# Wood Recommendation for Cabinet Doors



## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

Hello everyone,
I am looking for some recommendations about what type of wood I should use for some cabinet doors. The home we purchased had some old cabinets in it that we have been working on refinishing. We sanded the carcasses down and restained and it looks acceptable for what we are going for. 

We had planned to re use the doors, but have now decided that we will build new ones. The plan is to build a simple flat panel shaker style door with a 1/4" ply panel.

My question, is can someone recommend a good type of wood for this usage? The criteria being that 

one: we are going to stain them and not paint. The carcasses were done using a minwax oil stain.

two: we would really like to not break the bank. 

I have no idea what type of wood was used in the construction of the carcasses. 

I had thought to simply use birch, as it seemed cost effective, but was told that it would be very difficult to stain?

Any and all advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian


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## GJC (Jan 18, 2010)

*Wood choices*

Hello, Pine is pretty inexpensive and easy to work with. Staining will give you the color you are looking for. We have even had custom stain to look like oak finish. Windows are usually made of pine, for cost and versatility, so cabinets would be fine as well. All depends on what you are looking for. Grain, color etc. Hope this helps.:thumbsup: Greg


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Brian,
A couple of things...first off, a wood which is inexpensive depends upon where you live. I probably pay a lot more for pine here in OR than Greg does in WI. Also, I don't really know what you mean by " a simple flat panel shaker style door with a 1/4" ply panel." Do you mean a frame and panel door with a 1/4" inset panel? If so, then you will need solid lumber for the frame, and 1/4" ply for the panel. 

You will want the same wood for both. That means you need to know what wood is even available where you are in both solid and in 1/4" ply. That is going to limit your options. (If I were to buy 1/4" pine ply here, I'd be paying $80/sheet. But I can get oak for $30.) Is your stain dark or light? Some wood just won't stain dark very easily. Some wood is very difficult to get stained evenly. In my experience, they ALL are, but I avoid stains like the plague, so I've not gotten the chance to become expert at them.:blink:

Sorry I have more questions than answers, but a little more info might be of use.


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## GJC (Jan 18, 2010)

Hello, mmwood_1, yes you are correct. I keep forgetting that not all of you live in this small backwoods town.:blink: Just kidding, but wow, what a difference. Those examples of wood prices are about the exact opposite here. I can buy some awesome clear or knotty pine very cheap while oak is through the roof. I guess thats why our gas & diesel prices are so high here. They say we are in the middle of no-where. Hell, I'm 2 hrs from Minneapolis International airport. they could cargo drop me material.  Back to the wood...yes you are right, staining is all crazy. I have custom matched stains for my customers for about 15 years now. matching colors for new window replacements and casing and let me tell you..its tuff! I guess Brian, choose some samples of wood, and experiment with the colors to get your best choice. Good Luck:thumbsup: GregC


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## GJC (Jan 18, 2010)

*Wood Finishing*

Hello again, I dug up some photos to show that you can achieve colors that you like but it takes a lot of time and effort! This is one of my customers from some time ago. He was a very thrifty, picking customer. This Doctor had a 1960's home and he had what was considered very high end materials from back then through out his home. We replaced this bow window and I knew we just had to match the Cherry wood he had across the top of his living room wall/ceiling. Take a peek. This is a Pella Bow window, Pine windows with Oak Head/Seat board with Oak casing. I had to custom match the Pine & Oak to match the Cherry above. LOT of time in doing so but as you can see, it was perfect! :thumbsup:
Oh..and to let you know just how thrifty and picky this Doctor was, he deducted 8 cents off my final bill because when I sent the final bill/contract to him I didn't have enough postage on it.:no: Hope you enjoy! GregC


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## RLHERRON (May 15, 2008)

You may want to consider bead-board. It gives the shaker door a little more character. When considering hardware people tend to look at small handles and knobs. Consider useing a long handle. It adds more character and helps pull the eye from all the wood.

Try it, you may like the look.

RLH :thumbsup:


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## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

*hi*

Hello all,
thanks for all the replies.

