During the past ten years, I have built various types of cabinets and tried many wood types. I have also learned that when choosing a wood for cabinets, you need to be mindful of some considerations like the wood’s natural characteristics, including the grain of the wood, the wood’s color, whether it is sapwood or heartwood, the design or layout of cabinets, including the costs of wood.
The aesthetics and elegance of your cabinets hinge on the wood species you choose. Besides, there are external factors that could impact the appearance of your cabinets over time. Hence, it will be best to consider whether your cabinets will be subject to external factors like chemical exposure, UV lights, and moisture. With that in mind, you must provide your cabinets with a quality finish.
Types of Wood Suitable for Building Wooden Cabinets
If you’re a beginner in building cabinets, you might get confused about which wood type you would use, given the myriad of available wood options. To narrow down your options to the best wood options, you can check out this shortlist of the best wood types for building cabinets:
1) Cherry Wood Cabinets
Cherry wood is hardwood. It is an excellent option for making sturdy and durable cabinets. Moreover, it features red undertones but may range from deep, rich brown to white. It also has a close-grained and smooth appearance that exhibits random markings and uniform texture. Hence, it is pretty excellent to finish with its even grain.
Traditionalists prefer cherry wood cabinets because of their durability and longevity. Cabinets made of cherry wood are known for their luxurious dark and naturally rich color, though their colors may range from pale red to deep yellow.
This wood is also expensive but guarantees durability. Besides, it seldom dents or chips. As it ages, the cherry cabinets darken. It will be good to remember, too, that cherry absorbs stains well, and it will be best to go for walnut and deep mahogany shades.
2) Maple Wood Cabinets
Another excellent wood for building cabinets is maple. Maple cabinets usually have a creamy-white to white color, but it does sport reddish-brown tones when used in cabinet door panels. Maple features a fine and uniform texture with straight grain. Yet, it might also show variations like wavy, flame, tiger, Birdseye, fiddle back, or rippled grain. Besides, maple with added characteristics like the abovementioned is called “figured.”
Maple wood cabinets are also popular for their durability. Maple cabinets are perfect for contemporary kitchens. Moreover, maple absorbs stain well and comes in various colors for highlighting the wood. Maple also has various species, but the species commonly used in the U.S. is Rock Maple or Hard Maple.
3) Red Oak Wood Cabinets
One of the most popular woods for building cabinets is the Red Oak. It is strong and durable. Besides, it is not that expensive. It features consistent grain and color qualities. It is also an open-grained wood which means it takes dark stains well.
Maple’s pronounced grain patterns make it a preferred wood for traditional styles of cabinets. It is also a good option for stock, custom-made, and semi-custom cabinets.
4) White Oak Cabinets
Another excellent wood for cabinets is the white oak. It is a preeminent hardwood of central and eastern North America. Moreover, it usually has a light grey color. It is somewhat like its red counterpart, saved for one characteristic—it’s relatively stronger than the red oak.
The white oak will surely provide that elegant look to your cabinets. Besides, it will complement well any other kitchen or room style. White oak features more linear and longer grains that are densely compacted. You’ll also find some swirly patterns.
The white oak, with less grain variation, is perfect for your cabinets if you want a more unified cabinet surface. Besides, the price of white oak is not much different from that of red oak.
A clear finish, of course, will provide its grain with brilliant highlights. However, you should not oversaturate the wood with a stain so as not to exaggerate its grain.
5) Alder Wood Cabinets
Alder wood features a smooth grain pattern which is perfect for building cabinets. When freshly cut, alder lumber is almost white. But as it gets exposed to light and air, its heartwood darkens slowly, turning into warm brown. Its straight and textured grain exhibits less distinct boundaries between its sapwood and heartwood.
6) Hickory Wood Cabinets
Hickory cabinets exhibit a natural contrast in appearance because of their sapwood and heartwood. Cabinets made of hickory wood range from white or blonde to dark-brown and reddish-brown. You’ll get a rustic cabinet out of this wood. Besides, hickory wood is not expensive and belongs to affordable lumber.
