Kitchen & Bath Products and Materials

Cabinetry, Equipment, Surfaces

Ellen Cheever

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118775318
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Décoration d'intérieur

Objective guidance on kitchen and bath fitting choice to suit any client and any space

Kitchen and Bath Products and Materials describes the typical materials, equipment, and surfaces used in all facets of residential kitchen and bath design. Part of the National Kitchen and Bath Association's Professional Resource Library, this comprehensive reference is fully updated and expanded to include new technologies, materials, and finishes, with considerations of sustainability throughout. Full color illustrations and a revised design help visual learners better absorb the information, and the companion website provides an image bank and instructor's guide for classroom use. Each chapter includes a summary and review questions, allowing readers to test their grasp of the material at every step.

Kitchen and bath design is the most popular and lucrative area within residential interior design. As such, the enormous amount of options available for surfaces, fixtures, and materials is far too vast to be navigated by taste and aesthetics alone. Kitchen and Bath Products and Materials provides the background designers need to choose what's best for the client and the space, based on a number of objective factors and technical details. This complete handbook allows readers to:

• Explore material options for storage systems, fixtures, fittings, and surfaces
• Become familiar with sizing systems, efficiency ratings, and certifications
• Consider factors like manufacturing processes, engineering, and configuration
• Learn the terms and nomenclature used to describe materials, fixtures, and appliances

Design is about more than just aesthetics – whether the project is a remodel or new construction, there are codes, standards, and functional requirements that must be met. Kitchen and Bath Products and Materials is a practical reference, providing the information designers need to make informed decisions.

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Cabinetry

One of the largest components of a residential kitchen or bathroom is the storage system planned for the space. An organized storage area is also important in laundry rooms, hobby centers, home offices, closets, and dressing rooms.

• Learning Objective 1: Describe the differences between frame and frameless cabinetry as it relates to case construction material and sizing differences.
• Learning Objective 2: Recognize some of the sources offering interior storage systems.
• Learning Objective 3: Explain the difference between cabinet doors or fronts constructed from solid woods versus veneer surfacing materials.
• Learning Objective 4: Provide a comprehensive listing of planning concerns when working with vendors.
• Learning Objective 5: Outline the key categories of the KCMA Certification Program process and the KCMA Environmental Stewardship Program.
• Learning Objective 6: Identify typical cabinet configurations and available sizing for kitchens, bathrooms, and other home storage centers.

Design professionals in the kitchen and bathroom industry may be representatives of specific manufactured cabinet companies or may have a referral relationship with area showrooms that represent different cabinet companies. Some design professionals, known as independent kitchen designers, do not align themselves with any specific cabinet company. They develop plans based on generic cabinet specifications and then invite their clients to source products from kitchen dealerships representing large manufacturing companies or smaller local manufactured cabinetry.

Within the cabinet industry, broad categories are used to identify the configuration of the cabinet, the availability of custom sizing, the sophistication of interior cabinet accessory systems, and the variety of finishes and architectural accouterments offered by the producer.

In North America, kitchen cabinets historically were built by local cabinet or woodworking shops and were created for each project. Today, a great majority of kitchen cabinet systems is produced in highly sophisticated manufacturing facilities, both in North America and internationally. There are sizing differences between cabinets built in the United States and those built in Canada and internationally.

As a design professional, you may work for a retail organization representing specific cabinet manufacturers or directly for a cabinet manufacturer or distributor. You may work for a company that actually fabricates cabinets in a woodworking shop. Or you may be familiar with cabinets in general sense but focus your work on creating a generic space plan.

Regardless of how you interact with the cabinet source, it is important that you are familiar with:

• How the cabinets are built
• The functional hardware available for various cabinet components
• The special-purpose storage systems integrated inside cabinetry
• Materials used on the exterior of the cabinetry
• Door and front styles typically offered by manufacturers
• The industry’s efforts to responsibly manage these resources

CABINET TYPES

Regardless of the type of business you are affiliated with, in North America cabinet specifiers work with four broad categories. Within each of these, the quality levels, production costs, retail selling price, delivery schedules, and reliability factors vary. The following stock, semi-custom, custom, and millwork cabinetry definitions...