Unfinished Kitchen Cabinets

Home July 5th, 2009



Should you be contemplating a change of scene for your kitchen within a limited budget, unfinished kitchen cabinets offer the right solution. Besides being an economical solution, they offer you the flexibility of designing and giving that desired classic look you might have been looking for.

Dealers of kitchen cabinets offer unfinished kitchen cabinets as well. There is choice of the variety of wood you would like to have. These are not varnished or stained and are generally not sealed. Here, you have the freedom of choosing a cabinet design for your kitchen. You could have them in a color of your choice and you may choose a particular shade of stain or have a finish and glaze of your choice. You may like to have a light shade by simply finishing it with clear lacquer, or a light maple stain. Should you prefer to give it a darker look, you may treat it with a walnut stain or a dark paint of desired intensity.

Wood being a natural product has some distinct characteristics. Each variety has its own unique grain structure and a natural shade. An area like kitchen looks attractive with stains. One category of wood may absorb stains to a great extent while the other one may be a poor absorbent of stains. Original color and hardness of the variety of wood decides the final color it will attain after staining. It’s important to decide before hand the color that you would like to have finally. It is understandable that a light colored wood may easily be given a darker look but it is nearly impossible to get a lighter shade from a dark colored wood. Do not hesitate to try different stains on a few of the samples of unfinished wood. This will prove helpful in giving you a fairly good idea of the final look that you would desire to have.

Mahogany and hickory are darker varieties of wood. On the other hand if you wish to have a lighter shade you should try oak, pine, ash, elm and beech. Teak, rosewood and cherry would fit in the category of midway shades.

Apart from offering you the flexibility of design and shade, unfinished cabinets work out cheaper too. Being unfinished they are necessarily cheaper. Look at it this way. You can have the expensive looks of cherry or mahogany cabinets by staining the not so expensive lighter shades of wood like beech or oak. But, to get that classic look associated with those expensive categories of wood you should not try to economize on the quality of workmanship and hardware used for making of these cabinets.

You may further reduce the cost of the project if you settle to paint, stain or glaze the unfinished kitchen cabinets, as in such a case you can buy more economical types of wood. As already pointed out oak and beech are lighter shades of wood. Such a kind of wood on being stained would give the rich looks of an expensive wood like cherry or mahogany. Here again, you have to ensure a high level of workmanship and hardware.

You can procure these unfinished cabinets from a local retailer or even online. Undoubtedly they offer you the freedom of color, design and style to suit your taste and the interiors of your kitchen. You can transform your kitchen to a more lively and inviting place without really spending a fortune. Be practical and do yourself a favor by exploring the possibility of using them to your advantage.

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