It is difficult to imagine a piece of furniture that would bring more comfort and warmth to the interior than a sideboard. It’s not so much comfort as memories of grandma’s house, the warmth of the family hearth and fidelity to tradition that envelop this china cabinet in modern design projects. Fashion is always cyclical and those pieces of furniture that were popular about 50-80 years ago, which were forced out of our everyday life by furniture sets and ready-made solutions for the kitchen, are once again becoming mainstream and imbuing modern kitchen space design projects with their uniqueness.
Buffets are once again popular. Moreover, this unique piece of furniture can easily be integrated into both vintage and modern stylistic trends. If in a classic style, shabby chic or vintage style, a sideboard emphasizes a tribute to tradition, the peculiarity of established ways of making furniture for storing dishes, then in any of the modern styles an original cabinet can become the highlight of the interior, attracting all eyes.
Purpose of a modern buffet
Depending on whether the buffet will be just a storage space or also a decorative element, you can place it in the kitchen or living room.
If the buffet is in the living room, it is better to store tableware, tea or coffee sets, and beautiful glasses in it. Depending on the style of the room, you can complement the ensemble with figurines or other decorative elements.
The buffet in the kitchen serves as a spacious storage system. In the upper transparent compartments you can store dishes, spices, and beautiful kitchen textiles.
Cutlery is usually stored in drawers, and heavy pots and pans are stored in lower cabinets. On the countertop you can place decor or put an electric kettle, coffee maker and everything you need for a coffee break.
You can choose a buffet so that it matches the style of the kitchen, or vice versa, choose the buffet you like and make it so that you get a kitchen in the style of a buffet. Such a piece of furniture deserves to be the center of the interior.
Location
- Next to the kitchen furniture. A cupboard for kitchen utensils, created in the same style as the rest of the furniture, will be an excellent addition to the kitchen set. There are also built-in options; the china cabinet is made the center of the furniture composition. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the tabletop of the buffet matches the height of the rest of the surface.
- In the dining room. When you plan to keep dishes for daily use in the closet, the chest of drawers is placed closer to the dining table. This way, setting up for lunch or dinner will become much easier and faster, since everything you need is at hand.
- Between the kitchen and dining area. If the buffet stores both sets and pots for cooking, it is more convenient to place it in the border zone. For easy access to food and utensils. In addition, with this arrangement, the kitchen cabinet can act as a partition separating the kitchen from the dining room.
- Near the window. Near the window opening, tall but narrow cabinets are installed. Also, the option with a corner buffet for the kitchen is great.
- Niche. An excellent solution to take up space in a niche is to install a buffet. The cupboard can be made to order using individual dimensions. Then the shelves will take up all the free space in the niche.
Buffet in classic style
Classic buffets are characterized by a large height, it can reach the ceiling. Also, the classic buffet is made in a combined style, with a glazed top and a closed lower part. It must stand on curly legs.
If you gravitate towards classics and pomp, you should forget bright or dark shades, choose a white kitchen sideboard with rich fittings, gilding in the decor is welcome. The architecture may be dominated by straight lines, the upper part may be made in the shape of an arch.
Required Tools
To make a kitchen buffet to your liking, you will need an individual set of tools, but among them there are those that you cannot do without, regardless of what material, design and configuration of the product the master chooses.
In the classic version, there are work surfaces. This part is always decorated with decorative elements.
Standard set:
- drill;
- wood drills;
- jigsaw;
- a circular saw;
- Sander;
- screwdriver
and other tools and devices that should be at hand.
The most common are closed cabinets.
Retro style
The choice of buffet model depends on the style of what era you want to recreate. Geography matters too. You can choose the 70s style, but the American and Soviet styles will be different.
The retro style is united by dark, rich colors. It is permissible to artificially age furniture to achieve the desired effect.
Retro buffets are often distinguished by their low height and massive lower part of the structure.
Country buffet
Country style furniture is designed to reflect the national character of a particular area. Depending on whether you want to create an American country or “merchant” style, the sideboard can be beige, brown, green or even blue.
The main thing is that the colors are not flashy, and that the structure of the wood is visible from under the paint. Brushed furniture looks good in country interiors. To do this, the top layer of paint is specially removed, revealing the natural pattern.
Manufacturers offer furniture made from MDF and chipboard, which imitates wood. Country sideboards should not have glass or plastic inserts.
Kitchen hi-tech
For interiors in the style of technogenic minimalism, ergonomic furniture is very important; kitchen cupboards are no exception. The buffet in such a kitchen should be made in a minimalist style, without unnecessary details, with many convenient drawers. In this style, you can and even need to add elements made of plexiglass, unpainted metal and plastic.
A high-tech sideboard can look like a large monolithic cabinet or a tall closed shelving unit made of glass and metal on high legs.
Minuses
Despite the many advantages, there is also a disadvantage. Since the buffet is intended to be an autonomous element of furniture in the interior, spacious rooms are needed for its harmonious arrangement.
However, there are also more modest buffets. You can also compactly and harmoniously fit a corner model of a sideboard into the interior.
Provence
Often the idea of buying a buffet arises among housewives along with the desire to decorate the kitchen in the Provence style. A buffet for a kitchen in Provence style should have a white or muted pastel color. The design uses lace, carvings, and floral patterns.
