8 PROS And CONS Of Popular Kitchen Cabinetry Materials

prime spaces of storage for those commodities. They are your refrigerator and your kitchen cabinet, respectively. While your dressing table may spark with jewels in cupboards and glass cabinets, your kitchen cabinetry materials are equally significant as storage in your day-to-day lives. Renovation needs a lot of deciding, and we generally find ourselves getting confused with so many cabinets material types to choose from. So how about we pick up some of the market’s favorite materials for kitchen cabinets and weigh in their pros and cons for you to decide? Let’s go.

Solid Wood

1. Solid Wood

PROS

• Aesthetics: Made of natural wood and delivers a touch of natural, earthy beauty.
• Variety: Wood comes in a variety of color schemes and styles. It provides you with complete designer’s freedom to customize.
• Range: Given the natural wood’s durability, its price also ranges according to the type of wood you choose to go with.

CONS

• Expensive: While the price range is dynamic, softwood, in general, is more expensive than any other kitchen cabinet materials.
• Not Environment Friendly: Wood comes from the inevitable cutting down of trees. Solid wood cabinet material is crowding the market; it is also affecting the environment and promoting cutting down valuable gifts of nature.
• Termite: Solid wood is also gravely prone to infestation of termite and humidity.

Aluminum Kitchen Cabinetry

2. Aluminum Kitchen Cabinetry Material

PROS

• Aesthetics: The anti-rust composure of aluminum keeps the steel look of the metal always new and shining.
• Variety: without the hindrance of any wooden kitchen cabinet materials and derivatives, aluminum as kitchen cabinet material has a sleek and elegant finishing that may range for different colors.
• Low Maintenance: Aluminum has great stability, deeming it to be non-corrosive, non-flammable, odorless, and also termite-free.
• Price: The added waterproof nature and durability make the pricing of Aluminum reasonable but still dependent on the exact material for kitchen cabinets you choose.

CONS

• Lack Of Style: Aluminum’s wide range of colors doesn’t make up for the lack ofits stylistic range. It is only contemporary or modern.
• Noisy:Metals can be incredibly noisy on handling, and Aluminum cabinetry materials have a piercing “clanging sound.”
• Quality: Going past the durability of the material, Aluminum is still lightweight and quite soft. Hence, it is subject to indentation, which isn’t appropriate for this type of cabinetry material to be stored on.

Thermofoil

3. Kitchen Cabinetry Materials: Thermofoil

PROS

• Maintenance: Thermofoil is the most preferred item for homeowners precisely for its easy-care material
• Aesthetics: kitchen cabinet types are mostly chosen for their Aesthetics to match the kitchen theme. Thermofoil’s quality enables it to range from a variety of styles and themes.
• Versatility: The vinyl surface that comes with Thermofoil is flexible enough to fit in various themes and styles.
• Price: The plastic surface material has made Thermofoil a great alternative to the expensive wooden cabinetry materials.

CONS

• Weight: Thermofoil tends to be on the heavier side of the material group due to its lamination over an MDF, which is an engineered wood core. Being heavier than wood cabinets makes it difficult for its installation.
• Low Heat Resistance: Thermofoil is known to be a poor resistor of heat, which also makes it the not so preferred material for kitchen cabinets in homes with close heat sources. When in close contact with heat, the lamination over the MDF may peel over from the core made of veneer.

Laminate

4. Laminate

PROS

• Strength: Laminate Cabinets are compactly created by compression of solid wood, either particulate or cut down, and melamine. This makes them immensely strong as a core material for kitchen cabinets.
• Variety:Laminate Cabinets aremostly known for their great range of stylistic variety. Its variance in scheme and colors makes it very versatile and esthetically.
• Durability: The strength of Laminate Cabinets has added to their sturdiness and durability
• Price: For a quality that passes in durability and is aesthetically pleasing, the Laminate cabinets make for a great value.

CONS

• Cracking: Due to the compromise on value, laminate cabinets are easily prone to peeling or cracking after a while.
• Repairment: They are not easily replaceable once they are cracked. One cannot paint over a crack on the laminated surface, and replacing the whole kitchen cabinet material can be expensive.