GJC:
Pine, indeed I will have to look at the prices around here for pine.

mmwood_1:
Very true, about the locality. Perhaps that will make this more difficult. I have calls out to some local yards, and will see what they say. I am in the seattle area if that helps at all.
Yes the door I intended to make is a 5 piece framed door that has a piece of 1/4" ply trapped in a frame. 

The stain is reddish and not very dark.

GJC again: Hey, the pine looks good. Thanks for the pic.

RLHerron: I had thought about bead board, but its really not my style.



Brian


Minwax colonial maple perhaps? I don't have the can handy here at my office.


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Well, as Greg said, if you can get some small scraps of various woods and experiment with the stains, you could get where you want to go. Usually, I only use stains to match something else already existing. Often, I need to mix different shades to get the match, sometimes layering them. Experimentation is the key. Good luck.


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## Dave_G (Dec 21, 2009)

*Beech*

Why not try beech? Here in the UK it is quite cheap, less than half the price of oak; is very nice and easy to work; is strong and takes stain well.

I used it for my bedroom because it is also a nice pale colour and has a subtle grain that is not too "in your face".

And you can also get (here in the UK) beech veneer quite cheaply which would allow you to veneer the plywood panels


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## TomC (Oct 27, 2008)

I have built several doors out of Bass wood. It looks like birch and is relatively cheap. It is easy to cut and route.
Tom


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

Seattle? Fir or Hemlock should be available. Looks good.


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## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

*Hrm*

Interesting, I hadn't given much thought to fir or hemlock. Perhaps this will help. I've tried to attach below some images of the cabinet carcass. Can anyone ID the grain pattern and type of wood?

Also, with this type of door, what is the easiest way to finish it? Should I glue it up and then stain and finish? Or can that be done before assembly?


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## TomC (Oct 27, 2008)

cain8885 said:


> Interesting, I hadn't given much thought to fir or hemlock. Perhaps this will help. I've tried to attach below some images of the cabinet carcass. Can anyone ID the grain pattern and type of wood?
> 
> Also, with this type of door, what is the easiest way to finish it? Should I glue it up and then stain and finish? Or can that be done before assembly?[/q
> uote]
> ...


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## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

*thanks*

Thanks Tom,
Should I poly the panel before glue up as well?

Anyone else have any ideas as to the ID of the wood in the pictures I posted above?

Brian


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## mattk8715 (Jan 22, 2010)

Looks almost positively like stained birch to me. If I had to guess a stain color, I would say natural cinnamon (Cabot stain, I don't know what they would call that color in Minwax). Is that the cabinet you're making the doors for? If I read your post right, you want to make doors for a kitchen you're refacing right?
If this is the case, you definitely need to find out what kind of wood it is or it will look very bad w/ a different wood species door than the cabinet itself.
As far as your original question about the ply for the doors, w/ shaker style doors if you have birch (which I'm pretty sure that is) you can get the 1/4" birch ply from Home Depot or any other box store for about $25ish per sheet. Unless you have a huge kitchen I can't see you needing more than 3 sheets. 
As far as the birch to make the rails and stiles, call some local saw mills. This is by far the cheapest way to buy hardwood :thumbsup:!
As far as staining before you glue it, you're just making doors right? I definitely wouldn't do that. When you glue your rails and stiles for your doors together (unless you have the hands of God guiding you through your router table!) you always get about 1/32" bump that you'll need to sand out where the stile meets the rail. I know why he said to stain before assembly and that's because the stain won't stick where the glue ran out. Solution to this problem is to have a bucket of water and a rag w/ you while you're gluing. Once the glue runs out wipe the excess glue off w/ the damp rag. Once it dries any glue residue will sand right off no problem.


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## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

*thanks*

Thanks Matt,
I had my suspicions that it might be birch. 

Yeah you read it correctly. I am trying to reface some existing cabinets. 
I am just trying to update it slightly, and almost as significantly learn to make cabinet doors.

Not necessarily a bad thing since it seems available fairly cheap locally.

Guess I'll just have to be careful with staining. Anyone else want to weight in on birch or not?

Thanks,
Brian


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

possibly Maple, but more likely Birch. Hard to tell them apart some times.
I used Birch Plywood to reface stair risers and added Maple hardwood flooring to the treads and they look identical.
I lucked out on the staining of the plywood, I guess... :lol:


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## mattk8715 (Jan 22, 2010)

cain8885 said:


> Thanks Matt,
> I had my suspicions that it might be birch.
> 
> Yeah you read it correctly. I am trying to reface some existing cabinets.
> ...


