Home Theater Cabinets

Along with choosing the components to buy, selecting your home theater cabinets is a critical aspect of your home's entertainment center. For convenience, you will want your equipment and the supply of movies close to the viewing screen.

Cabinets can be purchased which will fit nicely on either side of the screen, above or below it. These cabinets can also hide the speakers (assuming you don't want to see them), and they will contain the DVD player, stereo equipment, etc.

They usually will have adjustable shelves, making it easier to fit the various items. The depth should be at least 21 inches (preferably 24 inches). This is large enough to house CD jukeboxes, racks for DVDs and servers. The cabinet backs should have cutouts for the wires and cables.

If you have the money, you will probably get the most efficient cabinet layout by hiring an architect or cabinet designer to create the best combination of home theater cabinets for you. But if that's not the case, you can find units that will work quite well, because they are made expressly to house the discs and other items which are typically found in a home theater.

However, in the case where you prefer to house the screen within a wood surround of some sort, that will probably have to be custom-made (unless you haven't purchased the screen yet).

At the high end of this market, there are stores that will sell you both the cabinetry and the equipment, and everything will fit together like a glove. Those folks can put a sizable dent in your bank account, but the quality will be great.

The ideal home theater will have no distracting lights while the movie is playing. So if I were buying cabinets, I would choose a dark finish.

That way, any light from adjoining areas won't reflect off of the light-colored surfaces. I know that's getting picky, but once something like that is in your head, it becomes apparent, and annoying.

For a more comprehensive discussion about home theaters, go to home theater construction.

Any questions or comments about this page, contact me about home theater cabinets here.

If you're planning a large renovation, or building a new home, think about getting your hands on CONTROLLING YOUR REMODELING PROJECT. You can learn more about it by clicking here.

If your project will be smaller, think about signing up for the newsletter. It's free, and there's lots of useful information in it.

Find thousands of unbiased ratings on services for home improvements Try Angie’s List.