U.S. Style Cabinet, Where You Go When You Want it Done Right
Kitchen Cabinets
We have a showroom web page at this link but as we are just now starting to service the local Philippines market the showroom will grow slowly and we will first focus on the less expensive cabinets. But the same skills that build our less expensive cabinets are the same skilled workers that built the cabinets and components in the pictures below.
There are several good quality kitchen cabinet shops either making or selling cabinets in Manila and even one right here in Angeles but the prices are outrageous as there is little competition and they are going to size you up when you walk in the showroom and set the price accordingly. Or even flat out tell you that you cannot afford their work. Kitchen designers can be a snotty bunch even in the U.S..
The set to the right if you are on a laptop is a five part door, slab drawer front set that was made when the girls were working out at Clark at CSMFG, Inc. As these were made for the U.S. market and the Philippines makes exporting natural lumber very difficult, the hardwood rails were made in the U.S.. In the Philippines with termites (anay) a serious problem we like to make the cabinet rails out of MDF which the termites do not like to eat. Or if a homeowner is willing to treat his home for termites and keeps up the treatment, we can use natural hardwood rails. And hardwood rails are better as more care has to be taken when delivering cabinets made with MDF rails. But, once installed, the MDF rails are plenty strong enough to do their job as the MDF rails are made twice as wide as normal. Twice the width means four times the load capacity. The back rails are just to attach the cabinet to the wall, they are very strong once fastened to the wall. The front rails are just there to provide a stop for the drawer fronts and doors, the countertop is plenty strong enough to span the distance between the end panels.
Hardware for cabinets can be simple or complex, as long as it is sturdy. Hinges are European hinges, hidden out of sight, and have the ability to micro adjust height, depth, and width. They can be snapped off and on with the press of a finger and snap right back in place without needing adjustment. Soft close hinges are available for very little more money.
One of our Angeles City Area Projects
The pictures on this page are from one of the kitchens in a very nice home over near the Tarlac border.
If you are on a laptop or desktop computer you will see the main downstairs kitchen to the right. The cabinets were made with marine plywood for the cabinet boxes, water resistant MDF for the doors, drawer fronts, and end panels, all covered with Fine Walnut laminate.
The drawer slides were soft close undermount slides on marine plywood drawer boxes covered with laminate.
In the videos of this kitchen you can see the completed set with countertops and back splash installed. The videos show what is behind the doors and drawer fronts. Starting on the far left side you have a big cabinet with three sets of stainless steel wire baskets designed for dishes and cutlery below and a wide pull down shelf mechanism that lowers both shelves down to chest height.
There are more wire baskets under the cook top and two vertical wire basket pull outs in the narrow cabinets on each side of the cook top. Under the sink is a pull out trash bin that has a cover that comes down after the unit is pushed back in place.
Over on the far right is a magic corner shelf system. The first set of stainless steel wire shelves is attached to the door and when you open the door that set of shelves comes with the door and swings over to the left, while the right set of wire baskets is pulled over to the left to where the first set of shelves were located when the door was closed. Everything is easy to get to once the door is open.
The doors are all hung on soft close hinges and there are long stainless steel door and drawer pulls. On the one picture to the left of this text if you are on a laptop or desktop computer, you will see the adjustable feet under the cabinet before the toe kick was installed. These feet keep the wood cabinets up off the floor and make it easy to spray for bugs if needed and prevent water damage should the home have a water spill or water line break.
A set like this is pretty complicated to layout. You first center things like sinks and cook top cabinets, then locate the corner cabinet and fridge, then fill in with cabinets that are going to have the wire baskets or accessories like the vertical pull out baskets. These items are made in several sizes, usually 100 mm difference in lengths but each cabinet has to be the exact size and you need pilasters inside, square MDF columns that act as side spacers so that the wire baskets clear the hinges as the wire basket is pulled out. To get everything to fit is a bit of a juggling act so usually these accessories and pull outs need to be specified as part of the estimating process so that we know the cost and exact size of each unit.
