, which is referred to as "face frame" because it has a frame laid over the face of the cabinet. European cabinets are also frequently called frameless cabinets, due to the lack of the face frame referred to earlier. Basically, they're just a box. The hinges on European cabinets are invisible from the outside, which explains why they're frequently called concealed hinges, and normally have adjustment screws that allow the doors to be shifted in three directions to achieve a perfect fit. The door part of the hinge normally 'clips' onto the part of the hinge that's attached to the frame, making it very easy to remove the door for cleaning or access.
While the original design of Euro cabinetry was a very plain and simple "less is more" look with flush doors having no ornamentation whatsoever, the new versions still use the frameless construction and hidden hinges, but any sort of design is permissable on the door. So you're not limited to the modern "Euro-kitchen" or contemporary style looks any more. European cabinet doors are available to match Victorian, Shaker, Craftsman, Colonial or any other type of decor that might be used in kitchens. The concealed hinges integral to European cabinets have become so popular that there are now retrofit versions that will accomodate the face frames on cabinets that have them. So if your face frame cabinets are structurally sound, but you are remodeling and want the Euro look, you don't have to rip perfectly good cabinets out. You can just reface them with new doors and the concealed hinges made for those types of boxes. While face frame kitchencabinets almost universally have solid "toe kicks" (the area below the cabinet that allows your feet to go under the cabinet box and therefore lets you stand close to the cabinet without stubbing your toe), Europeans may use a toe kick or may instead use furniture legs on the cabinet in order to emphasize a clean open look. In regards to functionality, European cabinets are about as good as face frame versions wnen it comes to the storage of food and other kitchen essentials, but some people feel the lack of a face frame makes access a little easier.
|
