Kitchen buffet: types, selection and recommendations for placement

When comfortable, practical and ergonomic cabinets and headsets began to dominate the kitchen, beautiful consoles, sideboards, and slides disappeared from the kitchen space. It is especially a pity for the disappeared sideboards, which could once 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 that radically changes the look of the kitchen.

In the traditional sense, a sideboard is a massive, closed cupboard. It contains a variety of kitchen utensils, utensils, plates and sets. Stocks of jam, bulk products, groceries and dried fruits can stand in it. The classical design does not imply any possibilities for hanging, this is monolithic furniture. In the upper part of it there is a cabinet with wooden doors with or without glass. Most models have a table top between the top and bottom, which can be used for decorative purposes and with a working function.

At the bottom of the cabinet there is a cabinet with doors, storage space. In fact, modern kitchen cabinets are an adapted sideboard, more ergonomic, but less decorative and self-contained. There are a lot of options for sideboards, but the most popular design is a two- or three-door cabinet with glass showcases. The popularity of this model is due to its practicality: it is convenient to store dishes and various kitchen utensils in such furniture. The top showcase usually serves decorative purposes: there are beautiful sets, cups, figurines, vases, etc.

The material of manufacture is the basis of the price of the product. Of course, you can find on sale sideboards made of valuable wood species, but their price will be very high (higher than the cost of an average budget full-fledged kitchen set).

For the production of buffets use:

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

Kitchen furniture is made moisture resistant, stable and durable. But some structures need additional processing, a special coating. So, furniture can be sanded or laminated. The resins that are part of the chipboard are made using formaldehyde, so the chipboard must not be heated. Do not use such furniture in rooms where allergy sufferers live.

All models of buffets and their counterparts can be divided into several categories. Sideboards can be linear - that is, the facade is located in a straight line, or they can be angular - such furniture is designed to be installed in the corner of the kitchen. Linear sideboards, of course, are more common; corner sideboards have to be made to order more and more often. This is a convenient option for decorating a small kitchen. Previously, in the case of a small area of ​​space, pencil cases came to the rescue, today corner floor cupboards become an alternative to them.

There are many designs in the model range, many types have moved away from the classics:

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

If you prefer a self-contained sideboard to a classic sideboard, you can complement it with narrow elements fixed to the wall. Often on sale you can find a modular complex in which there is a cabinet and hanging shelves or showcases. Sometimes a dresser is called a sideboard, to which you can pick up a convenient hanging cabinet or an add-on placed on the countertop.

By the way, about the sideboards. Many people think that the concepts of "buffet" and "sideboard" are identical. In fact, they are not the same thing, but the pieces of furniture can be conventionally called brothers. A sideboard is a cabinet, the top and bottom of which are in the same plane and do not have any countertop, middle void, etc. For example, the countertop of the sideboard can serve as a place for making tea or coffee, cutting food, etc. In the sideboard there is no such zone provided. The rest of the types of furniture are similar.

The sideboard should organically fit into the style of your kitchen. It's not enough to just guess with color or size.Sometimes it is a pity to part with an existing sideboard, and the owner himself carries out a small restoration of the furniture, changing its style. Or you have in mind an old sideboard, sturdy and beautiful, but in need of restoration and decoration - another case of furniture transformation. You can do all this yourself.

The appearance of the sideboards differs depending on the styles.

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

A sideboard in this style does without noticeable fittings and unnecessary decorativeness. The case design can be the simplest, most discreet. You can specifically age the new model by adding noble wear 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 (if you are, of course, for the purity of style).

One of the best styles regarding the possibility of acquiring a sideboard - in Provencal cuisine this type of furniture "feels" comfortable. It matches the aesthetics of style, and it is incomparable with any other modern kitchen group "in Provence". Carved decoration on the sideboard is acceptable, but not required. Natural colors. It can be olive, blue or lavender buffet. The main requirement is to observe softness, tenderness of color, to refuse flashy shades.

