In many ways, our mood and desire to return home depends on the interior of the housing. You can talk about this for a long time, providing links to the research of various scientists and designers, but this is already understandable.
But much less people think that a beautiful, spacious and high-quality furnished kitchen can make gatherings with family or friends simply unforgettable. Unfortunately, one often encounters a situation where chaos reigns in the kitchen, and some furniture sets not only look alien, but also interfere with the preparation of tasty and healthy dishes.
Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to buy a set of solid wood, but to make the facades for the kitchen with your own hands is quite realistic. At the same time, you will not only save a ton of money, but also give a unique personality to the interior of your home.
What can they be made of?
- Solid wood.
- Varieties of chipboards.
- Glass.
- Aluminum alloys.
- Varieties of plastic.
Fiberboard
Particleboard and similar materials make it possible to become the owner of a modern and beautiful kitchen, spending the least money on it. To these plates today there is a very mixed attitude. However, if there is no money for facades from the array for the kitchen, you still have no particular choice.
But all is not so bad. Modern industry produces hundreds of varieties of particleboard, protected from the effects of the environment by decorative films and a laminated coating. Note! Buy fiberboards only from normal manufacturers, as fakes can be very dangerous to your health. In addition, cheap varieties are not suitable for use in high humidity, literally falling apart in just a couple of years.
Array
All facades from the array for the kitchen look the most noble and expensive. They are durable, easy to repair and restoration. In addition, such facades are completely safe from an environmental point of view, masters can apply exquisite carvings on them.
The disadvantage is that you need to understand the breed of used wood well. Cheap wood varieties not only do not have a beautiful structure that would look perfect under varnish, but also do not have the required durability.
Metal
If you are going to update the facade of the kitchen with your own hands, pay attention to aluminum and aluminum alloys. This material is virtually eternal, holds its shape perfectly, does not rot. Aluminum does not care about increased air humidity. In recent years, some designers have generally decided to create kitchens entirely made of this wonderful silver metal. Of course, such an interior will organically fit into your home only if you are a lover of Hi-Tech style.
Glass
By the way, if we talk about this way of decorating kitchens, then glass will inevitably come to mind. It will look especially beautiful if you add to them the facades from the array for the kitchen. The combination of wood, glass and steel will always look modern.
The main advantage of glass is that it is not afraid of moisture, acids and alkalis, it is easy to wipe from burnt fat, leaving no residue on the material.
Just do not forget about its fragility. Be sure to glue the inner surfaces of the glass facades with a reinforcing film that will reliably hold the fragments in the event of an accident. However, an excellent solution would be to make them from plexiglass, which is much easier to handle and completely safe to handle.
Let's talk how to make the simplest of
paneled doors from solid wood. Since the manufacture of metal or glass kitchen facades is a rather complicated process, we would not recommend this for beginners.
Making paneled doors
First you need to find or buy a board 1.8 cm thick (from which the frame will be made) and plywood with a thickness of at least 6 mm. From it we will make the panel itself. If desired, plywood can be replaced with glass, aluminum or plastic. If the plywood is not of too high quality, it is perfectly acceptable to paste over it with decorative films.
In advance, get all the equipment you need for work: an electric jigsaw, pen drills for the slots for the loops, a drill, a plane.
Dimensioning Principles
It is very important to correctly calculate the dimensions in order to make beautiful facades for the kitchen. With your own hands you need to measure the size of the openings. We use the obtained data to create the door.
- The height of the doors (as well as the side pillars) must be 3 mm less than the height of the opening.
- The width of the racks and crossbars can be taken at the discretion, but they must be the same.
- The width of the doors should also be 3 mm less than the size of the opening. If you plan to make two doors, then subtract 1.5 mm from each.
- We find out the required length of the crossbars. To do this, take the width of the door, subtract the width of the racks, multiplied by two. Add 2 cm to the resulting value.
- The width of the panel is equal to the length of its crossbars, taking into account the addition of 1.5 mm to these sizes.
- The height is determined as follows: we take the double width of the crossbars, and then subtract this figure from the height of the doors. To the obtained value, add 2 cm.
Blank making
When making facades for the kitchen with your own hands, always pay special attention to the correct manufacture of blanks. It often happens that one missed trifle or inaccuracy in measurements will subsequently force a complete remodeling of a ready-made kitchen cabinet.
