Buffet for the kitchen: types, selection and placement recommendations

When comfortable, practical and ergonomic cabinets and headsets began to dominate in the kitchen, beautiful consoles, sideboards, slides disappeared from the kitchen space. Especially sorry for the disappeared cupboards, which once could have been a highlight of the interior, a valuable acquisition for the kitchen. Fortunately, the fashion for them is returning, and more and more often the buyer turns to furniture, which radically changes the look of the kitchen.

In the traditional sense, a buffet is a massive, enclosed cupboard. It contains a variety of kitchen utensils, utensils, plates and services. There may be stocks of jam, bulk products, groceries and dried fruits in it. The classical design does not imply opportunities for hanging, it is monolithic furniture. In its upper part there is a wardrobe with wooden doors with or without glass. Between the upper and lower parts in most models there is a worktop that can be used for decorative purposes and with a working function.

At the bottom of the cabinet there is a cabinet with doors, a place for storage. In fact, modern kitchen cabinets are an adapted buffet, more ergonomic, but not so decorative and self-sufficient. There are a lot of variations of cupboards, but the two- or three-door curbstone with glass showcases is considered the most running design. The popularity of this model is due to its practicality: it is convenient to store utensils and various kitchen appliances in such furniture. The upper display case usually serves decorative purposes: there are beautiful dinner sets, cups, figurines, vases, etc.

The material of manufacture is the basis of the price of the product. Of course, you can also find on sale buffets made of fine wood, but their price will be very high (higher than the cost of a mid-budget full-fledged kitchen set).

For the production of buffets use:

• Particleboard - wood chipboard, the cheapest option, which is made by gluing the chips with a resinous base;
• Fiberboard - similar to chipboard, only wood chips are used instead of shavings, which are split into small fibers;
• MDF is a chipboard, which are fastened by pressing and natural lignin, they are the safest in terms of environmental friendliness, but this affects the price in the direction of its increase;
• solid wood is the most environmentally friendly, safe and expensive material.

Kitchen furniture is made moisture resistant, stable and durable. But individual structures need additional processing, special coating. So, furniture can be sanded or laminated. The resins that make up the particleboard are made using formaldehyde, so the particleboard should not be heated. Do not use such furniture in rooms where allergy sufferers live.

All models of buffets and their analogues can be divided into several categories. The cupboards can be linear - that is, the facade is located in a straight line, but can be angled - such furniture is designed to be installed in the corner of the kitchen. Linear buffets are, of course, more common; angular buffets are increasingly being made to order. This is a convenient option for decorating a small kitchen. Previously, in the case of a small area of ​​space, cupboard cases came to the rescue, today corner floor buffets are an alternative to them.

In the lineup there are many designs, many types departed from the classics:

• a slide with 2-3 doors, it is considered the most familiar option;
• curbstones without top - if you need a low sideboard, the curbstone will do;
• glass showcases - more suitable for the dining room or kitchen-living room than for the usual small kitchenette;
• strict slides, pencil cases - suitable for lovers of ascetic furniture.

If you prefer a self-contained cabinet to the classic sideboard, you can supplement it with narrow elements fastened to the wall. Often on sale you can find a modular complex, in which there is a stand, and hanging shelves or display cases. Sometimes a cupboard is called a chest of drawers, to which you can pick up a convenient hanging cabinet or a superstructure placed on the countertop.

By the way, about sideboards. Many people believe that the concepts of "buffet" and "sideboard" are identical. In fact, this is not the same thing, but furniture can be conditionally called brothers. A sideboard is a cupboard, the top and bottom of which are in the same plane and do not have any countertops, middle emptiness, etc. For example, a buffet top can serve as a place for making tea or coffee, slicing products, etc. There is no such zone in the sideboard provided for. Otherwise, the types of furniture are similar.

The buffet should organically fit into the style prevailing in your kitchen. Just guessing with color or size is not enough.Sometimes it’s a pity to part with an already existing buffet, and the owner himself carries out a small restoration of furniture, changing its style. Or you have in mind an old sideboard, strong and beautiful, but in need of restoration and decoration - another case of the transformation of furniture. All this can be done independently.

The appearance of buffets varies depending on the styles.

This option is usually made from precious wood, carving or engraving becomes an additional decoration of furniture. A classic sideboard can be brown (and its many shades), white, black and blue.

A buffet in this style dispenses with conspicuous fittings and excessive decorativeness. Case design can be the simplest, discreet. You can specifically age a new model by adding a noble scuff to it, creating a vintage look. But decorative requirements are easier to fulfill than practical ones - country-style furniture should only be made of solid wood (unless, of course, for the purity of the style).

One of the best styles regarding the possibility of acquiring a buffet - in Provencal cuisine this type of furniture "feels" comfortable. It corresponds to the aesthetics of style, and it is incomparable with any other modern kitchen group “under the Provence”. Carved trim on the sideboard is acceptable, but this is not a required element. Colors are natural, natural. It can be olive, blue, and lavender buffets. The main requirement is to observe softness, tenderness of color, abandon flashy shades.

