Choosing the right wood for your cabinets.

What material should you choose for your cabinet doors? MDF Thermofoil and PVC wrapped doors are great if you’re looking for something that’s highly durable, and that’s what we recommend for rental units or homes with active children. But if you just need doors that will hold up to moderate wear, you can’t beat the look of solid wood!

But how do you choose a species of wood? Can you really tell the difference between, say, birch and maple? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! The Building Unlimited Design Team has compiled a quick fact sheet on the most common wood species used in kitchen cabinetry!

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Woods

Birch

Birch is a closed-grain wood with white, creamy sapwood and pale brown heartwood. It has a soft grain pattern and takes stain very evenly. Birch is a great choice if you have a very specific stain colour in mind!

Oak

Oak is an open-grained wood whose sapwood ranges from light grey to white pale brown, while its heartwood is pinkish red. Oak is ideal for those who like the look of a strong grain pattern!

Maple

Maple is another closed grain wood. Its sapwood is a soft white and its heartwood is a light reddish brown. Like birch, maple is ideal for colour uniformity as it takes stain very evenly!

Cherry

Cherry is closed-grained and ranges from white to light red in its sapwood and reddish brown to deep red in its heartwood. Keep in mind that cherry is sensitive to ultraviolet light, which means it will darken over time!

Hickory

Hickory is a very dense, close-grained wood with white sapwood and brownish red heartwood. Burls and mineral streaks may appear, making hickory a great choice for those who enjoy nature’s diversity and beauty!

Pine

Our eastern white pine is a soft wood with distinct red and black knots. Pine is an excellent choice if you’re looking to achieve a rustic look! 

Bamboo

We use cross plywood bamboo for our doors. It consists of three layers of solid bamboo placed perpendicular to one another for added stability. The bamboo is pressure-heated to caramelize the sugar compounds that are naturally present in the plant, creating a warm amber colour without the use of dyes or stains.  

Walnut

Walnut is a closed-grain wood with dark brown to purplish black heartwood and white sapwood. Our doors are mostly dark heartwood with lighter walnut blended into it, creating a distinct, natural look.

Non-Wood Options

 MDF Thermofoil Wrap

Medium density fibreboard, or MDF, is a manufactured product made from pressed wood fibres. It holds up very well against changes in heat and humidity and the Thermofoil is a vinyl wrap that is vacuum sealed onto the door. This is a great choice if you’re looking for a more economical option and comes in dozens of finishes to help you match your style!

PVC Wrap

Like the Thermofoil doors described above, polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, wrapped doors use MDF as their base material. The PVC is wrapped on all sides, providing a completely waterproof product. These are our most durable doors; they’re perfect for kitchens that take heavy wear, like rental units!

Glossary  

 Open-Grained: Open-grained wood has large pores that are visible without any magnification. It will have a coarser texture and may need to have the pores filled in order to create a smooth board. This produces a more rugged look.

Closed-Grained: Closed-grain wood has much smaller pores and will have a smoother texture without the need for filler. Produces a softer look than open-grain wood

Sapwood: Have you ever looked at the age rings of a log? If so, you may have noticed that the outer rings were slightly lighter in colour than the inner rings. Those lighter, outer rings are the sapwood. It is the younger, ‘working’ part of the tree that carries water and sap through the trunk and limbs

Heartwood: The darker, inner rings make up the heartwood. This is the oldest part of the tree. Water and sap don’t flow through it like the sapwood; instead it hardens and creates a solid base.