Shaker Kitchen Cabinets
Shaker kitchen cabinets will bring together the past into the present with its straight cut lines exhibited in the creation of its cabinet doors. The very special aura of times gone by will infiltrate a kitchen that uses Shaker kitchen cabinets, and bring back a time when life was so much less complicated, and people made the time for things they considered much more important, like cooking together and enjoying a meal as a family. This was a time when people still cooked their own meals, and then ate at home.
The Amish were the first to use what is now referred to as Shaker kitchen cabinets yet they performed such amazing artistry with wood even though their workshops held no electricity, thus they had no power tools, engines, nor any generators. Of course they always had a few hand tools, chisels and hand planes, and obviously they used the highest quality lumber. In this way true craftsmanship could prevail.
Shaker kitchen cabinets need to exhibit the same craftsmanship, but need to be specially ordered to get the “real thing.” This is done by hand tooling because it endows the wood with an exceptional lasting beauty to the cabinetry. If you place your hand on the cabinetry, you should be able to actually feel the difference.
Good shaker kitchen cabinets are made from solid first-class grade wood. This kind of cabinetry can be worked in white/red oak that has been plain sawn or quarter sawn, poplar, butternut, walnut, hickory, maple pine, ash or cherry. Ordinarily Shaker kitchen cabinets will feature traditional hand worked dovetail joinery as well.
In high-end Shaker kitchen cabinets, the wood is ordinarily left to its natural color, but it is hand rubbed using at least 4 coats of tung oil finish and natural linseed oil finish. A hand buffed wax finish will have followed this.
Thus, this technique thoroughly enhances the unique grain of the wood, as well as its awesome beauty. Doing so also makes it very easy to maintain as well as sustain throughout the years. Just as in the old days, air as well as sunlight will naturally tint the wood, enabling it to reach that rich glow as well as a deeper patina.
Such unique kitchen cabinetry will acquire its own individuality, as an inimitable work of art that will reflect your character as well as the exceptional character of the craftsman. This does not mean that your kitchen cabinetry will be perfect, far from it. It is the miniscule variations of natural wood and evidence of hand craftsmanship that give this kind of cabinetry its beauty as well as its character.
Should you decide to have handmade Shaker kitchen cabinets in your home, they will bring you years and years of pride as well as pleasure. This was, after all, how all good American antiques were made.
