Cabinet Components:
When selecting your new cabinetry it’ll be important to understand what your potential cabinet installer is talking about, and to know how to ask questions about their construction. These are the main components of your average cabinet:
Cabinet Box – This is the main structure for any cabinet. These are most commonly found in particle board, MDF, and plywood and come in standard depths of 24” for the kitchen and 21” for the bathrooms. QGC cabinet boxes are constructed of ¾” plywood and are dried before cutting to make sure they’ll be sound in varying levels of humidity and heat. The cabinet box consists of the two sides with the toekick cutout, the back, the bottom, and corner bracers. The interior of the cabinet box will match the exterior in QGC cabinets.
Cabinet Frame – This structure is the attachment point for the doors and drawers, and is what gives framed cabinets their sturdiness. In European style or “frameless” cabinets this frame is not included and the doors and drawers are instead attached directly to the cabinet box. The cabinet frames in our in-store cabinets will be made of Birch Wood and will match the paint or stain of the doors and drawer faces.
Drawer Boxes – The drawer boxes consist of the sides, bottom, and back of a drawer within either a base or drawer base cabinet. QGC Drawers range from 12-30” in width in conjunction with their corresponding cabinet. For base cabinets wider than 30” there will be two drawers on the top of the cabinet box with two doors below. QGC drawer boxes are dovetailed, soft-close, and come with full-extension glides.
Cabinet Faces – The door and drawer faces are the actual doors that swing on a hinge and the visible front panel of the drawer box. These faces will also be made of birchwood and will come pre-drilled for our six-way adjustable soft-close pocket hinges. We have five main door styles: White painted single shaker, Smoky Grey stained single shaker, Walnut stained beveled shaker, Grey painted double shaker, and Chestnut stained raised panel.
Shelves – Shelves within the cabinets themselves are made of ¾” plywood (other cabinet suppliers may use MDF/particle board) and will be painted or stained to match the interior colours of the matching cabinets. These shelves are usually adjustable using shelf pins set into the side of the cabinets in pre-drilled holes. If buyers don’t like the look of these pre-drilled holes on the inside of their cabinets they can use cabinet plugs or covers which can be found in most major hardware stores.
Hardware – These include the drawer glides and the hinges. There are many options for hardware on the market, but the most popular in the past few years have been the soft-close upgrades. QGC hinges and drawer glides are all soft-close without needing to move into a higher price tier. Our drawer glides are all full-extension (even in the bathroom vanities) for ease of access, and our hinges are six-way adjustable pocket hinges. This means that if a door sags out of alignment due to age or accident, in many cases homeowners will be able to make their own adjustments up, down, left, right, forward, or back to bring it back into alignment.
Handles – Handles are the most personalizable aspect of any cabinetry. There are thousands of styles of knobs and pulls that homeowners can choose from based on their own preferences. Most cabinets, unless you are also getting your handles from the cabinet maker, will not come pre-drilled for handles which will allow each purchaser to make their own selection. When choosing handles it is also important to take into account the install process; for example, knotty alder wood cabinets will have large inherent knots within the doors that may affect the placement of the handles/knobs/pulls. QGC does offer several styles of knobs and pulls and can install those as well as outside handle hardware onto your new cabinets for you with the exception of the cup style pulls. Keep in mind your cabinet layout when choosing a larger knob or pull, and make sure you don’t choose one that’s tall enough off of the cabinet face to block the door swing or drawer function of an adjacent cabinet or appliance.
Toekicks– The toekick is not a separate component, but it’s referred to often enough that it deserves a mention. The toekick of a cabinet box is the space at the bottom of the base cabinet where it returns backwards for 2 ¾”, and then turns back down for 4 ½” to meet the floor. The space created by this return makes it easier for someone to stand up close to the cabinetry without bonking their toes or throwing out their back.