Polyester

5. Kitchen Cabinetry Materials: Polyester

PROS

• Price: The price itself makes Polyester the ideal alternative to wood. If someone is looking to have solid wood on their kitchen cabinetry materials but gets tight on the budget, can opt for the similarly structured Polyester
• Maintenance: it is extremely easy to maintain and is resistant to all the sensitive chemicals.
• Aesthetics: A Polyester chosen color will never face the aged mark of discoloration.
• Material: The Polyester film coating the kitchen materialmakes it immune to sudden dents and scratches, increasing its longevity.

CONS

• Recovery: As resistant as it is to scratches, once due to an accident, if polyester material gets scratched, it will be quite difficult to renew or fix the surface.
• Quality: When compared to the exquisite materials of wood and aluminum, polyester falls short in brand value.

Medium Density Fiberboard

6. Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF)

PROS

• Quality: MDF has a composite structure that enables its strength and consistency more than its contemporary kitchen cabinetry materials.
• Aesthetics: MDF has a smooth finish that gives a satisfying, un-weathered look on your cabinets.
• Environmentally friendly: Engineered wood already takes one step ahead of natural wood because it does not promote the cutting of trees. Scientifically manufactured, MDF has proven to be a great alternative to natural wood.

CONS

• Prone To Damage: Because it is Engineered and not naturally extracted, the outer surface and the core has the same scientific composition, whereby it is over-compressed enough to form as a Sealand.
• Prone to Damage: Sand is detrimental to the Fiber-waxed core and can cause permanent damage in between scratches.
• Weight: artificially built Fiber wood is surprisingly heavier than solid wood, which causes an added inconvenience when one tries to get in a flat pack kitchen. More effort is significantly given to the anchors with the extra support. Wall mounting and shelving of cupboards become an added burden.
• Sensitive To Heat: Unlike natural wood, MDF is purely manufactured on wax and compounds similar to a raisin. Hence, your nearby ovens, toasters, fireplaces, and radiators cannot sit on the MDF-made cabinet.

Plywood

7. Kitchen Cabinetry Materials: Plywood

PROS

• Composition: Like MDF, the plywood is also an engineered wood made of multiple layers of thin wood veneers, which makes it stable, sturdy, and strong enough to hold weight.
• Variety: The manufacturing procedure of layering has allowed plywood to be coated with various finishes like wood veneers, Thermofoil, or plastic Laminate.
• Quality: Being highly durable, it is almost immune to regular warping, shrinking, and cracking as the other kitchen cabinetry materials face. It is also moisture-free, a must for the kitchen.

CONS

• Price: Plywood is not easily accessible due to its price range, which is much higher than the MDF or an HDF.
• Aesthetic limitations:The advantageous qualities do not make up for the limitations on elaborate designs you generally get with cabinet material types.
• Not flexible: Plywood must always be coated with veneer or laminates. Otherwise, the rough edges may appear more frequently, and repairing such would cause an additional expense.

Stainless Steel

8. Stainless Steel

PROS

• Protection: The protective microbial and anti-fungal properties in the manufacture of stainless steel have made it ideal not only for utensils but for cabinet materials for the kitchen.
• Aesthetics: stainless steel has long been the talk of the hour in the niche of furniture, giving the enhanced modernized look that is trendy right now.
• Maintenance: Stainless steel is long-lasting that ensures homeowners with reliability. It’s a great kitchen material for wet environments and is non-corrosive, so rusting will not be a problem for maintenance in the long run.
• Expense: Maintenance does not require much thinking, so stainless steel becomes a one-time investment.

CONS

• Design: What might seem modern and minimalistic to one group of customers may turn down the other group because of its industrial, lack of color look. It has a commercial tone that sets for hardened, non variable stylistic choices.
• Scratches: The surface of stainless steel is weak in enduring frequent scratches and smudges of fingerprints. The additional cleaning can also create a problem.
• Noisy: Like aluminum, even stainless-steel falls prey to the loud clunking noises when kitchen cabinetry materials and utensils are placed above.

Concluding Thoughts

Confused about what to pick? Take a moment to carefully locate the pros and cons of every kitchen materiallisted here, and think about what prioritizes your needs for a perfect kitchen. Is it the looks? Or the maintenance? Finally, make a decision based on your needs because these kitchen cabinetry materials are not going anywhere! ‘

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