APPLIANCE CABINETS: A Home for Everything
The humble appliance cupboard has come a long way, but there is still a place for them in a modern kitchen.
When I first started my apprenticeship, appliance cabinets were all the rage. Working in rural, North Island New Zealand, the small town of Kaitaia had yet to catch up on kitchen trends internationally.
Here in New Zealand we are all about practicalities. And appliance cabinets were/are practical! Being able to hide your crusty old toaster, jug and any other unsightly appliances away from guests is handy. They also make a perfect hiding spot for keys, kids homework and everything else that should never be forgotten about.
Throughout the years I’ve seen some horror cases though. I started working with insurance work, and cringed as I saw a case where the door pushed the toaster handle down. The kitchen was a complete write off, fortunately no-one was hurt.
Needless to say, the roller door went out of fashion. I am really interested in providing practical solutions for your everyday kitchen. My wife is a Thermomix nut (for anyone that hasn’t heard of these you are missing out on a lifetime of great food- check them out here), so building an appliance cabinet to fit that baby in was a no-brainer. Custom cabinetry means you can adjust the heights of shelves within cabinets to suit you, as opposed to some of the flat pack kitchens you see.
Also the beauty of appliance cabinets is that you don’t need to be replacing your entire kitchen to fit one in. Add one to the end of an existing breakfast bar to get all your appliances off the bench but still in a usable spot.
Fittings by some of our leading suppliers have drawers and frames which can slide out and carry up to 40kgs.
When you think about it, we integrate our ovens, our fridges and our microwaves- why not every other appliance? Having the Nespresso machine all ready to go when you have visitors but hidden away from your day-to-day chaos would be invaluable.
Custom cabinetry is not as expensive as you might think either. Any well-known cabinetmaker will be able to colour match your existing units either exactly or in a perfectly contrasting colour pretty easily, and from there it’s just a matter of paying for their time, the hardware and the board.
If you are in Northland, New Zealand and need a new kitchen or custom cabinetry, give Next Edition Kitchens a call on 09 430 3074 and Ryan will be happy to help.
