Corprorate Office: 490 Cummins Dr., Chaffee, MO  63740  (MAP)  (573) 887-3100  Contact us on FB Messenger HERE                                                                            HOURS: Monday-Friday 8-5  /  Saturday & Evenings by appt.                                            For Showroom appointment, please call (573) 887-3471

Updating Your Current Kitchen

UPDATING YOUR CURRENT KITCHEN.

The kitchen is one place where you spend most of your time, and almost every visitor enjoys taking a peek at it. These are reasons why you can’t ignore how your kitchen looks and what people perceive from it at a glance. But if you take on the job of giving it a makeover yourself, you will need tons of assistance to get through the process. 

Kitchens are rooms where you should be more meticulous than you might think. There’s heat, steam, sharp knives, hard-to-remove colors, and a good load of stuff to arrange around it. All these things require you to make informed choices and make decisions that will make your life easier. And that is just the primary requirement of setting it up. 

If you want the surroundings to be a little more elegant, then you need to go the extra mile and add nuances in designs to make it stand out. It doesn’t mean that you paint each wall with a different, overly-intense color and choose mismatched cabinets to blow things out of proportion. Instead, make subtle changes that are coherent yet impossible for people to ignore. Look into the designs of kitchens at S&W Cabinets to get a good idea of what you aim to achieve. They will help you distinguish your kitchen from others across the US. 

If you are looking for some general advices to navigate you through the process, here are some useful tips on choosing kitchen cabinets, countertops, backsplashes, and floors. 

  1. Set the tone

The first thing that you should keep in mind is that you are aiming for a synchronized environment. The cabinets shouldn’t disagree with your color theme, the counters with the backsplash, and the floor with everything. 

A rule of thumb for most kitchens is to go a tone lighter with every selection, starting with your wall paint. If you choose a dominant grey, go for mild silver cabinets, light grey backsplash, and granite colored countertops. That way, you won’t have to worry about making individual choices with every section. Besides, most floor options would fit nicely with this idea, be it stone, tile, or wood. 

  1. Choose your material

Material is notably relevant when making all these choices, especially with the diverse set of options we have these days. 

There’s stainless steel, melamine, and wooden cabinets, each of which is a great choice, but the most commonly used is wood, thanks to its aesthetic appeal. Countertops have similar options in the form of laminate, wood, concrete, and solid surfaces. One deciding factor may be how carefully you handle hot pans because a single mistake can prove quite costly. 

As far as the floor is concerned, vinyl, stone, cork, wood, and tiles, everything is an option. The only requirement is which of these complements the interior of your kitchen the most. 

  1. Pay attention to patterns & designs

The trivial perks and features you add to these items breathe life into your choices, so pay close attention to designs and patterns. 

Adding borders to your countertops or using round edges to break the monotony in designs is one way to go about this option. Going for a combination of glass and surfaced cabinet doors is another brilliant idea to put its contents on display while introducing a variety in design. 

People also like the thought of interrupting the backsplash patterns with a design accent or a tile above the stove that stands out amongst the others. A more dominant alternative besides this is colored grout to line the tiles of the backsplash. So, the choice is yours to make. 

  1. Don’t neglect the finishing touches

A common blunder that most individuals make is that they think their job ends with these choices. But unfortunately, that isn’t the finish line. There are still some refinements that you need to add to this mix to make it extraordinary. 

For cabinets, consider carefully picking the hardware like pulls and knobs to add a touch of style. There are so many to choose from.  

Enjoy exploring the markets for these items. Or, contact an S&W Cabinet specialist to help you with your decisions. 

Kitchen Cabinets by S&W
Aline Cabinets Shaker White
Cabinet Hinge

What are the benefits of having soft closing doors & drawers? 

There are several so lets start with the best one.

  • Silence. Silence is golden when it comes to drawers and doors closing. No more cringing in the morning when you accidentally slam that door while others are still sleeping. You know the consequences when that happens, right?
  • No more pinched fingers. This is especially important if you have little ones. With soft closing door you’ll never have to worry about that again.
  • Contents stay in place. How many times have you slammed that drawer just a little too hard? You know what happens, right? The contents go everywhere and your well organized drawer ends up looking more like a junk drawer.
  • Extends the life expectancy of your cabinets.
  • Encourages higher resale value.
  • Compliments your kitchen. If you are going to be spending thousands of dollars on new cabinets, it’s worth spending just a little more to help protect your investment, and your little ones fingers 😉 

Another thing to consider are self-closing doors and drawers.

What’s the Difference between Self-Close and Soft-Close Hinges

Self-Close Hinges

Self-close hinges are a type of hinge that has a spring built into it so when you start to close your cabinet door, the spring takes over and pulls the cabinet door closed with a tap.

 

Soft-Close Hinges

Soft-close hinges, on the other hand, have hydraulics built into them so when you close the cabinet door, the hydraulics take over and ease the door closed silently. The cabinet door appears to glide closed.

Most hinges that are soft-closing are also self-closing, but not all self-closing hinges are soft-closing.

 

Disadvantages of Soft-Close Hinges

None that we know of.

 

So whether you go with soft closing doors & drawers or self closing doors and drawers, you’ll be glad you did.

 

 

 

 

birch dovetailed drawer

What are Dovetail Drawers

In a nutshell, it’s a locking joint that firmly holds the walls of your drawers together. Ensuring a tight grip that will probably last longer than most of us will. These joints are made to last and are found in most well built cabinetry, like the cabinets at S&W Cabinets. 

The dovetail ‘locking joint’ is constructed from wedge-shaped channels cut into the wood, that interlock with one another from either side of the door frame or drawer, creating a box. The wedge-shaped pieces are called ‘tails’ and ‘pins,’ and provide a very strong joint that is very resistant to force once the two sides are joined.

Drawers with Dovetails can normally hold much more weight than a joint that is only glued making this an excellent choice for your kitchen drawers.

 

What are the benefits of having Dovetail Drawers?

This is one of our most asked questions and the answer is quite simple. Dovetail drawers provide longevity. This type of joint is able to withstand much more than the average everyday use. When you consider your cabinet drawers will be opened and closed at least 8 times a day, or over 3,000 times a year, you’ll want joints that will hold up for years and years after you purchase them.

 

There are quite a few variations of dovetail joints, here are three of the most common types.

1. The “Through Dovetail” exposes the ends of both pieces. Seeing the end grain makes it obvious that the joint is a dovetail.

2. The “Half-Blind Dovetail” can be recognized by the visible end grain on the side but not from the front.

3. The “Blind Dovetail” does not expose any end grain. These are much more difficult to find.

 

Ever wondered what soft closing doors and drawers were?  Find out HERE