Kitchen furniture can be installed in two ways: on supports or legs. The first method is very rare; it is mainly used for furniture in a classic style. The rest of the furniture - cabinets, furniture - is placed on adjustable legs. From an aesthetic point of view, they do not look very attractive, and a lot of debris and dust get underneath them. Therefore, for beauty and convenience, they are covered with special bases. To install or repair kitchen furniture, you can find a specialist with good reviews on the website Kabanchik.ua.
Design and characteristics
The kitchen plinth is a simple structure, which includes:
- decorative external strip;
- clip fasteners;
- seals;
- end caps.
The manufacturer produces planks of standard sizes ( height 100, 120 or 150 mm ). But at the request of the customer, any height can be made.
A mandatory element of the plinth are additional connecting and radius elements of various sizes. With their help, you can make a single structure, devoid of right angles. Fragments can be 90, 135 or 180 degrees . Therefore, the panel around the entire perimeter of the kitchen unit can be laid in any design.
All types of kitchen plinths are equipped with ventilation grilles that ensure good air flow under the cabinets and the appliances built into them. Therefore, the appearance of mold, mildew or large amounts of dust is eliminated.
To prevent water from getting under the furniture, you can additionally purchase a sub-base, which ensures a tighter fit of the plank to the floor surface. But most professionals advise replacing it with a clear sealant. When disassembling the structure, it must first be removed with a sharp knife and then reapplied - this is the only disadvantage of silicone glue.
How comfortable is a kitchen up to the ceiling: interior design with tall cabinets
A kitchen with high ceilings makes it possible to create an interior that is particularly functional.
A large area of the room will be a plus. But even in a six-meter steel frame, you can recreate a design for a kitchen up to the ceiling that will be the envy of owners of large square meters. Before you start selecting furniture, you need to determine the requirements for the room: whether it will be used only for cooking, whether you need a dining area and how many zones it is optimal to allocate for storage. Let's find out which kitchens to the ceiling are popular among housewives and how to arrange your own personal culinary paradise at home.
How to choose?
When choosing a plinth, most buyers are more focused on the appearance, so that it matches the color of the kitchen set. Maintenance, practicality and ease of installation play an important role. Professionals advise following a few tips that will help make your kitchen not only beautiful, but also comfortable:
- The height of the base depends on the distance between the cabinet top and the housewife’s bent elbow. It should be approximately fifteen centimeters.
- The height should also depend on the size of the equipment built into the cabinet. Otherwise, for example, the dishwasher door will not open at all or with a lid.
When choosing a base in a store, you need to carefully inspect it for integrity. It should not have cracks, scratches, mold or other defects. All of the above factors can cause problems during installation and spoil the appearance of the entire headset.
When choosing planks, you can use contrasting colors. For example, if the cabinets are completely white, the planks can be purchased in black or red. The combination of yellow with green or light green looks unusual.
Once again about the plastic base
For all its aesthetic component, the base does not interfere with household chores at all. You can easily sweep and wash the floors without worrying about sweeping up all the dirt under the legs, which are now under reliable protection. The materials do not swell from excess moisture, are not susceptible to temperature fluctuations, do not fade or deform over time.
The color scheme of the base is selected in advance, based on the color scheme of the kitchen itself or accessories. Although nothing prevents you from making this element of the accessory neutral, and gluing an LED strip inside, which will create the feeling of the kitchen set flying in the air.
Another important advantage is easy installation and replacement of individual components, in which you do not have to tear down the entire decor at once. Here the situation is similar with plastic and siding: it is enough to replace one link, and the picture will become complete again. As a result, time and money are saved.
How is the plinth attached to the kitchen legs?
Fastening the plinth is most often trusted to professionals, but if you carefully study the instructions, you can carry out the installation yourself, saving the family budget. Before starting work you need to prepare:
- glue;
- screwdriver for mounting PVC panels;
- silicone sealant for aluminum or plastic base;
- self-tapping screws;
- any marker;
- ruler.
Installation work begins only after the kitchen furniture has been placed in the chosen location:
- The slats are attached to the cabinet legs with special fasteners that come with the furniture. On a plastic or chipboard strip you need to make marks corresponding to the distance between the cabinet legs. You can only attach the plinth to the outermost ones, and if its length is more than a meter, you still need to make a mark in the middle. If fastenings are made too often, the bar may bend, which will affect the appearance of the headset.
- On the inside, the plastic and aluminum boards have special gaps into which clips are inserted at the required distance. The fastenings are screwed to the chipboard base using self-tapping screws with small heads. When the clips are located at the desired distance, you just need to snap them behind the cabinet leg.
- Aluminum strips along the edge can be sealed with a transparent sealant to prevent the possibility of water getting under the set. And special silicone pads (base plates) are put on PVC strips, which ensure a tight fit to the floor.
