Calling PEG-Cabinet Wood ?

[jwv]

and any other cabinet makers, carpenters in our midst. I'm having cabinets built for our small kitchen. I had thought of bamboo but sheesh, it's prohibitively expensive (at least on my current, end of project budget).To keep down costs and because I have always at some point ending up painting the cabinets in every house I've lived in, I'm thinking of painting these.  What wood should I choose, thinking durability, cost?  and question number 2, if I were not to paint them, I would choose a wood without a lot of grain (not oak or hickory).  Any ideas?

Judy

[peg_688]

Start by deciding what look / style you like. Shaker, Mission , Art deco, High style Victorian,  etc.


After which one is decided upon , the wood choice will almost be a given, Mission style likes grain so a Oak or Ash wood could lend itself to that style. Shaker would be Cherry , Pine ,& Maple  wood. Victorian would lead to paint grade lumbers  think Popular / Hemlock  /or MDF Frames and cases .

You mentioned having them made , so a custom shop ?  There are of course many levels of custom cabinets , as many as there are custom shops. And by levels I mean in some way $$ and in some ways quality, [highlight]some times[/highlight] just cuz you pay more doesn't mean you get more / better.

Around here we have a few shops who build pretty much one style of cabinets. They do either a face frame cabinet , or they do Euro style cabs.

 A sweeping generalization , IMO , would be that euro style cabs will be better, [highlight]the hardware [/highlight](hinges / draw slides / shelf adj. (it is just better stuff) again YMMV from shop to shop / place to place .

 One thing which a client of mine just told / taught me was a saying, this of course was after he told me #1: how nice  a job I had done , and #2: That I was pretty expensive .

"The cost will soon be forgotten , but the quality will be appreciated forever!"  

 As far as cost of material , they vary widely from what I can figure from region to region. So if cost is a big driving factor you'll have to check what is cheapest in your local area.

So if you can fill in some of the missing info , I could narrow down your choices.

In my area I'll do a little cost grouping , this is a rough guess , not a fact gained by pricing each item.

 Highest costing cabinet (for kitchens generally used) there will be other more costly / not as often used woods .

Most $$ Walnut , White Oak , Cherry ,  Maple (hard eastern) , Red Oak . All hardwoods , but not all hard wood , Cherry or Walnut  would be the softest of this group . I think they are listed roughly from most to least spendy.

Softwood  VG Fir , White Pine , Spruce , Hemlock , Alder. All very soft the Fir would be MTL more $ than any of the hardwoods , it's a trendy wood in today high end market. IMO a poor choice of cabinet (kitchen ) wood unless painted. Now some one will say paint VG Fir ! Well yes it is a great paint able wood , older homes are full of it from the turn of the last century 1900 up to say the early 1970's it [highlight]was[/highlight] the paint grade wood of choice .

 All the softwood , if they where clear as in the pine , would / could  be good paint grade woods .

Current good paint grade woods Poplar , (wonderful wood to paint) , Alder , Hemlock , Hemlock being the most $ of the paint grades and the worst to paint / sand / get ready to paint of the group.

Good paint grade materials ,  shop Birch plywood, Satin ply , MDF (Medium  Density Fiberboard)  MDF is great to paint , works OK  in a kitchen environment,  if kept on vertical surfaces ( makes poor window sills but is commonly used for sills   )  

So there  a  bit to ponder.

Feel free to ask more specific questions as you go thru the decisions / talk to local shops .

BTW ask to see their work , if they are a good to better company they will have clients willing to let you see their kitchens , and will be proud to show off their work. If they only have a show room , YMMV , IMO , showrooms are fluff your  helping to paying for if you buy from them . [highlight]The real test is where the cook meets the cabinets in the field / home [/highlight], a show room can / or cannot be indicative of field / kitchen results .  



   

[peg_688]

Judy you might broaden your responses by adding to or changing the thread title .

I can be perceived as a "know it all / jackas, ah donkey ", and some may avoid the thread, due to the title   .

[Sassy]

Ah PEG, you're just a big teddy bear!  Judy (and the rest of us) have seen the great work you do so are MTL awaiting your "words of wisdom" & more PICTURES!  