Hickory wood exhibits a two-toned appearance with its darker reddish color and lighter white streaks. It also has tight grains, which makes it impossible for the stain to penetrate deep into its grain. Veining likewise can differ in a single cabinet.
Cabinets made of hickory wood are usually sealed with transparent finishes. Furthermore, hickory is so durable that it can last for several decades.
7) Birch Wood Cabinets
Cabinets made of birch wood shows a smooth texture. This is because birch wood’s grain is light and straightforward and exhibits a few patterns. Sometimes, you’ll see a few red-brown spots. Its sapwood often has a creamy yellow to white color, while its heartwood ranges from reddish-brown to medium to dark brown.
The good thing about birchwood cabinets is that they are less expensive than other popular hardwood cabinets. Besides, birchwood cabinets lack distinctive grain patterns and only offer a uniform appearance. Birchwood also has a non-porous and closed surface. Furthermore, you can paint it or pair it with decorative treatments.
One species of Birch is the Yellow Birch, which offers durability and tensile strength for holding nails tightly. Thus, Yellow Birch is perfect for cabinets and other applications. You can quickly finish Yellow Birch, making it appear like other more expensive wood.
8) Walnut Wood Cabinets
Walnut features a browner color like that of chocolate brown. Its grain pattern is broader and graceful. It also offers medium hardness that is excellent for building cabinets. Besides, its grain patterns also feature deep swirls and other interesting grain patterns which you might find charming and elegant.
Walnut trees have many varieties. The American Black Walnut, however, is the walnut type that is often used for woodworking. Walnut wood, of course, is the type of wood that you would like to showcase to your guests and visitors.
9) Pecan Wood Cabinets
Pecan cabinets may range in color from reddish to dark brown to blonde or white. This range of color is due to the difference in the hue of its sapwood and heartwood. The grain pattern of pecan features a fine and straight grain characterized by a medium texture. It may showcase a few knots and a bit of indentation, circumvented by a darker color.
These features provide pecan its exciting character. Pecan also exhibits a close and high grain density, and it doesn’t stain quickly like other hardwood. Pecan wood cabinets, of course, have the exquisite appeal that makes them very interesting.
10) Ash Wood Cabinets
Ash is somewhat similar to oak when it comes to durability and strength. However, it exhibits a light color with a more prominent figure. Ash wood has straight grain though occasionally, you will see unique patterns due to varying conditions.
Ash grain provides it with its contemporary character after applying a clear finish on its surface. You will often find ash wood cabinets in custom kitchen cabinet applications.
11) Pine Wood
Pine offers an exquisite aesthetic that you would surely love, though such an aesthetic is often linked with cabins. Pinewood, however, is perfect for kitchen cabinets likewise. The heartwood of pine is somewhat reddish yellow but darkens over time. The sapwood, however, is reddish white or yellowish.
Besides, it may have a wavy or striped grain, depending on the wood cut. It also exhibits closed grain and medium texture, making pine easier to work with than other hardwood.
Pine can absorb dark and natural stains. Besides, its knots and graining usually remain obvious after staining. It can also absorb liquid fast. Hence, you should apply several coats to achieve the desired finishing.
12) Bamboo Wood Cabinet
Bamboo cabinets fit well in contemporary homes and provide unlimited and excellent interior decoration ideas for kitchens. Bamboo panels, of course, are eco-friendly and are assembled from bamboo stalks that were cut into strips and then, laminated together. The strips’ orientation creates bamboo’s vertical graining.
Bamboo cabinets, of course, are durable and sturdy. Their laminated surfaces can resist chips, dents, and dings. Besides, their light color provides that modern and airy appearance to your kitchen. Moreover, bamboo cabinets won’t contract or expand due to changing climate.
