Back in the day, the dishes were lighter, smaller, and they took up far less space. Nowadays, as more and more people worldwide discover gourmet cooking at home, dishes are becoming heavier and robust. Even if we like to believe that our kitchen cabinets can handle any weight we put in them, that’s just not the only case. Sadly, even if you’ve got the best cabinets available on the market, it doesn’t give any surety that they are not invisible to collapse. And as per the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, the average kitchen cabinet limit is 600 pounds, and the standard cabinet screw size is 8-32 threading, which is typical for most of the weight cabinet pulls and knobs. If you have older kitchen cabinets or low-quality cabinets, they are likely to carry far less weight.
Kitchen cabinet standards
Many kitchen cabinet manufacturers set their weight limits, and 500 pounds seems to be more common (though somewhat possibly a conservative estimate). If you’ve designed custom wood kitchen cabinets, they won’t come with the manufacturer’s recommended weight cap. Ask help from your carpenter if you’re concerned about overloading kitchen cabinets. Cabinet materials, fasteners, construction, studs, joists, and many more are all part of the mix that makes up how strong are kitchen cabinets. Better quality cabinets can accommodate larger, heavier dishes. However, you would still like to distribute weight equally if you can. Use top cabinets with the kitchen cabinet clips, even if you can’t reach them without the help of a ladder, and set aside those spaces for far less-frequently-used items.
Things to consider in High-Quality Cabinets
There are indeed a few questions you need to ask to find long-lasting, robust, and high-quality kitchen cabinets that can handle a lot of weight. When buying high-quality kitchen cabinets, you should be looking for:
Superior quality kitchen cabinet doors that are long-lasting
When you have long-lasting standard kitchen cabinet doors, you have stability. These frames can serve the intention of maintaining your cabinet box square when it is delivered as well as when it is eventually installed. Frameless cabinets can be challenging to install in your home due to the accuracy and precision needed. With little or no room for error, it’s worth taking professional assistance with these forms of cabinets.
Robust and durable kitchen cabinet box material
One thing to bear in mind when purchasing suitable quality kitchen cabinets is that your cabinet box needs to be developed of durable and sturdy materials. Signature cabinets are usually all-plywood, with the mainline being a furniture board. With these proven materials, you can be confident that your brand new cabinets will withstand time-testing mostly for daily use. As an additional bonus, this material does not flake or expand when it comes to moisture. Other robust cabinet materials include plywood, which can retain kitchen cabinet screws stronger than other materials, and furniture board, which is more sensitive to humidity and temperature expansion.
Fully assembled kitchen cabinets
Few manufacturers sell kitchen cabinets that are fully assembled and deliver directly to your front door. These cabinets are ready to be assembled and can be installed in just a few hours. If you’re paying a little extra for longevity and ease, it’s always worth taking a look into hiring some competent support so you can get work done effectively and efficiently.
Kitchen cabinet boxes that are of excellent quality
A great thing to look for when buying kitchen cabinets is the embedded brace design in the cabinet box. This ensures that the cabinet will remain stronger for longer and will remain secure even during shipment or installation. They come with kitchen cabinet clips, making it much easier to move the base cabinets to the right position during the installation process.
What are the reasons behind Kitchen cabinets falling?
Overloading
Too much weight can surpass the holding power of the fasteners, which causes them to break or fall out of the wall stud. It may also affect the design of the cabinet, causing it to split. It is popular for lower end cabinets or little-built cabinets. To fix this issue, you must significantly reduce the weight provided to the cabinet by rearranging or removing the contents. Place heavier products on the lower shelves that can help to minimize the risk that the cabinet will become top-heavy, which can bring too much stress on the fasteners and resulting it to fall out of the wall.
Incorrect anchoring of wall
Cabinet hanging screws in the kitchen allow you to have a good anchor to keep everything in place. If the wrong anchor is used, your cabinets can instantly be disassembled and cause a lot of damage. Try to ensure you choose different types of cabinet hanging screws, such as the Robertson screw, which has a much larger head. This form of kitchen cabinet screw can bear more weight and have more holding strength around the nail of the cabinet. Also, it’s a wise idea to check that the kitchen cabinet screws you use are designed to support the weight you’re dealing with.
Compromised wall studs
Another issue that may lead to a falling cabinet is that of the wall studs. When your cabinets are hung up in your house, they must be fixed to wall studs that are solid and uncompromising. If any of the studs in your kitchen wall have been weakened by termites or become rotting over time due to the exposure of water, hanging cabinets might become a difficult task.
Here are some of the top picks for good quality kitchen cabinet material
MDF
Medium-Density Fibreboard is made up of tiny wood fibers that are glued together with resins and hot-pressed. It is a budget-friendly choice and can have any finish on top of it. Since this is an engineered wood, it has a higher chance of avoiding termites and a matte finish.
Laminate
If you’re searching for a durable finish, the laminates come to the rescue, and they’re also inexpensive. It is also heat-resistant and moisture-resistant, making it the ideal fit for the kitchen. It is a relatively low-cost material, but also because it is said to have a higher resistance to dents, scratches, moisture and offers more excellent stability.
Acrylic
Would you like your kitchen to look fabulous? Then acrylic finishing gives it a sophisticated look with a glossy finish. This ensures, however, that fingerprint traces, dirt and stains are more noticeable, and your kitchen cabinets will need frequent cleaning. It’s also an expensive choice in finishes.
Plywood
Numerous manufacturers naturally tend toward the development of plywood cabinets. This is not just because it is a relatively low-cost material, but also because it is said to have a higher resistance to dents, scratches, moisture, and greater stability than the MDF board. MDF board is said to be made up of plywood cabinets packed like a sandwich, with small piles of wood added on top of each other. Plywood is usually thought to be the best product when it comes to building cabinets. Plywood has excellent durability in construction because it carries screws and other mechanical fasteners more effectively. If the cabinet is vast and needs to be hung with the help of cabinet hanging screws, plywood might be the best choice because it’s very lightweight.
Particleboard
Particleboard cabinet is perhaps the least traditional cabinet-construction process. Wood chips and particles are mixed with glue, which is then poured into the sheets, and this is how particleboard is made. This mixture is the least solid of all the choices since it is simply made of bits of wood ground, and the only thing that keeps it together is the glue. Particleboard has various merits and benefits, one of which is greater dimensional stability. It does not warp due to any environmental changes and temperature fluctuations. Particleboard quality depends on the amount of the particles used to make it, the glue that holds it together, and the density of the board. Since the particleboard can be made from a lot of wood waste, its quality can vary significantly.
Stainless Steel
Although stainless steel gives the kitchen a desired contemporary feel, it’s not as attractive as wood. Stainless steel is more widely used in professional kitchens, but it isn’t easy to clean scratches and fingerprints. Stainless steel does not move up and down like wood, making it the right choice for moisture-rich areas.