Materials Used for Construction of a Kitchen Cabinet
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When one says kitchen cabinet it is natural for many people to think that this furniture is entirely made up of one single material, that is wood. Well the truth is that a kitchen cabinet is usually built by using a combination of various materials. It is important for you to know which material you would actually prefer to be used in your kitchen cabinet when you are about to buy one. In this article we are going to shed some light into the different materials used in making a kitchen cabinet.
Alternate to wood:
1. The most common material used in any cabinet is the particle board. As the name indicates this is mainly made of chips of wood or wood shavings. The wood chips or wood shavings are usually compressed together into very thin, but rigid sheets and are held together with the help of resin. Particle board is mainly used to make the boxes or shelves in a cabinet. These boards are extensively used in all types of cabinets because of the high durability and the thinness of the sheets.
The most important advantage of this board is that it is very cheap, making it the best alternate for wood in stock or semi stock cabinets. Unlike wood, these boards do not swell or shrink due to changes in the humidity.
2. The other materials used in cabinets are the MDF or medium density fiber board. This is a manufactured product usually made from the fine wood particles. All the particles are held together with glue and are formed into thin sheets. Multiple sheets are then put together to get a fiber board. These boards are stiff and strong. They are mainly used as the backing material for lamination.
These boards can also be painted and are very suitable for veneers and can also be used as laminates. Since it is an engineered product the cost of this product is bit higher than the particle board yet still cheaper than high quality wood. Due to its high tensile strength and density it is commonly used in semi stock and custom-made cabinets.
3. The next item used as an alternate for wood is the plywood. Many would have heard about it, but not many really know what it is. The plywood is truly an excellent engineered product which is mainly made up of layers of wood veneers. These wood veneers are then aligned in such a way that they are at right angles or perpendicular to one another. This procedure is mainly used in order to gain tensile strength for the plywood. The wood veneers are held together by industrial glue.
The furniture grade plywood is usually used to make custom-made cabinets. Plywood is easy to work it and it has a very good tensile strength making it the highly preferred material for kitchen cabinet.