The kitchen cabinet system is easily the most important part of a kitchen design.
It’s the backbone of kitchen storage, based upon an upper and a lower cabinet which serve as the spaces for this storage.
Despite how essential a kitchen cabinetry is, does your kitchen actually require both the upper and lower setup? Is it possible to create a functional kitchen without the base cabinet?
Here’s why the base cabinet is necessary For A Kitchen
The base cabinet is an integral part of the kitchen cabinetry because it serves as a storage space for small and large kitchen items as well provide the foundation for countertop and sink to be fixed.
Without the base cabinet, a kitchen will suffer greatly in it’s aesthetic appeal and easily run out of storage spaces.
Let’s go through the important reasons why ditching the base cabinet is a bad for your kitchen.
What is a kitchen Base cabinet?
A kitchen base cabinet is the part of the kitchen cabinet system installed on the floor. The cabinet base, together with the upper cabinet, makes up the entire cabinet system of a kitchen.
The two differ primarily in the sense that the base cabinet has adjustable legs (or kick plates) underneath but lacks a top board, whereas the upper cabinet has a top board but lacks an adjustable legs for support.
Is it standard to have a kitchen Base cabinet?
It’s not written in stone to always have a base cabinet in your kitchen.
But you can’t hide the fact of a terrifying looking kitchen without one.
It’s rare nowadays to find a kitchen cabinetry without a base cabinet in one form or the other. And that’s because of the crucial role it plays in the kitchen. We’ll get to that in a minute).
But don’t get it wrong, a kitchen cabinet system can definitely work without a base (with the upper cabinets in place and a pantry shelf placed somewhere else in the kitchen), but such kitchen will suffer greatly in the following departments:
- Storage
- Support and blend
- Aesthetic appeal
- Convenience
Storage space
By eliminating the base cabinets, you’re wiping off a chunk of the storage space in the kitchen.
You’ll now be left with the wall cabinet to accommodate your kitchen cookware, utensils, appliances and tools.
And depending on how much of these you have, the available storage may not be sufficient, and even if it is, may not accommodate them silkily in a way that retrieving them becomes easy.
Support and blend
The kitchen base cabinet is so called for a reason. It serves as a base for many things in the kitchen to sit on, for instance, the countertop, sink, appliances and cooktop etc.
It also does a good job at blending free-standing appliances like stoves, dishwashers and refrigerators into the kitchen stratosphere, thereby eliminating the unattractive sight of multiple islands in the kitchen.
Without a kitchen base cabinet, you’ll lose this sight-flow, and also have to resort back to other methods for providing support to the countertop and other items.
Aesthetic appeal
No doubt, the presence of a kitchen base cabinet adds a layer of beauty and elegance to the atmosphere in a kitchen. The finish, the construction, the various hardware installations having carefully emphasized details all contribute to a better looking kitchen.
The absence of the cabinet means that your kitchen will suffer greatly in this regard. Your kitchen would quickly lose its bulk and appear sort of empty.
Convenience
Kitchen base cabinets bring a lot of convenience to users.
Having them in place means you have a lot of spaces to store kitchen items and therefore prevents the kitchen from looking cluttered.
With the base also, adding concealable integrations such as spice racks, ironing boards, recycle bins and towel racks all becomes possible.
What are the functions of the kitchen base cabinet?
The kitchen base cabinet is an integral part of a kitchen cabinetry, even though it can be argued that the upper cabinet is the most used cabinet in the kitchen.
The absence of the base cabinet will be felt in many respects in the kitchen which includes aesthetic appeal and organization.
Some of the most important functions that the base cabinet serves include:
- The many shelves and drawers in a base cabinet can be used to store food items such as cereals, snacks, canned goods, cooking oils etc.
- The base cabinet is useful for storing bakeware, cookware and kitchen utensils. Some cabinets come with special compartments for accommodating larger items like trays that would otherwise not fit perfectly into the cabinet design.
- Base cabinet can be used to store cleaning items and tools as well as other household items such as trash cans, placemats etc.
- Kitchen base cabinets can be installed with accessories such as pull out wire baskets or racks for holding spices and towels, flip out ironing boards, laundry hampers etc.
