The Basics of Cabinets — Wood Species,

To help reduce the frustration and feeling of being overwhelmed with details and terminology that most homeowners are not familiar with, we are starting an educational series on the Basics of Cabinets.  We are taking on one topic at a time and hope that the information we provide will be useful and informative, and will help homeowners feel a bit more at ease with the process.  Today’s topic is:   Wood Species

Cabinet parts are made from a variety of different materials – wood, plastic laminate (commonly referred to as Formica), metal, and thermofoil.  Our discussion today will focus on wood cabinets and more specifically, the just the parts that what you are going to see when you walk into your new kitchen – the doors, drawer fronts, face frames, etc.  We will discuss the other type of cabinet finishes (laminate, metal and thermofoil) and the cabinet interior parts in another session.

There are many wood species available for cabinets.  The most common are hard maple, cherry, oak (red & white), birch, hickory, and alder.  Cabinets are also made from ash, walnut, pine, and mahogany; sustainable species such as bamboo and lyptus/eucalyptus; and a variety of exotic woods such as wenge, babinga, zebrawood, ebony, teak, anigre, chestnut, burl, sapele, cedar, etc, etc.  As if this isn’t enough, there are numerous varieties of the above-named woods, plus some species are also available in rustic grade, and of course there is that mysterious wood species called paint-grade (often soft maple, or other species that had mineral streaking or some other visual feature that prevented it from being used for stained finishes).

Suffice it to say, if you don’t know what some of these woods are, don’t worry….95% of the cabinets sold in Florida are hard maple, cherry, birch and oak.  The others are available for the client that wants a very unique or very specific look.

Every cabinet manufacturer has a lineup of wood species that they offer, but almost all offer cabinets in hard maple, cherry, and red oak.  Oak is typically the least expensive of these wood species, followed by maple and cherry.  Hard Maple has traditionally been most popular in the lighter colors and cherry in the darker colors, but in recent years, we have seen more and more dark finishes on hard maple and light finishes on Cherry.  Photos of many wood species are shown below, and here is a brief description of maple, cherry, and oak:

• Hard Maple is a dense, hard wood, is light in color, and is a fine textured and close grained wood that does not require filling.
• Cherry wood is moderately heavy, hard, and strong, and it also machines and sands to glass-like smoothness. Because of this, Cherry finishes beautifully. The heartwood in Cherry is red in color, and the sapwood is light pink. Components made of Cherry generally consist of approximately 25% sapwood and 75% heartwood.
• Oak is a wood that is known for being very hard, heavy, and strong. However, given its density, it is actually fairly easy to work. It does have a coarse texture.  It is also characterized by having excellent sanding and finishing properties, and great stability.  Which species is the best for cabinets?  There is no simple answer, every species has its good points (some cabinet builders may disagree) and their disadvantages.  In general, if you stray from most common species, the cost will go up.  But, if you have specific look that you are trying to achieve, the possibilities are seemingly endless!