Socket for the kitchen – a practical decoration with great possibilities

A kitchen set can consist of different pieces of furniture, united in one piece by common elements – facade doors, fittings, table tops. One of such important components is the base for the kitchen – the bar, which is fixed to the bottom or supporting legs of the pedestals. This protection performs several functions at once: it closes the space under the furniture from the penetration of dust, children’s toys or pets, food cleanings and other debris, in addition, significantly improves the appearance of the kitchen set.

Design features of the basement system

The base of the kitchen is a rather simple design, which consists of a decorative outer bar, clip-clips, sealant and end caps. To exactly repeat the outline of furniture, the system can be supplemented with various auxiliary elements:

• standard connectors for angles of 90 or 135 degrees;
• Radius fragments that allow you to perform smooth turns or outline bends;
• adapters for sections of various heights;
• Ventilation grilles that provide air circulation under furniture and built-in appliances (oven, refrigerator, washing machine or dishwasher).

In addition, that the decorative bars greatly facilitate the care of the kitchen (who at least once tried to wash the floor, maneuvering with a squeegee between the feet of the pedestals – will appreciate!), They perfectly hide communications, for example, drainage hoses or electrical wiring. And if necessary, the base is easily dismantled by snapping off the fasteners holding it in the upright position. To the system to fit to the surface of furniture without significant gaps, it is important to choose the correct height, and this parameter directly depends on the design of the headset itself and the evenness of the floor.

On a note! If the floor in the kitchen is not perfectly aligned, you can pick up the socle on the adjustable suspension. In order to not see the slots, the design is not level with the facades, and “heat” deep into several centimeters.

The most popular sizes of the socle for the kitchen are 100mm, 120mm, 150mm and 200mm, but there are other varieties, so when buying a design it is important to know the distance from the bottom edge of the cabinet to the floor (especially if the legs are not height-adjustable).

Important! The system can consist only of a bar and clip-fasteners, or be supplemented with a sub-shell – a plastic or metal U-shaped profile that “takes” about 5 mm of height.

The sub-shell ensures a tight fit of the strip to the floor surface and serves as an additional protection against penetration of moisture. But some furniture manufacturers prefer to install the cap directly on the silicone sealant. The design is more durable, but if necessary, disassemble it, you have to cut off the protection with a knife, and then reinstall the connection again.

On a note! Designers advise for rooms with low ceilings to select standard socles 100 mm. More wide strips are suitable for kitchens, with a height of 3 m and more.

Types of materials for plinths

The kitchen socket can be bought separately, ordered with a suite or made by hand, having drunk a bar of the right size from a particle board or a moisture-resistant plasterboard. As for the design – there are also options. You can choose the color decor of the facades, countertops, accessories or come up with your own option for contrasting framing the lower zone of the headset – a wide range of materials and their coatings allows you to find the right protection for any interior. Let’s take a closer look at the most popular types of socle socks, as well as advantages and disadvantages of different products .

Budget option – plastic

The plastic kitchen socket is one of the most inexpensive and practical options for decorating the gap between the floor and the pedestals of the headset. Of course, the cost largely depends on the quality of PVC and the thickness of the product, but the price range and a huge selection of colors allow you to choose the optimal solution for any interior and budget.

Advantages of plastic:

• Excellent moisture resistance – the material is not afraid of water and does not deform from moisture.
• Hygienic and easy care – plastic does not have a fungus, and it will not be difficult to wash it, even if there are significant contaminants or fatty deposits.
• Plasticity – the material can take any shape, which is very important for kitchen cabinets with bends or smooth curves. To make the system look monolithic, additional adapters and connectors are used.
• Light weight and easy installation, thanks to specially designed grooves on the inner side of the bar.

Plastic base for the kitchen is a fairly reliable option – it does not deform from sunlight or contact with water, but the resistance to mechanical damage depends on the stiffness of the bar – on the thin panel there may be dents from accidental piercing with a foot or a mop.

Disadvantages of plastic is not so much. It should be borne in mind that on its surface are easily visible divorces and streaks, so the panel (especially glossy) will have to be regularly wiped. And for care it is necessary to choose non-abrasive products that do not contain chlorine.

In one style with the kitchen – chipboard or MDF

The plinths of chipboards or wood fiber boards are usually made together with the set itself, repeating its coloring and texture. As a result, the kitchen looks solid, and its design – harmonious.

Advantages of wooden socles:

• Wide choice of color solutions.
• Reliable imitations of the structure of natural material under wooden facades.
• Relative resistance to mechanical influences – if you accidentally hit such a base, it will not form dents, but if a sharp object of an external coating is damaged inside a wooden plate, a fungus may develop.

The price of such plinths depends on the quality of the slab itself and the variety of its outer cover. The chipboard is considered one of the most economical solutions, but the service life of such a product is not long, especially if it is not protected from water from all sides by film or other kinds of coatings. In addition, at the socles, as well as furniture from chipboard, there is a weak spot – corners and ends with a glue edge, which eventually flakes.

On a note! To extend the life of the boards from the chipboard it is important to protect their surface from prolonged contact with moisture, do not leave puddles on the floor and periodically remove the panels to dry in the sun or near the radiators.

MDF costs 1.5-2 times more expensive than chipboard, it resists moisture better, it also requires anti-fungal impregnation, but the protective layer (including at the ends) on wood fiber boards is kept much better and longer due to the smooth surface and the absence of large sawdust in composition. If you choose as a decoration plastic – the base of MDF can make a worthy competition, even metal.

