Pros and Cons of Freestanding Cabinets

Thinking of installing a freestanding cabinet? They can be a great way to add extra space to your kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room.

To help you decide whether to go for it, we’ll go over:

We’ll go over each in more detail.

You can choose between 2 types of freestanding cabinets:

1. Tall: Tall freestanding cabinets have full-length doors and range between 72 and 96 inches in height. Most homeowners use a tall freestanding cabinet as a food pantry, linen closet, supply storage closet, or china hutch to display fine dinnerware and cookware.
2. Low: Low freestanding cabinets sit at the same (or similar) height as regular bottom cabinets—usually 24–26 inches—and often have countertops. Low freestanding cabinets are normally used as kitchen islands or accent cabinets in bathrooms and laundry rooms.

You can also choose whether you want a tall or short freestanding cabinet that:

• Sits against the wall or in a corner. Freestanding cabinets can have either a flat back to sit right against a wall or an angled back to fit in a corner. Corner freestanding cabinets are great if you have a smaller kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room that needs to maximize storage space.
• Has legs or sits directly on the floor. Depending on the style of the cabinet, you can usually choose from a variety of leg styles—including peg legs, skirting boards, or hairpin legs. If the freestanding cabinet doesn’t have legs, the base will sit right on the floor and usually have a toe kick.
• Has doors or consists of open shelving. Depending on what you want to store in the freestanding cabinet, open shelving is a nice way to display your linens, toiletries, or fine dinnerware.

Let’s get into the benefits of installing a freestanding cabinet.

Pros of freestanding cabinets include:

• Extra storage space. One of the main reasons people install freestanding cabinets is the extra storage space. Freestanding cabinets can be a great place to store linens, cookware, or dinner you use less frequently, or can be used as a creative room divider.
• Opportunity for an accent piece. While they’re mainly a practical addition, freestanding cabinets can act as an accent piece for your kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room—especially if you opt for a panel with a unique design. Learn more about different panel design styles in our blog “Different Styles of Kitchen Cabinets.”
• More flexibility. Since freestanding cabinets don’t attach to the wall as regular cabinets do, you have more flexibility in where you place the freestanding cabinet—and can move them if you need to. Most Phoenix homeowners install freestanding cabinets against open walls, in corners (if you’re short on wall or floor space), or in the middle of the room (as an island).
• Easier cleaning. Since freestanding cabinets aren’t attached to the wall, they can be moved to clean all sides of the cabinet and the floor beneath. This also allows you to clean all sides of the cabinet when needed.

Now, we’ll go over a few downsides of freestanding cabinets.

Cons of freestanding cabinets include:

• More expensive. Freestanding cabinets normally cost more than regular wall cabinets because all sides of the cabinet have to be finished. The more finish a cabinet has, the more it will cost.
• Limited selection. Unfortunately, most cabinet manufacturers don’t offer a wide variety of options for freestanding cabinets. However, if you hire a cabinet company to create custom cabinets for you, you won’t have that problem—you can custom design your freestanding cabinet to suit your exact needs and style.
• Take up floor space. Unlike regular cabinets, freestanding cabinets don’t attach to the wall, which means they’re taking up space on your floor. If you have a large room with a lot of open space, this likely won’t be an issue. But if you have a small room where every inch of open space counts, you may want to consider installing more wall cabinets or alternative storage solutions.