Styles that repeat interior motives of different eras are collected under the general word. Someone recreates images from the 70s in their kitchens, carefully copying the furniture of that time (or rather, even finding samples that have survived from those years). It's easier to find a real chest of drawers from the 70s here, restore it and arrange it in your kitchen. Some fans of recreating the era even use stickers of those years (with the image of Pugacheva or Boyarsky, for example).

Today, buffets are more and more made of fiberboard, chipboard, MDF. Valuable wood, which can be the basis of the sideboard, is expensive - such furniture is rarely installed in the kitchen, preferring the living or dining area. But in a large house, where the kitchen-dining room has a considerable area, such options are also appropriate. There are also many plastic cupboards on sale, often such models are bought at the dacha.

In the aesthetics of "cute scuffed" furniture that can be attributed to the Victorian era, to the pre-war times. And if your buffet meets this request, get ready to paint it, and then cover it with a patina, organize local scuffs, etc. A classic shabby-sheck kitchen cannot have a kitchen set in the modern sense of the word, but a buffet is very appropriate there.

A buffet can be a key element of a kitchen, an accent, a center of attraction. More and more often, the sideboard is acquired in a color that does not harmonize with other kitchen furniture. For example, a walnut-colored kitchen might have an aquamarine or turquoise sideboard. Just pick a partner for him in the space, for example, a lamp of the same color or napkins on the dining table. It will be original, fresh and will fine tune to culinary experiences and long tea parties.

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

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

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

• Colour. A white sideboard in a white kitchen belongs to the standard solutions, but there is nothing wrong with them. Beautiful design is laconic and visual convincing, when there are no foreign objects in the kitchen, and all things complement each other. The bright kitchen sideboard, as noted, is trending, but consider whether you are ready for such a strong accent in the room.
• Style. A graceful shape, beautiful aristocratic fittings, glass with a print in the Art Nouveau style - such a buffet is beautiful and noble, but not in a country-style kitchen. In the Scandinavian style, such elegant furniture can also seem like an alien element. But sometimes it is 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 only do with cupboards above and below the sink and a sideboard. If such a decision is made, a roomy model is needed, which will fit everything that is needed to organize everyday life in the kitchen. By the way, it's a good way to get rid of what is standing and gathering dust, but it's a pity to throw it away.
• Structure. First, decide what you are going to find a place for in the buffet. And then decide what kind of structure the furniture should be, ready to accommodate it all. If you want to put the service in a conspicuous place, then the upper cabinets should be like a showcase. If it is important for you to place a kettle, sugar bowl, cups, cookie box in one place, look for a sideboard with a countertop.

If your kitchen is large (or it is a variant of a kitchen-living room), then there are no problems with placing the buffet. Often, the owners purchase a set, which includes a free-standing sideboard, a table and a sideboard. Or, the buffet is purchased together with the headset, which also does not raise questions about placement. The sideboard complements other kitchen furniture, as if it were one of the familiar parts of the set (linear or in a corner).

Sometimes a sideboard or sideboard is combined with a TV on the wall. Together they can look harmonious if you hardly use the surface of the cabinet. There are dishes in the curbstone, and a TV is hanging over it, nothing interferes with each other.

Consider interesting options for buffets in modern kitchen interiors.

• The stylish blue sideboard looks like antique furniture, heirloom. This is a chest of drawers with a superstructure, an open design option. Beautiful, vintage, it doesn't clash with modern kitchen finishes.

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

• This is what a restored sideboard from the 50s looks like, very stylish and delicate work. In a small kitchen it will be difficult to find a place and "company" of such furniture, but in a spacious room it will become a decoration.

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

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

The list of successful examples can be continued for a very long time. We are going to make repairs in the kitchen, think about new, possibly unexpected solutions. Perhaps your home only lacked it - a beautiful and practical sideboard for the kitchen.

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