Under a common word, styles are collected that repeat the interior motifs of different eras. Someone recreates images from the 70s in their kitchen, carefully copying the furniture of that time (rather, even finding samples preserved from those years). It is easier to find a real chest of drawers, released in the 70s, to restore it and arrange in your kitchen. Some fans of the reconstruction of the era even use stickers of those years (with the image of Pugacheva or Boyarsky, for example).

Today, buffets are increasingly being created from fiberboard, particleboard, MDF. Valuable wood, which can be the basis of a buffet, is expensive - such furniture is rarely placed in the kitchen, preferring the living room or dining room area. But in a large house, where the kitchen-dining room has a considerable area, such options are appropriate. A lot of plastic buffets are also on sale, often such models are bought at the cottage.

In the aesthetics of the "cute attrition" furniture, which can be attributed to the Victorian era, to pre-war times. And if your buffet meets this request, get ready to paint it, and then cover it with patina, organize local scuffs, etc. There can be no kitchen set in the classic shabby-shek kitchen in the modern sense of the word, but the buffet is very appropriate there.

The buffet can be a key element of the kitchen, its emphasis, the center of attraction. Increasingly, the buffet is purchased in a color that is not in tune with other kitchen furniture. For example, in a kitchen in color, the nut may be an aquamarine or turquoise buffet. Just pick him a partner in space, for example, a lamp of the same color or napkins on the dining table. It will be original, fresh and fine-tuned for culinary experiences and long tea parties.

Decide for a start whether it should be open-type furniture or still you prefer closed models. Closed type assumes the presence of shelves that are covered with doors (doors usually with the inclusion of transparent or translucent glass). It can be a buffet with a small window in which objects standing on shelves are visible.

The open type is furniture without doors. Convenient, very practical in the kitchen version of the buffet with a countertop, which is used for domestic needs.

Also, when choosing a buffet for the kitchen, rely on the following criteria.

• Color. The white sideboard in the white kitchen is one of the standard solutions, but there is nothing wrong with them. Beautiful design is laconicism and visual persuasiveness when there are no foreign objects in the kitchen, and all things complement each other. A bright kitchen buffet, as already noted, is in trend, but think about whether you are ready for such a strong accent in the room.
• Style. Graceful form, beautiful aristocratic fittings, glass with an Art Nouveau print - such a buffet is beautiful and noble, but not in the country-style kitchen. In Scandinavian style, such elegant furniture can also seem like an alien element. But sometimes it’s enough to replace the fittings, and the furniture is already in tune with the style of the kitchen.
• Roominess. If the kitchen is small, the owners can do only with cupboards above and under the sink and sideboard. If such a decision is made, a roomy model is needed, where everything that is needed to organize life in the kitchen will fit. By the way, a good way to get rid of what is worth and gathering dust, and throw a pity.
• Structure. First decide what you are going to find a place in the buffet. And then decide what structure the furniture should be, ready to accommodate all this. If you want to place a service in a prominent place, then the upper cabinets should be of the type of a display case. If it is important for you to place the kettle, sugar bowl, cups, cookie box in one place, look for a buffet with a countertop.

If you have a large kitchen (or is it a variant of the kitchen-living room), then there are no problems with the placement of the buffet. Often, the owners acquire a kit, which includes a freestanding buffet, table and sideboard. Or the buffet is purchased with the headset, which also does not cause problems in the placement. The sideboard complements other kitchen furniture, as if it were one of the usual parts of the headset (linearly or in a corner).

Sometimes a sideboard or sideboard is combined with a TV on the wall. Together they can look harmonious if you practically do not use a curbstone surface. There is dishes in the cabinet, and a TV hangs above it, nothing interferes with each other.

Consider interesting options for buffets in modern kitchen interiors.

• Stylish blue sideboard looks like antique furniture, family value. This is a chest of drawers with an add-on, an open version of the design. Beautiful, vintage, it does not conflict with the modern decoration of the kitchen.

• A very cozy white sideboard is part of a large kitchen unit. It can be located both in the spacious kitchen and in the kitchen-dining room. Between the two cabinets there is a countertop and a shelf, convenient for storing jam.

• It looks like a restored buffet from the 50s, very stylish and delicate work. In a small kitchen it will be difficult to find a place and a “company” of such furniture, but in a spacious room it will become an ornament.

• Ascetic, very modest, aged buffet. But its simplicity is its main feature. In an apartment, it will not look so authentic and so appropriate as in a private house.

• Great design in a nice gray color. Impeccable geometry, stylish discreet fittings and plenty of space for everything that needs to be hidden behind doors and in drawers.

The list of successful examples can go on for a very long time. Gathered to make repairs in the kitchen, think about new, possibly unexpected solutions. Perhaps your house just didn’t get enough - a beautiful and practical buffet for the kitchen.

The restoration of the old kitchen sideboard is described in the video below.