On a note! Wooden slabs are used only for facing furniture with simple, mostly rectilinear, forms – the material does not bend well. Yes, and suitable adapters find quite problematic, so for non-standard bends or elevations, the connectors will have to be made to order, sawed with their own hands or combined with plastic elements.

Practical metal

The most reliable (but also the most expensive) kitchen base is made of aluminum. The main competitive advantages of the metal over other materials are obvious – strength and durability. The aluminum strip can serve for years, without burning out the sun and not changing the shape under the influence of humidity or temperature changes.

In addition to high strength, aluminum bars also have other advantages:

• Hygiene – a metal surface does not create a favorable environment for the propagation of harmful microorganisms.
• Flexibility of the material and a wide choice of connecting elements allow to decorate furniture of almost any shape.
• A light weight ensures easy assembly and disassembly of the product.

Almost the only drawback of aluminum can be called a small variety of color solutions. Although you can find painted staves, but this range of different shades and textures like wood boards or plastic is not close. But the shine of the metal is in perfect harmony with the fittings, various appliances, plumbing and organically complements any modern kitchen, especially designed in modern style, loft or high-tech.

Protection and decoration – great opportunities for small slats

Choosing a base for kitchen furniture, you can use some design tricks to turn the usual protection into a bright detail of the interior. And what it will be – purely decorative, practical or combine “two in one” – it’s up to you!

A few ideas for inspiration:

1. Accent lighting

It is known that there is not much light in the kitchen. Of course, from a functional point of view, it is unlikely that the lighting of the lower cupboards can be called an indispensable assistant when cleaning or cooking food, but it can bring notes of romanticism to the interior of the room or become an interesting highlight.

To create the effect of “furniture hovering over the floor” it is enough to attach the LED strip to the bottom of the lockers on the double-sided tape. Especially effective lighting will look in combination with the glossy flooring and other zonal lighting.

If the base is high enough, you can use built-in spotlights instead of LEDs – they give a brighter light, but also require more energy. The lighting of the kitchen base is simple and beautiful:

2. Mirror coated plinth

If you can not decide on the color of the decorative bar – consider the option with a reflective coating. Such an element gives lightness to a cumbersome headset, looks stylish and unusual, but also care is required – in the presence of spots and divorces, the effect of airiness will turn into an ood of untidiness.

3. By all the rules of ergonomics – built-in boxes socks

The owners of small kitchens are accustomed to appreciate every centimeter of free space. Many of them consider it as wasteful to simply close the decorative gap with an empty gap of 10 or even 20 cm!

For those who are not set up for such a sacrifice in the name of aesthetics, the furniture makers offer a compromise option – to supplement several compartments with boxes on wheels or skids, the facades of which will be lined with the same material as the basement system. Here there is a place for various small kitchen appliances, household chemicals or frying pans. But in spacious rooms such an addition is unlikely to be in demand – yet it is not very convenient to use a squat box, and the height limits the number of placed items. Plinths with sliding sections for various needs:

Advice! Do not forget that the base is a removable bar. And if her design bored or just want to give the interior a new touch – you can always replace the panel with a brighter and more original.

How to install the base

The installation of the protective panel is quite simple, it can be done by hand, even with a minimal tool set. The essence of the process is to attach the basement system to the supporting legs of the furniture with the help of special fasteners.

For work you will need:

• Measuring tools: tape measure, level.
• Hacksaw or file.
• Screwdriver, self-tapping screws, small nails and a hammer (for installation of the base from chipboard / MDF).
• Sealant and sealant.
• Pencil or marker.
• Basement system with connecting elements and fastening clips.

Important! To properly install the base, the front feet of the pedestals should be positioned so that the protective bar is recessed into the interior by 5-10 cm, in extreme cases – flush with the facades. Otherwise, washing dishes or standing close to the countertop during cooking will be inconvenient. But the lateral sides of the indentation can be less – 3-7 cm.

The base is fixed to the outer legs and several intermediate ones every 0,8-1,2 m. On average, for a small headset 1,5-2 m long, three fixing points are quite enough – 2 on the edges and one in the middle. Do not make the construction more rigid, trying to attach it to all the front legs – ideally aligning the supports in one line is problematic enough, and in the presence of even minor deviations the surface of the bar will soon go “wave”, which will spoil the appearance of the facade.

In order for the base to fit well to the floor surface, a sealant must be fastened to the bottom edge of the strip before mounting (for a chipboard and MDF this can be a thin profile, for metal and plastic – a silicone tape). The sealant is fixed to the wood plates in small carnations, to PVC or aluminum – glue or sealant.

Depending on the material of the decorative strip, there are two options for mounting:

1. For chipboard and MDF – fastening on self-tapping screws. On the bar marking is done by the number and location of the legs, then the U-shaped locks are fastened, which snap into place on the supports.

2. On the plastic and aluminum plinths, the inner side is equipped with special troughs, so no precise measurements and markings are required. The fixing clip is simply inserted into the groove worn on the foot.

If the kitchen wall is straight – enough to measure the length of the bar, if necessary cut the edges of the hacksaw and equip plugs. But with complex designs have to work hard, collecting a “puzzle” from the cuts of panels and special connectors.

Video tutorials on the topic

Installation of the plinth from the EAF with their own hands:

A simple way to bend the plastic base for the kitchen:

The most difficult thing is to mount a protective bar for kitchens with smooth shapes or a large number of radius elements. If the material is not sufficiently flexible, it will be necessary to make incisions from the inside of the cap, so that the bar will take the desired shape, which is difficult to do without the skill and experience of working with the material. In this case, it is better to entrust the installation to professional furniture makers who will properly select the shape and mount the base so that it becomes an organic continuation of the kitchen wall.