Kitchen materials compared

The carcass comes before the door

The carcass, the cabinet box behind the doors, decides how long a kitchen lasts, because it is what sits in the moisture around the sink and the dishwasher.

• Moisture-resistant MDF: a dense, stable board made for humid places, and the usual sound choice for carcasses.
• Plywood: layers of veneer glued crosswise, strong and good at holding screws. Marine grades are made for wet conditions.
• Standard particleboard or plain MDF: acceptable in dry cabinets, but it swells if water reaches an unsealed edge.
• Aluminium carcasses: they do not swell or rot, which suits very humid and coastal kitchens, though the look is more utilitarian.

Whatever the board, every edge should be sealed with edge banding, especially inside the sink cabinet, and that cabinet benefits from a protective liner. Ask what the carcass is made of before you discuss door colours.

Door fronts compared

The front is what you see and touch every day, and each material trades looks against toughness.

HPL kitchens: the pros and cons

HPL is one of the most searched-for kitchen materials in Egypt because it is tough and practical, but it has limits worth knowing before you choose it.

• Pro: the surface stands up well to scratches, knocks and everyday heat, and it is easy to clean.
• Pro: a wide choice of matt colours, textures and wood looks that stay consistent from door to door.
• Con: it comes as flat sheets, so profiled or curved classic doors are not possible.
• Con: the edges are the weak point. Poor banding lets water reach the board underneath, which then swells.
• Con: a deep scratch or chip cannot be touched up invisibly, and the door is usually replaced.
• Check: HPL is a surface, not the whole door. Ask what board is under it and how the edges are finished.

The worktop: granite, quartz or marble

The worktop takes more punishment than any other surface in the home, so choose it for how you cook, not only for its colour.

• Granite: a very hard natural stone that copes with heat and scratches and resists most stains, sealed where the stone needs it. Egyptian granites come in a wide range of colours.
• Quartz: an engineered stone of crushed quartz bound with resin. Even colour, non-porous and easy to clean, but put hot pans on a trivet, because the resin can mark under direct heat, and keep it out of strong direct sun.
• Marble: beautiful and cool to the touch, but lemon, vinegar and tomato etch the polish and oils can stain. Choose it only if you are happy for it to show its use.

The worktop is templated after the cabinets are fixed in place, so it fits the real room, not the drawing. Our guide to marble, granite and quartz compares the three in more detail.

Hardware: the part you feel every day

Hinges, runners and lift systems decide how a kitchen feels in daily use more than the door material does.

• Soft-close hinges with three-way adjustment, so doors can be realigned after the kitchen settles.
• Full-extension drawer runners rated for the load: pans and plates are heavy, and weak runners are the first thing to sag.
• Lift systems for wall cabinets that open upwards, sized to the weight of the door.
• Adjustable legs behind the plinth, so the kitchen can be levelled on an uneven floor and the plinth removed for cleaning.
• Near the sea, hardware with a finish made for coastal air, because salt corrodes ordinary steel fittings.
• Handles or a handleless profile, chosen early, because they change the door design and the drawings.

Rather than asking for a brand name, ask for the load rating, the type of adjustment and whether replacement parts are easy to get.

Open kitchens and chalet kitchens

Where the kitchen is changes what it has to survive.

• Open kitchen: cooking fumes and grease reach the living room, so an extractor ducted to the outside matters more than the door finish. Matt fronts hide fingerprints better than gloss in a room everyone looks at.
• Open kitchen: plan the worktop joints, the splashback and the appliance positions with the whole living space in view.
• Chalet: salt air, humidity and months of closed rooms. Choose moisture-hardened carcasses, sealed edges and marine-grade hardware, and avoid solid timber fronts.
• Chalet: when you close it for the season, leave the cabinet doors ajar or ventilate the space, and shut the water off at the main valve.
• Humid Alexandria flats: aluminium, HPL on moisture-resistant board and acrylic all cope well if the edges are sealed; solid wood is the most sensitive.

The order of decisions

A kitchen goes smoothly when the decisions are made in this order.

1. Layout

   Where the sink, hob, fridge and oven go, which sets the water, drainage, gas and electrical points.

2. Appliances

   The exact models, before anything is cut, because cut-outs and cabinet sizes depend on them.

3. Carcass and fronts

   The board, the door material and colour, and the handles or handleless profile.

4. Worktop

   The stone or quartz, chosen together with the fronts so the colours work as a set.

5. Hardware

   Hinges, runners, lift systems and internal fittings, chosen by load and use.

6. Templating and fitting

   The cabinets are fixed and levelled first; then the worktop is templated, cut and fitted.

How Itmam makes kitchens

Kitchens are made in our own workshops, and stone tops are templated, cut and installed by the same team, so the cabinets and the worktop come from one set of measurements.

We visit, measure and give you a written, itemised quotation before work starts, so you can see the carcass, the fronts, the worktop and the hardware item by item. You can also visit our showroom in El Deresa, Alexandria.

On a finishing contract you pay each supplier directly, the tax invoice is in your name, and our fee for supervision and execution is agreed in writing. We work in Alexandria, on the North Coast and in New Cairo.