We trust our kitchens to hold up to a lot these days.

And we never know what the busiest space in our home is going to have to endure next.

With today’s heavy stone and quartz countertop trends, your cabinets need to be strong, not just look good. Add to that the daily abuse the average kitchen will undergo and you owe it to yourself to ask a few questions about how your cabinets are made.

If you plan on assembling and installing your own kitchen, you will get to see first hand how the cabinet boxes are constructed. Just keep in mind that any furniture product you assemble yourself has compromises in strength and durability to make shipping easy and meet a certain price point.

Pre-assembled cabinets are a superior option, but even then, there are some differences in construction methods that bear mentioning. Panel thickness, for example, can make a huge difference in the stability and strength of your kitchen. A box constructed of 3/4” board will be 70% stronger than the industry standard of 5/8” and over 200% stronger than 1/2” material. There is also the manner in which the panels are attached to each other, are they stapled, doweled, or use some temporary type connector that can loosen over time?  

At MCK we choose to hand assemble our cabinet boxes using ?” panels that are, at a minimum, Carb 2 compliant (indoor air quality) and ECC certified (recycled wood fibre, carbon footprint and sustainability). Our cabinets are doweled together and held perfectly square with industrial case clamps until the glue sets. We find this creates the strongest and most durable kitchens our clients have come to rely upon over the last 31 years.

Thinking of your next kitchen? Give us a call at (902) 468-6453, visit us at 19 Akerley Blvd in Burnside Dartmouth NS or check out MCKkitchens.com.

MCK Kitchen & Bath is a ten-time consecutive winner of the Consumer Choice Award, 2011-2020.