- The kitchen base cabinet serves as the base for holding your cooktop, sink and countertop: through which compact appliances like microwave, blenders and toaster ovens sit on.
- The kitchen base cabinet adds an extra layer of beauty to the kitchen. It adds bulk to the kitchen and helps with the integration of large appliances such as ovens and refrigerators to make for a smooth blend.
What Are The Alternatives To A Base Cabinet?
If you don’t like the idea of base cabinet, perhaps due to financial reasons, you really don’t have to include them in the kitchen cabinetry.
Skip the installation of the complete base cabinet system which will cost you a lot of money and opt for a single base unit or two placed at strategic positions in the kitchen.
I don’t want to rule out the idea of a base cabinet because of it’s tremendous importance in the kitchen.
If you’ve very locked in on the idea however, you can go with any of the alternatives below.
Upper Cabinets
Install upper cabinets across the kitchen and at different strategic locations such as over the fridge, over the sink, over the stove, and at corners (with a lazy Susan assembly).
This will give you a lot of spaces to store kitchen utensils and dry food items.
Open shelves
Open shelves are also a great alternative to base cabinets.
You can install a simple shelving solution on the wall or create a unit and place it somewhere in the kitchen.
With open shelving however, you won’t be able to conceal kitchen items, and that can make the kitchen look a whole less attractive.
Bar With Hanging Racks
The bar with hanging rack features a bar with racks than can be hanged from it. Utensils and even pots and pans can be hanged from it too using the hanging holes provided on their handles.
When executed perfectly, a bar with racks can easily add to the overall aesthetic appeal of the kitchen.
Standing Racks
You can also opt for tall standing racks with several shelves on it to accommodate kitchen accessories.
Wall mounted racks
Wall mounted racks are fixed to the wall and can provide layers of storage for different items. You can fix as many as you’d like around the kitchen in areas where you find attractive to store items.
For instance, you can install a rack above your kitchen sink for keeping plates, cups and utensils. You can also have another rack fixed close to the bottom wall for storing pots and pans.
Carts
Kitchen carts have rollers than enable them to be moved easily, unlike tall standing racks that have legs instead (at least most of the time).
Carts would most often come with countertops that can serve as a work or storage area depending on what you’re using them for.
They would also have layers of shelving to provide space for storage.
Pegboard
You can purpose a pegboard to serve as a storage space for your kitchen tools and items.
To hang it on a wall, cut two rectangular strips of PCB the exact width of your pegboard, and install them (at the top and bottom) the exact height of the board. Next, screw the board onto the wood and your board is fixed in place.
Use the peg board accessories to create spaces for storing different items.
Dresser and bookcase
Your old bedroom dresser and bookcase can also function as base cabinet in your kitchen. The many drawers or shelves they contain can be used just the same way a base cabinet drawer will be used in the kitchen.
Can You Use Wall Cabinets As A Base Cabinets?
It’s absolutely possible to use a standard wall cabinet as a base cabinet, but you have to perform a little tweaking in order for the cabinet to efficiently serve as a base.
Because upper cabinets are constructed with a top board, you’ll have to get rid of that in order to accommodate the countertop and sink installations.
And then you need to add kick plates or adjustable legs to support the cabinet on the floor and prevent it from sitting directly on it.
Because the handles are typically positioned at the base, you’ll need to detach these and move them to a much better position. You’ll also have to get used to accessing the cabinet using double doors.
Then the inside. Most upper cabinets are constructed with shelves in them. You may want to tweak this system by removing shelving, and adding drawers, or sections that would accommodate your specific needs. You can also add accessories like racks.
Know however, that upper cabinets have shorter depths compared to base cabinets, so you may be very limited in the kind of tweaking you’ll be able to achieve.
If you already have the upper cabinets installed, the best suggestion is to keep them in place and opt for the many alternatives we outlined above to serve as the base.
Can A Base Cabinet Be Free Standing or does it have to be fixed against the wall?
A base cabinet can be freestanding without having to permanently fix it against the walls.
There are many brands that offer free standing base cabinets in all shapes and forms, and you can even make your own if you like, then attach a leg or kick plate to it.
Free standing cabinets typically have heavy build to prevent the material from toppling or moving about in the kitchen.
Sources
http://woodtools.nov.ru/books/build_kitchen/build_kitchen.pdf