- The depth of the base in front of the edge of the cabinet should be approximately 15 centimeters so that it is comfortable to stand while cooking. The side panels can be mounted at the same level as the furniture, but it is better to “sink” them at the same distance.
- Aluminum planks require the use of special plugs and corner structures, the assembly of which does not require much time and effort.
The color of the base may match the main shade of the kitchen unit or differ from it. Whether to use slats or leave the legs open is a purely personal matter. It depends on the taste of the housewife, the interior and style of the kitchen. According to design projects, the plinths can be used for retractable baskets, and lighting or LED strips of various colors can be built into them. But the main thing remains - they help to recreate a single image of the kitchen set and give the kitchen a unique look and special charm!
Manufacturing materials
Plastic
What is good about a plastic profile? Firstly, it is lightweight, secondly, it is cheap, and thirdly, it is reliable and durable. Moreover, a plinth of any shape, width and texture can be cast from PVC, which is important. Additionally, the structure is equipped with seals that prevent water from seeping under the furniture.
Plastic base
The plinth can vary in height from 100 to 150 mm, which is quite enough to hide the legs of the cabinets. Plastic perfectly resists mechanical damage such as bending and breaking, so an accidental “kick” with your foot will do absolutely nothing to it.
The plastic plinth can be easily matched to any furniture. If you have not found a suitable pattern or color of the material, order an individual model for yourself from the same factory where you purchased the kitchen.
The main advantages of the material
- Relatively low price, which fully corresponds to the quality.
- Thanks to the corners and connections, it can be installed under a kitchen of any shape and configuration.
- Insensitive to sudden temperature fluctuations.
- It is not afraid of various mechanical impacts during operation: scratches, abrasion, etc.
- He doesn’t care about the sun’s rays, nor does he care about burnout.
- It is lightweight, so even a child can remove it when cleaning.
- He is not at all afraid of not only moisture, but also water.
Plastic and fastening and joining elements
However, this type of kitchen plinth also has several disadvantages:
- Despite the fact that the plastic base is resistant to various types of mechanical stress, various dirt and liquid leaks will immediately be evident, so it will need to be wiped more often.
- A kitchen plastic plinth can be damaged if you use aggressive cleaning products with a high pH level to clean it, so try to use their counterparts with a more neutral pH level.
The next drawback does not relate to the operation of the product, however, in order for our readers to be fully aware of it, we will still dwell on it.
Despite the resistance of PVC material to high temperatures, at 400 degrees Celsius it begins to burn, releasing chemicals into the air that can cause suffocation. For this reason, in some countries it is used with restrictions in medical and child care institutions and other social facilities.
Aluminum
As for aluminum, let's start with the fact that the aluminum base is quite expensive, although durable. It has all the advantages of PVC, but lacks its disadvantages. It is also not afraid of temperature fluctuations, mechanical damage and direct exposure to sunlight.
Aluminum plinth
The material is environmentally friendly and durable, but its main drawback lies precisely in the price and complexity of installation. Cutting off an extra piece of aluminum base without the appropriate tool is quite problematic.
Chipboard
This material is the simplest and cheapest of the above. For the manufacture of the plinth, laminated chipboard (chipboard) is used, which has many advantages , thanks to which it is still used in the manufacture of these products:
- Inexpensive material, thanks to which it has long been one of the most popular.
- Extensive color palette.
- With proper use and regular maintenance, its reliability is not satisfactory even in comparison with plastic or aluminum analogues.
- Resistant to mechanical stress.
Product made from chipboard.
Among the disadvantages, we note the following:
- This material cannot be used to make smoothly shaped products.
- Chipboard is susceptible to the negative effects of temperature changes and high humidity, which contribute to its destruction. In addition, even with proper care, the ends of a product made from chipboard will eventually become unsightly due to delamination. This is due to moisture getting on them during cleaning or during operation.
Corner Loft kitchen with an angle of 135 degrees - photo
Tolubeevsky proezd, 14, bldg. 1
After taking measurements, we developed a project for a corner kitchen in the Loft style. The kitchen has a ventilation shaft in the corner, and they also decided to use an angle of 135 degrees.
For the kitchen we used MDF facades in the color Dark Concrete. The lower modules are covered with a moisture-resistant 38 mm tabletop in dark Castillo color. The wall panel and sealing corner are in the same color.
Below in the photo is the process of cutting out for the sink. The countertops arrive at the address intact and the hole is made on site. The client's wishes can be taken into account.
Next in the photo is an angle of 135 degrees. The module was finalized at the address.
The working process. The upper bodies are leveled, tightened with clamps and tied with furniture ties
The lower tables were raised, installed on 15 cm supports, which were covered with a plastic base with a black silicone seal.