So. First, a couple of racks and a couple of crossbars on the frame should be cut from the aforementioned 18 mm thick board. Make grooves in them with a depth of 10 mm and a width of 6 mm. We recommend using a special saw blade for this purpose. Before testing it on your workpiece, check the real cut depth on some unnecessary piece of wood. It so happens that adjusting the instruments is somewhat inconsistent with the actual results.
Using the same saw blade, make the grooves necessary in your particular case. Taking plywood, plastic or aluminum, make a panel according to the measurements that were given by us above. After that, you can proceed to cutting the spikes on the crossbars of the doors. Spike width - 6 mm, length - 10 mm. Ideal for cutting a groove disk.
Feature Processing
All parts are carefully sanded. Having fixed the racks on the panel, and having adjusted the crossbars above and below, try to completely assemble the entire structure. If all the structural elements find one on top of the other with some effort, then you did everything right.
In the case when the connection requires too much effort, it is required to slightly modify the design with a sandpaper. In general, if you started making kitchen facades with your own hands, get ready for a long and thoughtful work with sandpaper.
Reassemble the door. Repeat until all parts begin to fit snugly and accurately against each other. Do not overdo it, because if you grind off excess, you will have to grind the damaged part again.
Only after all the structural elements begin to fit together perfectly, grease the spikes with glue and collect everything clean. Excess glue must be quickly and accurately removed with a damp cloth.
Leave the door alone for at least a couple of days. When the glue is completely dry, the joints are carefully sanded. After this, the facades can be varnished or painted. Finally, fasten the hardware to the finished door and install it in its rightful place.
Please note that painting the kitchen facades (do it yourself with your own hands is very simple) should only be done using environmentally friendly compounds. After all, in the kitchen you will be dealing with food, so there’s certainly nothing to do with excess chemistry in food!
A bit about the size of the facades
Of course, the subtitle looks pretty dumb. What sizes can we talk about when we make kitchens for our own apartment? It would seem that here you can show your imagination without fear of any restrictions!
Alas, this opinion is far from being true in all cases. Custom facades for the kitchen, the size of which you fit to the characteristics of your room, is fine, but are you ready to pay a lot of money for built-in appliances that you have to order for the same measurements?
Below we have given standard measurements that guide manufacturers of kitchen furniture. Focusing on them, you can tailor your creation to generally accepted requirements. After all, money certainly isn’t superfluous!
So, if you are interested in the standard dimensions of the kitchen facades, then the height of the lower base is calculated by the following formula: 713 + 4 + 28 + 100 = 845. All measurements are given in millimeters.
Measurement of 4 mm is the distance between the front and the countertop. The size of 28 mm is the thickness of the countertop itself, and 100 mm is the distance from the floor to the box. As you might guess, all of the above values are valid for fronts with a size within 713 mm.
The height of the upper base is calculated by another formula: 900 + 2 = 902 (mm). In this case, a size of 2 mm means gaps from the bottom and top of the front. Accordingly, its height is 900 mm.
Of course, the standard dimensions of the kitchen facades are quite true for the width of these modules. For example, if the height of the lower front is 713 mm, then its width is calculated as follows: (296x2) + 6 = 598 mm. In this case, a distance of 6 mm is the width of the gaps on the two doors. The width of each is 296 mm.
I think the general meaning is clear. If you have the opportunity to fit all sizes to generally accepted requirements, it is better to do this. Subsequently save a lot of your time and money.
A bit about colors and care
Having dealt with measurements and other technical information, you can talk about something more beautiful. We will talk about what colors are best to paint the kitchen. Of course, this is a purely individual matter, but still designers have some generally accepted recommendations.
Professionals say that the color of the facades for the kitchen should not be too light. However, it is understandable, because nobody wants to wipe off the stains after each cooking. But you should not get carried away with too dark colors. You will not notice how a nice facade will grow with a thick layer of burnt fat, which will be very, very difficult to wipe off.
What about the required care? The most difficult thing is to maintain in order the facades of chipboard and other chipboards. Since they have an unpleasant habit of swelling from high humidity and liquids, they should be wiped dry in case of any contamination. To wash oily stains you need a soft flannel rag soaked in a saturated soapy solution.
Glass and metal are much more unpretentious in this regard. In their case, you can use hard sponges or even metal brushes. However, it’s better not to bring the situation to the point of their application. These kitchen facades (reviews of which are positive) are especially in demand in restaurants, where the level of daily contamination with food residues and burnt fat is very high.
So we learned how and from what you can make a beautiful and functional kitchen.