Here are some videos of this set.
Completed Cabinet Tour no accessories
Another video after the customer moved in,
This kitchen cost 161,940 pesos for the cabinets plus 8,000 pesos for the delivery and installation. Total cost for the cabinets was 169,840 pesos after installation. The accessories came in at around 131,000 pesos with the magic corner and the pull down shelf unit being around a quarter of that cost. High quality accessories are expensive after being imported with the high tariffs on imports into the Philippines. That sounds like a lot of money but the appliances would have cost around the same amount. Installing a kitchen like this is an investment that drives the value of a home much higher and if maintained it keeps its value till you sell the home.
The Upstairs Kitchen in That Same Home
The project above had two kitchens, the big kitchen downstairs and the small kitchette upstairs.
If you are on a laptop or desktop computer you will see the upstairs kitchen to the right. The cabinets were made with marine plywood for the cabinet boxes, water resistant MDF for the doors, drawer fronts, and end panels, all covered with Fine Walnut laminate.
The drawer slides were soft close undermount slides on marine plywood drawer boxes covered with laminate.
This set was much more simple than the downstairs set. There is a sink under that small set of high windows, a total of five drawers, and behind that corner cabinet door was a simple shelf.
A fridge was placed at the left end of the cabinets, there is a wall on the far right end. Add a rice cooker and a hot plate and you have everything needed for fixing a small meal or snack without getting the big kitchen dirty.
In the U.S. a lot of the huge trophy kitchens installed in the million dollar homes seldom get used due to the chore of cleaning them after cooking. Many times there is a second kitchen like this where the daily cooking is done and the big kitchen used for parties. That sounds wasteful but a huge trophy kitchen is almost a requirement in a U.S. home in some areas of the nicer towns so a home might not sell if it didn’t have a huge kitchen.
This kitchenette cost 80,452 pesos for the cabinets and 2,500 pesos for delivery and installation, total cost installed of 82,952 pesos.
Some of Our Exported Component Jobs Installed in the United States
The pictures on this page and below were built using components that the original company, CSMFG, Inc, made out at Clark Freeport Zone. Nearly all of the cabinets used components or parts made here in the Philippines by the same workers that are now running U.S. Style Cabinet Company. The one difference is in the U.S. you can use solid hardwood without fear of termites (anay) eating the cabinets so these are the pictures of the MDF constructed cabinets installed in the U.S..
If you are on a laptop or desktop computer you will see the fireplace cabinet to the right. That can be made completely out of MDF, the doors are plenty strong enough even made from MDF. In fact, in America using MDF for cabinet doors is very common even in the most expensive kitchens. CSMFG, Inc’s office in the U.S. has Sapele veneer MDF doors and their most expensive showroom set is built out of MDF as it is the material of choice for European style cabinets.
The cabinets to the right if you are on a laptop or desktop computer are made with MDF carcass and hardwood moldings, carvings, and in some cases door rails. That is usually because the finished is sanded through to make a distressed finish and you need the wood grain to show through.
The downsides to a MDF door is that it will not last for generations like a hardwood rail and stile door can do. That said, few kitchens actually serve that long even in the nicest homes. Finishes get beat up, steam damage on the hardest hardwood surfaces happen if a homeowner cooks a lot. The kitchens start looking shabby and beat up and homeowners will want to upgrade appliances to the more modern and efficient models.
But MDF doors will last over twenty years, they can be repaired easily, and repainted if needed. They will handle the humidity of the Philippines, survive the termites (anay), and they are much more affordable. And even better, with modern European style cabinets the doors and end panels are easily replaced for a fraction of the initial cost of the cabinets. The cabinets themselves will last for generations if the doors are replaced when they start looking worn.
