How to Choose the Best Kitchen Cabinets for Your Home

Selecting the best kitchen cabinets for your home can boil down to several factors. Your design aesthetic and taste are huge in deciding what's right for you, but you also need to consider your lifestyle, budget and the amount of time you're willing to spend maintaining your cabinets. We've put together a guide to help you choose something that will turn your kitchen into a place you actually enjoy preparing meals and conversing with company in. (After all, every party eventually ends up in the kitchen anyway, right?) Here's the guide:

What to Consider

Space and Color

Perhaps even more important than a monetary budget is your kitchen's space budget. You may like a giant pantry with room for all of your canned or boxed goods, but if your kitchen doesn't allow for it, you may be out of luck. Measure your available space and then consider your cabinet colors. You may like a sleek, modern dark painted cabinet or a more rustic-looking stained door. Chances are, if you can dream of a cabinet color, there's an option out there for you.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Natural wood finishes like oak or cherrywill need to be cleaned and oiled to keep their beautiful shine. Before applying a natural oil to the doors, clean cabinets sealed with varnish or polyurethane with a citrus spray cleaner to remove any dirt or grime that may have accumulated. Painted cabinets are more durable than their natural wood counterparts, but they still require some care. They are scrubbable, and can be cleaned with a diluted all-purpose cleaner -- but be careful not to get them too wet. If grease builds up, use ammonia and water to remove it. Because the kitchen can become contaminated with food-borne bacteria, sometimes you'll need to use a solution of one tablespoon bleach to one quart of water to disinfect your cabinets.