What Types Of Wood Are Used For Custom Cabinetry?

What Types Of Wood Are Used For Custom Cabinetry?

When considering what types of wood are used for custom cabinetry, you have to look at a few factors that include your budget, if the cabinetry will be painted, and personal preference and style.

Today’s blog will focus on the types of wood used for custom cabinetry, so continue reading.

 

Tyes of Wood for Custom Cabinets

Many types of wood are used for custom cabinetry, but the most popular is oak, which is by far the most common wood used for solid wood cabinets. It has a strong “flower” grain that comes through with most stains. For a less red look, use white oak. Here are more commonly used types of wood to consider.

 

Pine

The only softwood used for cabinets, pine, has a pale yellow look that often features knots. It offers a beautiful, distressed, or antique appearance and is commonly used in English, French, and American country settings. In some semi-custom lines, Eastern and Western white pine are used.

 

Hickory

Similar in grain pattern and strength, hickory is lighter than oak. However, tt’s a more rustic look, therefore, rarely chosen for custom or semi-custom cabinetry.

 

Ash

Lighter color than oak, but with similar in durability and strength, ash has very little graining and often used in cabinet interiors. It takes stains well.

 

Cherry

Hard enough to withstand knocks and marring, cherry wood is an elegant choice. It’s mainly used for formal cabinets with raised panels that include English or French style. Because of its design versatility, it can give a kitchen a contemporary look and personality.

 

Birch

This fine-grain wood is quite pale and durable and is often used in contemporary custom cabinets and raised and recessed panel doors.

 

Hard maple

Often dressed with a natural finish to achieve a contemporary, light look, hard maple has a fine grain that can be stained, if preferred.

 

Natural Characteristics of Wood

With the rise in popularity of modern appliances and tiling, wood offers a contrast that blends the beauty, warmth, and texture with the more clean, basic look that’s trending now. All woods offer a defining characteristic that contributes to their character and beauty. These “imperfections” come through the stain and glazes people apply to the wood and include:

 

  • Wormholes – small holes that range in size to about 1/16 of an inch
  • Sugar tracks – yellowish to dark brown streaks that run throughout the wood
  • Sapwood – lighter color parts that grow from inside the bark to the heartwood
  • Mineral streaks – color that ranges from olive to blackish-brown and usually follows the grain pattern
  • Burls – swirls or twists in the grain that doesn’t contain a knot
  • Bird Pecks – small marks in the grain pattern caused by – yep – pecking birds
  • Gum streaks – mineral-like flashes of color that only occur in cherry wood
  • Sound knots – solid across their face and show no evidence of decay
  • Heartwood – a mature, darker wood that extends from the sapwood to the pith

 

Need Custom Cabinets?

Now that you know the most common types of wood for custom cabinetry give us a call or visit us here to learn more. Located in Lehi, UT, we specialize in custom cabinets for your kitchen or bathroom and have a gallery with great ideas to choose from. Contact us today and transform your kitchen or bathroom!

 
 

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