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SOLID WOOD KITCHEN CABINETS BLOG

Spotlight on Shaker Doors for Solid Oak Kitchen Cabinets

Posted by admin on February 25, 2015 at 4:14 pm. Filed under: Products
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When creating your new kitchen, the theme is partially dictated by the style of doors that you choose.

At Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets we offer two door styles to complement our solid oak kitchen cabinets: Shaker or Traditional. As the name suggest, the Traditional door style is suitable for classic or farmhouse kitchens, where extra ornate details are firmly at home.

Our Shaker doors however, are more suited to a contemporary kitchen design. They are more simplistic than the Traditional door styles, but still incredibly elegant in their own right.

They are named ‘Shaker’ doors after the religious movement which started during the 18th century in Manchester, England, but was made famous by the communities that travelled to North East America, one of which still remains today in the state of Maine.

The Shaker name is used for these cabinet doors because their clean, simplistic lines are evocative of the design ethos that the Shakers are famed for. Whilst Shaker design was mostly black and white, our doors are available pre-painted in any one of Farrow & Ball’s beautiful shades.

All of our solid oak kitchen doors are manufactured entirely from oak – even the centre panels. The frame on our Shaker doors measures 20mm thick, whilst the centre panel is 6mm thick. If you are using Shaker doors for wall-mounted solid oak kitchen cabinets, we also offer glazed variations featuring toughened frosted glass. If ordered along with matching oak cabinets, we will also supply you with Blum™ BLUMOTION™ soft-close hinges, which are a high-quality German mechanism. Finish off your frontals with our selection of matching Shaker pilasters, corner posts or cornices and pelmets.

If you would like to see the design of our Shaker doors up-close, please either visit one of our kitchen showrooms or order one of our miniature door samples, which can be finished or pre-painted in the style or shade of your choosing.

 

Colour of the Month: Three Pastels for Solid Oak Kitchens This Spring

Posted by admin on February 18, 2015 at 10:10 am. Filed under: Products

With frost still on the ground, we aren’t trying to get too ahead of ourselves, however now is the perfect time to prepare your kitchen if you are thinking of brightening it up with a new splash of colour this spring (the new season starts in March, after all!)

Having already featured every one of Farrow & Ball’s colours that feature in our standard ranges, this month we are looking at a combination of colours which would be ideal for solid oak kitchens, especially oak kitchen doors and drawer fronts.

The combination of creamy White Tie, the soft blue-green Mizzle and warm tones of Smoked Trout complement each other beautifully, and are fitting shades to choose for reflecting natural light. Consider them alongside one of our light wooden kitchen worktops to create an airy kitchen that looks beautiful at any time of year.

From our standard ‘Pastels’ collection, we have White Tie and Mizzle. White Tie is one of more than 15 shades of white in Farrow & Ball’s collection, but has creamier tones than some, sitting comfortably between New White and All White. It’s one of the shades that has proved most popular with our customers, and is a perfect colour for our oak kitchen frontals.

Mizzle was our first Colour of the Month in 2014, and features minty undertones of green, blue and grey that – according to Farrow & Ball – is reminiscent of “a west country evening mist”. In cold morning light, Mizzle takes on more blue tones, whilst in warmer evening light, it looks considerably more like an olive green.

Finally Smoked Trout – one of our bespoke colour options – echoes the mushroom pink tones of its namesake. It’s a lighter version of Farrow & Ball’s Dead Salmon, which looks considerably redder in all but very white light. Expect Smoked Trout to look grey in bright lighting, and take on deeper pink hues in areas with warm lighting.

White Tie by Farrow & BallMizzle by Farrow & BallSmoked Trout by Farrow & Ball

To see samples of these colours yourself, why not order one of our miniature painted cabinet door kitchen samples? They are perfect replicas of our full-size kitchen cabinet frontals, and can be hand-finished in any Farrow & Ball shade you desire – whether from our existing range, or a bespoke colour of your own choice. Otherwise, visit one of our kitchen showrooms to see a variety of painted kitchens, our full range of our painted cabinet door samples, or to discuss available options further with our friendly advisers.

 

Introducing the New Standard for Solid Oak Kitchens: Blum Antaro Drawers with Oak Side Panels.

Posted by admin on February 11, 2015 at 9:55 am. Filed under: Products
Blum Antaro Drawers with Oak Side Panels

At Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets we are always looking to improve our products and service wherever possible.

With this in mind we have recently introduced a new collection, which we recommend purchasing as standard with all solid wood kitchens. Our new Tandembox Antaro drawers are available at no additional cost (when compared with our previous ‘standard’ range, the Tandembox Plus collection), and feature metal sides and – on the deeper pan drawers – lacquered solid oak inlays. They also feature solid oak panels on the bottom and rear of the drawer, and are faced by an 18mm thick solid oak frontal: a stunning celebration of oak and a sleek drawer box for any kitchen.

Alternatively, our Intivo drawers in white provide an excellent, sophisticated alternative. Both ranges feature lacquered oak inserts on the bottom and rear of the drawer, with the deeper pan drawers also featuring partial oak side panels, too.

All of our drawers still have soft-close Blum drawer mechanisms, and feature a solid oak frontal that is available in both Shaker and Traditional styles. These frontals can be left in a sanded finish, lacquered, or painted in any one of Farrow & Ball’s beautiful paint shades.

In line with the introduction of this new range, we have now discontinued our standard Tandembox Plus Grey range. This includes the single drawer size and deeper pan drawer option with guide rails. The stainless steel option is still available, so please do consider this if you are looking for a drawer box with a stylish, modern finish.

To find out more about our drawers, please do visit our solid oak drawer page, or pay a visit to one of our kitchen showrooms. We have the full range of drawer types on display with an assortment of finishes for you to view up-close, and we’d be more than happy to discuss the range in full with you in person.

Please Note: As of June 2015, our Tandembox stainless steel option has now been entirely discontinued, and replaced with a stainless steel variant of the Antaro drawers.

 

February’s Kitchen Gadget of the Month

Posted by admin on February 4, 2015 at 10:29 am. Filed under: General
Refrigerator Steriliser and Deodoriser

The kitchen is now considered the hub of most family homes and as such, an awful lot of food graces the surfaces of oak kitchens.

Whilst many timbers – such as our bamboo and iroko worktops – are naturally hygienic and capable of resisting fast-breeding bacteria, it is difficult to create a completely germ free kitchen unless you are very diligent with cleaning.

February’s ‘Gadget of the Month’ is a steriliser and deodoriser that is designed for use in refrigerators, but can also be used in wooden kitchen cupboards, too. This particular steriliser claims to eliminate E.coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, mould and unwanted odours. If used in a fridge, the steriliser should also make fresh produce such as meats, fruits and vegetables last significantly longer.

With a battery life of 2 – 3 months from 4 AA batteries, this particular steriliser from UV-C Products on Amazon will keep your fridge clean and fresh for a long time, and once turned on, can be largely forgotten about. It runs a cycle to help conserve battery life, and has easy one-touch controls to choose the operation mode. For just £16, this refrigerator steriliser and deodoriser is excellent value for money – especially when you consider how much money you might save on fresh produce if it lasts significantly longer.

Do you already have a steriliser in your kitchen? We are keen to know whether it works well for you, so do please leave us a message on one of our social media pages. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+. We are always looking for new kitchen gadgets to feature as our ‘Gadget of the Month’, so if you happen to find a gadget that you think we should feature on our next ‘Gadget of the Month’ post, then don’t hesitate to tell us!