Tuesday, 30 September 2008

High-End Kitchen Cabinets - Breaking Down Some Options

While European-Style Kitchen Cabinets have continued to grow in popularity, there are still a limited number of suppliers in the US and they are not cheap. Allmilmo, Poggenpohl, SieMatic, and a few other European manufacturers offer cabinets that are truly beautiful and clearly for high-end kitchens. It is not unrealistic to spend $50,000 or more on these style of cabinets, with lead times of 2 months, all the way up to 4 months.

Imported cabinets often fall under the category of custom cabinets, because they usually do not have standard sizes and can be built to fit the your individual space.

The German company Allmilmo, for example, offers about 120 different looks, with surfaces of laminates, wood veneers, lacquer finishes, or hardwoods such as maple, spruce, mahogany, and beech. All have frameless, melamine-laminated carcasses. The drawers are high-grade "Meta-Box" drawer systems with metal sides, integrated full-extension slides, and melamine bottoms.

With Poggenpohl cabinetry, a German line, you work with predetermined sizes and fronts to create a system with a highly custom look. Of the European-style contemporary products on the market, Poggenpohl cabinets are considered some of the highest quality and among the highest priced.

SieMatic, with lines made in Germany and Canada and with some doors made domestically, also markets a wide range of standards in styles, from country-style hardwood cabinets to high-gloss, lacquered contemporary models. Unlike typical kitchen cabinetscabinets, which are installed in runs, these are made more like individual furniture pieces. Installed and handpainted on site by specially trained craftpersons, these cabinets push the upper limits of price, averaging from $45,000 to $60,000 and topping out well over $100,000.

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