Cabinet (Furniture)

A cabinet is a piece of furniture fitted with doors, drawers or compartments for storing objects. The word comes from the French cabinet, meaning a small room, itself derived from cabane (hut). In the 16th and 17th centuries, a “cabinet” could refer not only to a cupboard but also to a private chamber where valuables or important papers were kept — hence the modern political term for a body of advisers meeting in private.

Wooden cabinet Pexels

Early cabinets were often lavish status symbols. During the Renaissance, wealthy Europeans displayed “cabinets of curiosities” — collections of rare shells, fossils, artworks and scientific instruments — in elaborately crafted cupboards designed as much to impress as to store. These showpieces, popular in courts such as that of Rudolf II, helped lay the foundations of the modern museum.

The Russian Czar Peter The Great was a keen craftsman and cabinet maker.

The 18th century saw cabinet-making become a highly skilled and fashionable craft. In Britain, designers such as Thomas Chippendale published pattern books that influenced furniture styles across Europe and America. Mahogany, imported from the Caribbean, became a favoured wood because of its strength and rich colour.

In the 20th century, the cabinet evolved with changing tastes. The Arts and Crafts movement favoured simplicity and visible joinery, while later modernist designers stripped cabinets down to clean lines and functional forms. Today the word encompasses everything from kitchen units to bathroom vanities and display cabinets for china.

When Pablo Picasso commissioned a local cabinet maker to build a wardrobe for him he drew a sketch with the design and dimensions and gave it to the craftsman. "How much will it cost?" he asked "nothing at all just sign the sketch." replied the cabinet maker.

Harrison Ford worked as a carpenter in Los Angeles before achieving fame as an actor, mainly doing home remodelling work. Had a reputation as one of the best cabinetmakers in the city, and his services were much in demand on Los Angeles' trendy Westside long before he became a movie star.

Medicine cabinets are one of the worst places to store medicine because of the high temperatures and humidities of bathrooms.