17 Oct What makes up an IKEA cabinet?
IKEA® offers a free 25-year warranty on almost all parts of their kitchens. This incredible warranty covers cabinet frames, door and drawer fronts, UTRUSTA hinges, MAXIMERA fully-extending drawers, shelves of tempered glass and melamine, wire baskets, and more.
IKEA uses top-quality Austrian engineered BLUM hardware for all of their moving parts (drawers and door hinges), which offers excellent stability and weight ratings, has smooth running action, extends drawers fully and has an unmatched “quiet soft close” feature.
IKEA has a great description of their products on their website, on a page called Kitchen Products Overview. Here is some of the most pertinent information—straight from the source:
Cabinets, drawers, and shelves: Kitchen cabinets are the box frames that form the structure of your entire kitchen. With such a critical function, it pays to invest in quality materials that will hold up under years of daily use. IKEA cabinets are made of sturdy 3/4″ medium-density fibreboard (substantially thicker than most) with two melamine foil finishes to choose from for a hard-wearing, moisture-proof, and scratch-resistant finish.
Doors: You add your choice of doors, drawers, and interior fixtures to the cabinet box. Doors and drawers are by far the most important element in the overall appearance of your kitchen. IKEA has an array of door options to suit your style and budget:
• Solid wood: Extremely durable and pleasing to the eye, it suits various design styles and budgets. Wood can be more susceptible to scratches and dents than some other surfaces, but the effect of aging on this material can have a charm of its own. Wood is a good choice for cabinet doors exposed to rough treatment from younger family members. Fingerprints don´t show so much on a grained wood surface either.
• Wood veneer: Often underestimated as merely a more economical solution to solid wood, veneers have come a long way since the 1970s. Simply stated, veneer is a thin layer of wood stuck to a core of medium density fibreboard (MDF), or plywood. Wood veneer cabinets provide the warm, natural look of wood surfaces, often for a less expensive price tag. Don’t let the lower price mislead you; this material is stable and less susceptible to warping than solid wood.
• Lacquer: Lacquered doors have a base of fibreboard and are then coated with a colourfast lacquer and a painted finish. They provide an excellent option economically while offering great flexibility when it comes to colour and style. Lacquer doors are practical and easy to maintain.
• High-gloss foil: Foil allows you to achieve a bold, high gloss finish that transforms your kitchen into a style statement. It’s a beautiful, durable surface which reflects light into the room. However, it may not be ideal for kitchens where small, sticky fingers will be in contact with cabinet doors. On the other hand, foiled doors are easy to clean and maintain and can really brighten up a kitchen.
• Melamine: Melamine is single-colour print or pattern print on paper film that is applied under pressure to a board, normally a particleboard. This treatment makes the melamine surface hardwearing, heat-resistant, water-repellent, and easy to care for.
• Glass: You can use a few glass doors to add variety to a row of solid cabinets, creating a lighter, more open feeling in your kitchen. All IKEA kitchen cabinet styles include a glass-fronted version to combine with solid doors. And since all of our glass doors are tempered, you won’t have to worry about shattering.