Many people choose to update their cabinets when going in for a home improvement project. There are several considerations when it comes to the designs that are most appropriate for your project. As an integral part of the room makeup, any furniture must serve the dual purpose of function and decoration. Factors that play into the decision making process include the material to be used in the construction of the cabinets, your own personal style and the decor of the rest of the room, and the upgrading.



The motif of the room is the uppermost concern as far as decorative purposes. A traditional kitchen, for example, will have a laid back appearance. Cabinet designs that will fit in here will exude the feeling of comfort, usually by being painted in calm and natural colors. The cabinet style will thus match the rest of the room in terms of decor.

The contemporary kitchen, on the other hand, will entail sleek lines. The contemporary kitchen screams efficiency, so any lines for the cabinet will be clean and bare, with a sleek look that blends in with everything around it. Updated contemporary looks are utilizing metal finishes that are a bit more tamed down, so the kitchen looks warmer than the uber-contemporary style.

As far as constuction materials go, the modern cabinets are seeing the use of natural materials coming back into vogue. Many kitchens now are begin finished with granite countertops and foundation materials such as stone or slate, so the best materials to fit the design for your cabinets would be natural woods. Natural woods present the opportunity for the cabinet to have a kind of pattern, called a figure. Figures can be knotted, have a design that makes the viewer feel they are looking at the cabinet from far above, may incorporate spirals or fiddlebacks. Some types of woods used in cabinet design include soft woods like alder and lacewood, light colored woods like pine or birch, dark woods like bloodwood, and hardwoods such as cherry, walnut, maple, and madrone.

IN addition to the materials and the look, cabinets can be added to using designs. These designs can be pre cut, and the home improvement specialist can have a field day in cutting or etching the design into the cabinet herself. Remember that whatever is added in the decorating process will need to be compensated for; carving out some of the wood will make the cabinet lighter, which could effect the way the door closes and opens.