[glenn-k]

Calling PEG what?

[Daddymem]

Judy, the ones our cabinet maker just made for our house are poplar and painted.  Pictures can be found on our blog.  Mommymem can give you specifics of the paint he used.  The paint looks great on them. HTH.

[Jared]

Great question and great answer PEG. I'd wondered that before, but since I'm not building right now I never asked. That answer is going to get written down in my notebook.
Daddymem: Is your cottage just going to be a vacation place, or a full time residence?
Jared

[jwv]

Wow, thanks for the responses.  I knew y'all could help.

The style I most like is Shaker, not a lot of nooks and crannies to catch dirt and grease (I'm definitely not a Hi-Victorian girl).  This is to be a low-maintenance house!  I'm having the cabinets built because I have a very small kitchen (an L 10x9) and want to make the most of the space.  One of the construction guys (The Flying Gumbattis, 2 disillusioned architecture students who have been part of our ongoing crew), loves cabinetry and does great work and will be making the cabinets.  Tha painting will be done by me-as with all my kitchens.  

I like the approach to kitchens of Sam Clark http://www.samclarkdesign.com/-and will have open shelving and lots of drawers, very few doors.  The kitchen is a work area and things should be available at point of use. I followed his advice in our last kitchen and loved it.  It was a joy to work in.

I have found that most people who are good at what they do (INCLUDING MYSELF) can be a real PIA because they have little time for BS-they know what needs to be done and do it.

Daddy- and Mommymem, your house is beautiful (as are the littl'uns)  What an accomplishment!   :bhumbsupAre your cabinets blue or gray?  On my monitor it's difficult to  tell.

Thanks, all

Judy

[Daddymem]

Jared, this will be our full time home.

Judy, it is a pale green almost the color of mint ice cream.  Mommymem knows the actual name.

Thanks for the comps.  Almost there...almost there.

[glenn-k]

BTW PEG - great write up.  You're the man.  

[peg_688]

 

[MountainDon]

I like the approach to kitchens of Sam Clark http://www.samclarkdesign.com/-and will have open shelving ......Judy

Thanks for the Sam Clark link. Got me thinking about what to use for the countertop.  :-/

[jwv]

Jared, this will be our full time home.

Judy, it is a pale green almost the color of mint ice cream.  Mommymem knows the actual name.

Thanks for the comps.  Almost there...almost there.

Wow, my monitor is way off!

About Sam Clark-you can tell he's actually used a kitchen or at least listened to those who do.   I'm going to have concrete countertop-had them before and loved it-didn't have to worry about them at all.  I have an old piece of salvaged butcher block that I will refurbish and have for a cutting surface on a part of the counter.

I'm leaning toward poplar!

Judy

[John_M]

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread...but I have just gotten back some maple boards from the Amish mill near my cabin.  They are rough cut at 4/4 thick and kiln dried.  I would like to run them through a planer and try to make some cabinet faces out of them.

Any advice?  Should I buy a small portable planer (nice excuse to get one!) or take it somewhere to get planed?

Any good online sources as far as joining the wood together?

[glenn-k]

I always like to have the tools there even if I don't use them often.  I bought the Ridgid planer.  Seemed like good value for the money.  

I use a biscuit cutter, biscuits and Gorilla glue for joining - polyurethane I think.

[Mommymem]

I went to the benjamin moore website to locate our color but its actually grey there. The color we used is called grenadier pond #698. I'll try and get a better picture of it, the ones we have up just don't do the color justice.

I do like my poplar cabinets, they add some pop to the kitchen being painted.

[jwv]

OK, I went totally the other way with hickory. DH has always loved Hickory, we grew up in So Ohio where it is prevalent.  I'm not painting it.  I'll post some photos when it happens.

Judy

[peg_688]

Now there's a good wood flyin under my radar I've installed one set , at least, made of Hickory, good choice    The ones I set where grainy / had knots , so a old time "country look" not distressed by just sort of well country looking.

It's a long way from your early leanings of painted cabs , but hey Ole DH should get some say  ;)in whats used

Waitin for those photos  8-)

PEG