Provence sideboards for the kitchen are made from natural wood or materials that imitate it. Such a sideboard should look like something with history, so such sideboards are often patinated to give an antique look. Images of birds or ornate monograms look natural on such buffets.
Advantages
Sideboards and cupboards for the kitchen are considered antiques. These designs are characterized by originality and reliability. Suitable for interiors in rustic, classic or Provence design.
An antique buffet has a high cost. It’s worth trying to make a design element with your own hands.
Designs that are made independently have many advantages:
- original design;
- ideal combination with the interior;
- affordable price.
The buffet should be part of the style of the room
. A corner buffet is the best option for creating coziness in the kitchen area. The product has the following features:
- Contains sections in which all utensils and kitchen items are stored. Such furniture is spacious.
- These are compact designs that do not take up much space.
- With the help of this furniture, zoning is carried out into a working area and a dining area.
- The top surface is used for serving and a small TV is installed on it.
- The shelves of the structure are decorated with lighting.
- The corner location makes use of the dining area, which is empty.
- Used as part of a kitchen set.
- The use of glass doors will allow you to display beautiful kitchen sets and utensils.
- The corner design makes the most of the corner.
The lower tier of the corner structure houses large dishes and household appliances. The furniture has a drawback: it is not suitable for kitchens in a modern style.
Corner models are recommended if space is limited.
The corner option is convenient and does not take up much space
Modern
This style is characterized by its pretentiousness. Therefore, a buffet in the Art Nouveau style should be made of natural wood in a natural color or painted in light natural shades and have an intricate shape.
Round or wavy curves, brass figured fittings and carved elements in facade decoration are acceptable.
How to choose a buffet
When choosing a buffet, you need to consider some features of this piece of furniture:
- The size of the buffet should be proportional to the existing furniture. This applies to both the kitchen and the living room;
- The color palette of the buffet should echo the tone of the kitchen unit and should differ from the color of the floor covering. Otherwise, the buffet will simply blend in;
- It is better to give preference to closed models. If you don't mind grinding each plate weekly, you can buy an open buffet;
- Always pay attention to the quality of furniture fittings;
- The style should match not only the furniture, but also the lighting elements;
- Choose a model based on what you plan to store in your cupboard.
Ready or to order
By visiting furniture stores, buyers will be able to see a wide range of products in stock. It is necessary to find ideal solutions. They should suit you with their size, design, and many other features.
Often certain difficulties arise with searches. In practice, it can be difficult to find a model that completely satisfies all requests. The requirements can be very extensive.
In such cases, custom manufacturing is preferred. This option helps out quite often. It will be possible to get furniture that best suits all your needs.
For this purpose, it is worth contacting reliable companies engaged in production, using good materials, following technologies, and carefully approaching each client.
Restoration of an old sideboard
If you received an old sideboard from your relatives, it can easily fit into a modern interior. To do this you will need your desire, time, some materials and instructions.
First you need to thoroughly clean the buffet. After this, sandpaper should remove all the old coating. If the sideboard is made of valuable wood, it is better to cover it with varnish or stain. Simpler sideboards can be painted.
Don't limit yourself to one color. A sideboard painted in muted tones with bright interior surfaces looks beautiful.
To give it an antique look, you can additionally sand the surface, apply a patina, or use different techniques for applying patterns to wood. After all the decorative work, you need to coat the sideboard with wood varnish.
If the fittings look bad, and the hinges squeak and jam, feel free to replace them with new ones.
Manufacturing process: step-by-step instructions
Before you take up the tools, you need to clearly imagine what kind of buffet you will make, and reflect your thoughts and ideas on the drawing, indicating all the details of the product.
A sideboard is part of the kitchen furniture.
First, the largest elements of the product that form its basis are prepared according to the available drawings, taking into account the necessary parameters. In order not to disturb the assembly order and not to lose the necessary parts, experienced home craftsmen advise numbering all parts.
It has the shape of an ordinary cabinet with a closed and an open part.
After completing the preparatory work, the cabinet is assembled in the following order.
- Preparing the side parts of the furniture, drilling holes in them. It is worth paying attention to the advice of experienced craftsmen who recommend using a depth limiter to control the distance between the recesses. Its use allows you to protect furniture parts from through drilling.
- Connection of buffet partitions
- Connection of the upper part of the product and the outer side parts. The top of the product is located on the end fasteners, and the side parts and bottom are pushed all the way.
- Installation of internal parts. First, the buffet body is mounted on the rear ends. Screws are used to secure the lower part, and mounting angles are used to connect it to the upper part.
- Assembly of base parts and their fastening. To mark the plinth, a drawing of kitchen furniture is used, according to which the panels are fixed on bars located at the corners of the structure.
- Decoration of the façade. The plate is placed in its place, and protrusions of the required size are left on the sides. They are needed for hanging doors and fixing the back panel.
- Securing the back wall. The sideboard body is laid out on its side to secure the canvas in the required position.
- Installation of doors and hinges. The left and right doors, the bottom and the top are marked with marks, after which the hinges are installed according to the marked marks. The cabinet doors are mounted in place, securely fastened on the hinges.
- Installing furniture in its permanent place, installing shelves and drawers, checking the quality of installation and ease of use of the product.
The designs of such cabinets vary.
However, in other designs you can also find kitchen furniture with engravings, plinths and cornices on the facades.