Drawer slides are available in many types. We prefer the metal side drawer systems as it allows a very strong and tough drawer bottom to be made using termite resistant 3/4″ thick MDF. If a home is to be treated for termites, undermount slides can be used with wood drawer boxes but the bottoms are generally only 1/4″ thick. Or there are other MDF drawer bottom systems with metal sides that are covered with plastic covers and they have soft close cylinders integrated in the slides. These slides are quite expensive, over 2000 pesos just for the slides and front connectors.
Quality Matters
These pictures are of sets that can be made right here in the Philippines.
The cabinets can go up to the ceiling if a structure called a plith is included. The plith is made slightly taller than needed and trimmed to height after measuring the distance between the ceiling and the installed cabinets. There will me minor gaps as the crown moldings don’t bend much and ceilings can be quite crooked and out of level.
Better is to leave a six inch or even a foot space above the cabinets to sit decorations or artificial plants and vines. You can add color to a kitchen and change up the look with these display items as long as you have a place to put them.
You will notice that the heights and depths of the cabinets are sometimes staggered. That is called the Old World look. Going back to Europe and England hundreds of years ago the wealthy landowners would build onto their manors and castles and kitchens when times were good. Many times the sons or even grandsons of the original cabinetmakers did the additions so out of necessity the cabinets tended to stagger so that a seamless attachment could be made. These old manors and castles were owned by the people with “old money” and as the industrial revolution make people wealthy the “new money” people started mimicking these styles of staggered cabinetry.
Other sets have the height of the cabinets remain constant as some people like the uniformity.
You will see many islands and peninsulas, cabinets completely unattached to the walls or attached by one end to the wall. Those will need end and back panels. You can either use plain MDF panels, use panels covered in plastic laminate if you are wanting a laminate kitchen, or you can make raised panel or five part panels with multiple sections either in width or height.
Five part doors have a perimeter of either solid wood or MDF, usually around 2.5″ wide but they can be made wider. There is an inside profile that runs around the interior, made by the shaper cutter that cuts the groove for the center panel. You can turn the door around and put that profile inside the cabinet if you want a more plain looking door. The center panel can be 1/4″ thick paint grade MDF or you can use 3/4″ thick MDF and use what is called a raised panel shaper cutter to put a profile around the MDF panel and thin the edge down to where it fits in the 1/4″ groove.
Doors can also be grooved for glass panels that are set in from the back of the door.
A History of Building Export Quality
Most of the cabinets in the pictures to the right if you are on a laptop were made with MDF parts made right here in the Philippines. The cabinets to the right and below of this paragraph are made with MDF core wood veneered panels.
These engineered wood panels hold up better in the humid environment of the Philippines and the termites don’t like to eat the wood due to the glues and chemicals in the engineered panels. The materials have to come out of Manila and expect these cabinets to be twice the price of a paint grade kitchen.
These kitchens are not cheap. Not only are these materials expensive, the hardware is expensive, there is lot of labor involved and shop time, and the shear size of these American style kitchens is enormous. It is not unusual to find a 40 or 60 square meter kitchen in some of the more expensive homes in the U.S.. But, the designs can be used and downsized to Filipino sized kitchens.
Most of the U.S. kitchens pictured on this page were in the range of a half million pesos on up to two and a half million pesos. In the Philippines they won’t be that expensive but the hardware and wood panels are going to cost about the same as they do in the U.S.. The only savings is on the labor costs so expect these luxury kitchen cabinets to start at 100,000 pesos and go up even for Filipino sized kitchens. However we have much less expensive designs that start at under 30,000 pesos for the painted cabinets. Even then you can order the set one cabinet at a time with the average cabinet costing between 4,000 and 5,000 pesos, the large banks of drawers will run a bit higher at a bit over 7,000 pesos.
There are all sorts of wire pullout baskets, pullout drawers, kitchen organizers, pull out trash cans, dozens of different kitchen organizers available. Usually the cabinet has to be sized to the exact inside width for the items to be installed so these items need to be specified at the beginning of the planning of the kitchen. Keep in mind that these organizers are quite expensive, 1,000 per item, even 3,000 pesos per item and more.
