Everything you need to know about shaker kitchen wall units for your home. Have you ever wondered what the difference is beween a regular kitchen wall cabinet and a shaker kitchen wall units. Let’s explore this!
What are shaker kitchen wall units
One of the newest trends that qualify as a new modern look are the shaker style cabinet units. They have blown the traditional curvey cabinet units out of the water. The sleek designed shaker cabinet wall units are way more minimalistic with their wide open framework and squared off corners all the way around, no round edges allowed. They are the new modern look, the more simple they are the more appealing they become. Not everyone is a fan of curvey rounded cabinets so these shaker cabinets are a great option.
Great Choice! Keep it up. Besides the modern look the doors on all the shaker kitchen wall units are full overlay. What does full overlay mean? Full overlay means that the size of the door or doors of the unit are the same size as the faceframe as the entire wall unit. These impressive doors completely cover the the front part of the cabinet so all you ever see is the door and the hardward placed on it.
Compared to traditional wall units
The traditional wall units have lots of carved in details around the face frame and especially on the main door itself. It seems like it was a requirement to put some kind of unique design on cabinet doors back in the day. Because every 20+ year old home with orginal cabinets always has strange design engraved in their cabinets and it’s nearly impossible to find another exact cabinet door unless you get it custom made or professionaly re-engineered.
These older wall units did not lay over the entire face frame of the cabinet. They were normaly smaller by a few inches all the way around. Not only that but their hindges used for the kitchen units were normaly not the best and hardly ever remained closed once slightly altered or aged.
How are they made?
Shaker kitchen wall units are made by big box stores to the skilled carpenter in his garage. The plain design is what helps make this building process easy for everyone involced. You dont need any special expensice router bits with different patterns. Modern cabinetry has really broken the barrier to entry when it comes to woodworking at a shop thanks to the simplicity.
What are shaker kitchen wall units made of?
Shaker is just a way of building a cabinet unit. They can be made of virtualy any material as long you can achieve a good exterior finish, then the material it’s made up of will be unoticeable the untrained eye. Regular building materials for the great looking kitchen wall units include any of the following:
- Hardwood
- Softwood
- Plywoods
- MDF wood
- Particle Board
- PVC Board
- Raw wood
- etc. unlimited options
How are they installed
Thankfully we have lots of experience when it comes to installing these shaker kitchen wall units. They have a bit of a trick to them because the boarder along the cabinet is in someway limited compared to other styles. Measurements may change depending on the manufacture of your cabinets but overall they are made in standard sizes. Depending on your liking you can screw them onto your wall by placeing the pre-drilling either on the inside top/lower sides or the exterior lip up top/ down under the cabinet unit.
The door of the shaker kitchen wall units can be easily flipped to match the oriantation of your kitchen so don’t be hesitant as to which side is the top and bottom because they 99% of the time work both ways. The shelving is also always optional and can be rearranged to your liking. Ofcourse keep it level and in the US normal height installment for shaker kitchen wall units are 54 inches standard to 54 and half depending on how much space you would like to leave for appliances.
Did someone say Crown Molding
Yes! Crown molding on shaker kitchen wall units is on the hardest and most time consuming of all the crown styles that exist. Here is why. You have no space to no free space up top above the wall cabinet because the full overlay door is completely covering that top edge you need to nail onto. So what are your options? Keep on building up! Thats right you will add scrap material above your cabinets to make a backer piece for your crown molding to rest on and be secured onto.
The challange. If you do not keep the face frame straight on the shaker kitchen wall units then you will have gaps on your crown so the installation has to be grade A perfect with proper shims leveling and plumbing your wall cabinets as you start from one side of the kitchen to the other.
The benefits of shaker kitchen wall units
If you have had some big shipments delivered to your home, then you should know that they bigger the item is the more of a chance you will have of damage happening to it. So having a large large door it will help cover any minor imperfections that will always remain hidden behind the shadow or edges of your door itself. It is hard to keep those corners totally squared off with the moving components so if you do have damage on one corner just place it up top and it will be covered by the crown molding.
Cleaning benefits
Dirty cabinets in the kitchen is a problem with only one solution. Clean it up. But how convenient it is to clean or wipe off cabinet doors that are simply flat and square, making it a breeze to go over them with a soaked warm towel to remove any grease or food stains. If you had any engraved details or edges on the face of the door then you would need tiny brushes or special cleaning supply for the job.
Are they still trending today?
We have been blessed to be able to work in tons of homeowners kitchens, majority of them are new homeowners. And what we have realized over the past 5 years this trend of shaker kitchen wall units, has not stopped or showed any signs of slowing down anytime soon. These cabinet units are still being installed in new homes and olds homes as we speak. On a weekly basis we see a few of these shaker kitchen wall units for a new home.
How much longer will they trend for? I think this has been proven as a design that works in so many ways, from the modern minimalistic appearance to the easy building process, and the quick cleaning applications. All the way around these cabinet style units are a win-win for everyone involved so I will say that this trend is here to stay.
Conclusion
Thank you for allowing us onto your screen and we hope our time together was valuable to you as it was to me and make this informative article full of facts, experience, and in some case my opinion coming from guy who installs lots of these shaker kitchen wall units per year. Feel free to reaching out to us and please support our youtube channel above which would help tremendously. With that being said good luck to you and your project and we hope you accomplish your vision faster than what you expected!
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