Hardware. All of it.

Kitchen Hardware

When we think about hardware, we naturally think about handles and knobs – those pretty, important pieces we use to open our cabinets. They are workhorses disguised as jewellery. I could talk for pages about choices and options and styles: offer design direction or explain the differences between contemporary, modern and traditional, linking to design boards full of examples. But that’s what Pinterest is for and not the goal of this conversation. I do notice that there is another, more overlooked aspect of kitchen hardware, which is just as important, but worth considering: the mechanical slides and hinges.

Slides and Hinges Matter.

There is something so satisfying about pushing a soft-closed drawer and it gently settling back into place.

I can think of nothing more annoying than a drawer that won’t open. Whether the saran wrap has wedged itself in the drawer box, leaving an itch to squeeze your fingers to wrangle it back into place; or when cabinet doors slam shut, and all the glassware collides on impact; or your “everything drawer” (yes, we all have them, they are ubiquitous to kitchens everywhere) drops off its track when over-extended – you eventually get to a point where its better to just not open those cabinets at all. This is all extraordinarily frustrating and makes for an unhappy time in your kitchen.

So how do I avoid this from ever happening, ever, ever again?

Mechanically, drawer slides and hinges have come a really long way. Many of the older-style kitchens we replace used wooden tracks (strips of wood tenoned into horizontal rails at the face of a cabinet [mfn]Popular Woodworking. (2017, August 21). 3 Kinds of Furniture Drawer Slides: Pros and Cons [Blog post]. Retrieved from [http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/e-zpass-is-a-life-saver-literally/][/mfn]) which, although solidly constructed, cause a host of problems over time. Ever pull your drawer all the way out of its opening?  Or have to wiggle the entire drawer to unstick it from its track? Or remember that teeth clenching sound of wood rubbing on wood?  The fluctuations of our Canadian climate cause cabinets to shift and move over time and wooden tracks have some obvious pitfalls.

And now, with mechanically designed metal slides and hinges that offer durability and soft-close technology, you’d expect that you’ll get just as much life and enjoyment out of your new space as ever. Unfortunately, if your cabinet supplier is cutting costs on cheap slides, your brand new, beautiful kitchen isn’t going to function at its best, and you’ll find yourself in the same place once again, struggling to open drawers, and messing with levelling doors. Often, tracks made of cheap, imported metals bend and warp with use. And, as those so very important functional aspects of the kitchen start to fall apart, it becomes clear to our customers that an update is necessary, not just because the kitchen feels dated.

I do not suggest that you bother to research the various kinds of mechanical hardware options – the options are vast and you have enough decisions on your plate. But, if your quote doesn’t specifically state the type of hardware being supplied, it’s worth asking the company you’re working with the right questions: what kind of slides and hinges are being used? Do they have a soft-close function? Can they be adjusted?

Unfortunately, if your cabinet supplier is cutting costs on cheap slides, your brand new, beautiful kitchen isn’t going to function at its best…

click over here now cialis viagra These muscles are located in the corpus cavernosum of the penis to relax which consequently causes the blood vessels to dilate. The watchers can avail the advantages by posting their needs. djpaulkom.tv cialis 20 mg It helps cialis buy you achieve stronger and firmer erections using the sheer power of water and air. This not only results in better virility, but also greater pleasure at http://djpaulkom.tv/balls-thighs-and-bae-cooking-with-the-kom-for-super-bowl-sunday/ viagra price orgasm.

Our Take: Blum Hardware Every-time.

At our cabinetry business, we use German-engineered, Blum hardware exclusively. It is the Cadillac of cabinet hardware. Not only does it perform the best, day after day, but its reliability is unmatched. And while they’re not necessarily cheap in the scope of options, we rarely (if ever) get called to readjust and have never had to replace any of our installed Blum products. That’s worth us spending the extra money, and our customers are happy because their cabinetry is working for them, and they don’t ever need to consider why.

We use Blum’s Movento slides. These soft-close, undermount slides can adjust up-and-down and side-to-side, where most undermount slides only adjust up-and-down. This gives your cabinetry the cleanest lines possible, as they are adjusted onsite at the time of installation. They also have a load bearing capacity of 40-60 kg with high stability. One of the functionality features I generally include in my kitchen designs is a pots-and-pans drawer. These hinges allow for the weight of these heavy stacked items to be organized inside a high-performance drawer.

We use Cliptop Blumotion Hinges which give you that beautiful soft-close motion, no matter the size of the cabinet door.

So if you’re working towards a new kitchen, weighing the cost benefits and looking at quotes, take into account the moving parts – the real dynamos of the kitchen, whether they look it or not. A pretty facade is only worth its well-working parts.

 

Do you have a question about your hardware or want to know whether the hardware being supplied on your kitchen is a quality option? Leave a message in the comments or send us an email.