13) MDF Board Cabinets
Another affordable alternative to hardwood and solid wood is the Medium-density Fiberboard cabinets. If you use wood, for example, there will come a time when it contracts and expands, leading to cracks and bubbles on its painted surface.
But MDF does not expand and contract due to the weather or temperature. So, over time, its paint will not exhibit cracks and bubbles. MDF, however, doesn’t have graining. Additionally, it is best cut using your jigsaw for better custom inlays.
14) Engineered Exotic Wood Veneer Cabinets
You can also consider using engineered exotic wood veneer for your cabinets. You can use, for example, zebrawood veneer, created for simulating the exotic Zebrawood found in Equatorial Africa. Its heartwood comes with a golden-yellow grain pattern with bold stripes that range from almost black to dark brown. It also exhibits a smooth texture that mellows over time.
You can also use Shale Veneer, an exquisite and exotic-looking veneer that offers smooth texture. This smooth texture gets complemented by its unique medium brown-gray streaked and black grain. Shale veneer mellows over time. It also doesn’t wear quickly.
Another exotic engineered wood is the Wenge Veneer. This veneer is designed for simulating the Wenge Wood species. Moreover, this species is also from Africa. Moreover, its grain is characterized by warm-brown heartwood with dark veining. Its vibrant colors give it a unique look you would not get from domestic wood species.
Features of Wood Cabinets You Should Consider
Knowing your best cabinet wood options will help you narrow down your options to the best options. However, when deciding which type of wood to choose for your cabinets, it will help if you would consider the following factors:
Grain
When choosing wood for your cabinets, it will help consider the grain. Wood grain refers to the pattern or arrangement of fiber in a wood piece. The wood pattern gets usually created when you cut the wood. Trees come with rings, and the grain varies depending on which part and how the lumber got sliced.
Therefore, when choosing wood panels for your cabinets, you should consider their grain. Always remember that the wood stain and color are usually affected by grain patterns. So, choosing the grain pattern best for your cabinet’s style and design will be best.
Color
The wood’s original color usually affects the stain when applied to the wood. If you use the same stain, for example, on cherry wood and pine wood, you will see that the finish will not look the same. So, if you would choose wood for your cabinets, it will help to carefully consider the natural color of the wood.
Look
Another factor to consider is the look of the wood, since woods vary according to colors, grains, and other natural characteristics like bird pecks, knots, mineral streaks, etc. Hence, if you’re after the looks and style of your cabinets, it will be best to carefully consider the wood for your cabinets because the wood’s quality and looks will significantly impact the overall appearance of a room.
Mellowing
Another factor you need to consider is the mellowing of the wood. Mellowing is the changing of the color of the wood over time. Some wood types lighten their color within six months. Others, however, might darken over time.
Price
Another factor that you should be mindful of is the price factor. Your budget, of course, will determine how far you can go with your choice of wood for your cabinets. If you got all the money in the world to spend, you can go for the exotic and rare wood types.
Construction
Another crucial factor is cabinets’ designs and how you intend to construct them. You can use, for example, rabbets and dowels when constructing your cabinets. You can also use dovetails which consume more wood and more expensive.
Costs of Wood Cabinets
If you would make wood kitchen cabinets, the material price might range from $100 to $310.40. The installation costs might range from $40 to $120. Besides, you can expect the wood kitchen cabinet prices to change from one company to another. Prices, for example, in late fall or early winter, will come with aggressive pricing discounts.
Conclusion
If you would ever visit a vast home improvement retailer, you will immediately get overwhelmed by the myriads of types of wood cabinets. With so many wood species to choose from, it is not surprising that cabinet makers are providing more options and wood types and stains. Moreover, you will discover many beautiful wood cabinet choices as you search for the best wood for your cabinets.
Your choice, however, would depend on your personal preference. Of course, your choice will also depend on the wood’s availability, the style you would like, and the finishes you will render. It will be best, therefore, to consider the essential factors to consider when choosing the wood cabinet types to get the best choice for your home.