Choosing lumber for cabinets
Deciding which wood species to use on your cabinets is the hardest decision to make when making selections. The lumber package will be used for face frames and the doors, and will dictate if you will be painting or staining your cabinets. Below I will list some of the most popular choices that I see people choose, and I will explain the characteristics of the wood species.
Paint Grade Lumber
Poplar - Poplar is considered as a hard wood, but it is one of the softest woods available. It is an excellent choice for paint grade because it has a uniform grain with minimal pits and grooves. It is not the best for staining because there is no consistency to the color of the wood. It can have white tones with a mix of green streaks throughout the grain. The streaks will not bleed through paints. This is a very common paint grade material that is fairly inexpensive compared to other selections. Poplar can be stained, but it is far from my personal preference for staining even when budgets are tight.
Beech - Is an interesting wood because it is common to use as paint grade material in the cabinet industry because it is harder than poplar but has fairly consistent grain color. This makes beech a great choice for when the budget is tighter but clients want a stain grade lumber. The downside to beech is that it will crack and warp if not properly sealed because the wood will absorb moisture faster than most. In the Dallas and Fort Worth lumber market in Texas, I find that beech and poplar are very close in price.
Soft maple - Do not be confused by the name, soft maple is the same hardness as cherry, but it has very different characteristics from hard maple. Soft maple is known to have a darker appearance, and in some cases can have hues of gray, browns, and reds. Soft maple is extremely easy to machine because it resists tear out and chipping. This is considered a higher end paint grade material. It can be stained, but for the cost, I would rather select hard maple as stain grade because it has more consistency.
Stain Grade Lumber
Hard maple - Is the inverse of soft maple, very stable in color and a consistent grain pattern that allows for seamless joints. Hard maple takes stains very well, but when stained with a natural or lighter stain the wood tends to yellow with time. The yellowing is not anything that you will notice with time, but know that if you ever needed to replace a cabinet door the new door will be extremely obvious.
Oak - This is a very popular choice either as an accent piece like an island, or looks amazing as a whole kitchen with flat door panels to give a very modern look. Oak is one of the few woods that lumber suppliers will specify the type and the cut pattern. The cut refers to how the saw mill rotates the log when being processed.
White oak- Is excellent for interior or exterior applications because oak is rot resistant. As a furniture maker and a cabinet maker I will talk more about its interior applications. This lumber has a light yellowish white color to it. The different grain patterns look very different from one another, and cause the wood to pop with different stain applications. This is an expensive wood selection, but is still cheaper than most on this list.
Red oak - It is clear from the name that this type of oak is predominately red in color. I find that red oak is a cheaper alternative than white oak, but if you are looking for a light finish with no red to it I suggest going with white oak. The red tends to take over the look no matter what stain is used.
Rift oak - My personal favorite because this grain is very straight, and can be finished in many different ways to make the grain pop. Oak naturally has texture to it, even after going through the sanding and finish process. Sometimes clients want to increase the grain texture, and you can use a wire wheel to pull straight line chunks out of the grain creating deeper ridges.
Quarter sawn oak - This is the most vibrant of the grain selections. It has similar long grain patterns like rift, but has a flecking that cuts across the grain. If a client is looking for oak cabinets I always recommend using rift on the face frame and the doors for uniformity, and then use quarter swan with a clear finish as the interior of the cabinet. This combination looks great when there are glass doors that you can see into the cabinet.
Plain sawn oak - Don’t get me wrong this is a good option, but I think it is the most boring of all the choices. It has a “cathedral” grain meaning that there is a radius to the grain that is consistent throughout the board. This is most commonly used for flooring material because it maximizes the log and produces the least amount of waste.
Walnut - Can you even have mid century vibes without walnut? This wood is known for having knots. If you are spending the money, make sure that your furniture or cabinet maker is selecting premium quality walnut. There will still be knots, but they will be smaller and there will be less. This wood is mostly a rich brown, but the sapwood is a light tan in color. Typically this wood is hand selected by the manufacture and cut to only include the brown sections of the wood.
Cherry - Commonly known for is light pink to rich reddish brown tone. Personally I find that people who want traditional looking cabinets will tend to gravitate towards cherry. The downsides to this wood is that direct sunlight will damage the wood if exposed to prolonged exposure. This lumber is extremely expensive, and if exposed to water it will damage the quality. Not to say cherry is not a great choice for custom cabinets, it just has been pushed aside by maple, oak, and walnut.
Mahogany - One of the few exotics to make the list, and is considered the King of Hardwoods. Exotic wood means very expensive, but there is a lot of bang to the buck. This wood is water resistant, it is rare if it decays or rots. You never have to worry about pests because they cannot penetrate the material. Mahogany, when used, is commonly used for interior doors and case work. Anything else, odds are it is veneer work because of the cost of the material.
Alder - This is a soft wood that has a straight grain, and is a great middle ground for stain work. This product takes all types of stain and will save the client a lot of money compared to a lot of the above listed. The downside is that because it is a soft wood it is prone to dents and scratches, therefore is not considered to be a durable material selection for cabinets.
Spanish Cedar - This is a very niche material selection, most who know of this wood tend to be cigar connoisseurs. 10 times out of 10 this wood is used for humidors, and if you have a humidor that isn’t made of spanish cedar, do you even like cigars? It can be used for other products than humidors, but for the cost you can get something like oak for large cabinets.
Ash - Used for furniture making all the way to custom mill work. The quality of this wood is like oak, but tends to be more expensive. This is due to a number of reasons but mostly to a beetle that has swept North America almost wiping out the species as a whole. It is rare to see a kitchen made of ash now due to the lack of material.
Hickory - There is nothing stronger or denser than hickory in the commercial wood industry. Commonly used for flooring, but I have seen some cabinets made in hickory. This wood is a little more expensive than oak, but there are typically hidden fees to this wood when making cabinets. Due to the hardness of the wood, it is extremely difficult to machine, and you will need to at the very least sharpen you bits and blades as a cabinet shop.
Teak - Much like Mahogany in its resistance to rooting and pests, it is also very expensive. The downside to teak other than the cost is that it does require some maintenance because it is commonly used for exterior applications like boats, furniture, and decking.