I don't think staining it will be a problem. I've never stained birch before but I can't believe it's any harder than maple. Just sand the doors thoroughly to get a uniform staining.
The way to tell if that's birch is the birch will have a little darker grains in some spots where maple is fairly uniformly light throughout. Besides, birch is cheaper and that would sell me :thumbsup:!
How were you going to make your doors? W/ a table saw or router table? If router table, Freud makes the best cabinet bits for that style door.
Sounds like a fun project and those doors are fairly simple to build and they look incredible (I like shaker style better than raised panel usually). 
Good luck!


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## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

*hi*

Matt,
from what you say about the dark regions I am thinking this is birch. Some of the large ply panels have this coloration. I agree the price is a bonus. Like I said i'm not going for the end all of kitchens, just to make it serviceable and a bit nicer. 

I am going to be using a router table. I just ordered a router top from mcls and one of their katana shaker style panel bit sets. Had good reviews.

B


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## mattk8715 (Jan 22, 2010)

cain8885 said:


> Matt,
> from what you say about the dark regions I am thinking this is birch. Some of the large ply panels have this coloration. I agree the price is a bonus. Like I said i'm not going for the end all of kitchens, just to make it serviceable and a bit nicer.
> 
> I am going to be using a router table. I just ordered a router top from mcls and one of their katana shaker style panel bit sets. Had good reviews.
> ...


I know you already bought your table but this is a smoking deal that I wish was out there while I was in the market. I have the aluminum bosch table and stand w/ a porter cable router. My table's decent but this ones bigger, better fence, and by the time you buy the table and router it's about the same price :thumbsup:!

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2080385/29419/Freud-325-HP-Router-with-Precision-Router-Table.aspx


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## cain8885 (Aug 21, 2009)

Yeah, I saw that. I already have a milwaukee router I just bought. Not near the power as that one though so I'll have to take my time on it.

Does look like a good deal though


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## TomC (Oct 27, 2008)

mattk8715 said:


> Looks almost positively like stained birch to me. If I had to guess a stain color, I would say natural cinnamon (Cabot stain, I don't know what they would call that color in Minwax). Is that the cabinet you're making the doors for? If I read your post right, you want to make doors for a kitchen you're refacing right?
> If this is the case, you definitely need to find out what kind of wood it is or it will look very bad w/ a different wood species door than the cabinet itself.
> As far as your original question about the ply for the doors, w/ shaker style doors if you have birch (which I'm pretty sure that is) you can get the 1/4" birch ply from Home Depot or any other box store for about $25ish per sheet. Unless you have a huge kitchen I can't see you needing more than 3 sheets.
> As far as the birch to make the rails and stiles, call some local saw mills. This is by far the cheapest way to buy hardwood :thumbsup:!
> As far as staining before you glue it, you're just making doors right? I definitely wouldn't do that. When you glue your rails and stiles for your doors together (unless you have the hands of God guiding you through your router table!) you always get about 1/32" bump that you'll need to sand out where the stile meets the rail. I know why he said to stain before assembly and that's because the stain won't stick where the glue ran out. Solution to this problem is to have a bucket of water and a rag w/ you while you're gluing. Once the glue runs out wipe the excess glue off w/ the damp rag. Once it dries any glue residue will sand right off no problem.


The reason I said to stain the panel before you glue it up is normally the panel is floating in the rails and stiles (not glued). If you stain it after it is glued the area under the stiles and rail are not stained and it the panel shifts later and you will see bear wood,i.e. no stain. As for plywood panels I'm not an expert here ( and hope others will help answer) but I believe I have seen Norm glue plywood panels in the door frame as these panel are more stable than a solid wood panel.
Tom


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Yes, that is birch ply. Tons of cabinets just like that in the northwest region, anyway. I have done my share of matching them, refacing them, and replacing them. I don't know anything about HD's wood selection, but I know for sure that there are good hardwood dealers in the Seattle area. You can get your ply and your solid from them, no problem. And it is one of the least expensive hardwoods in this region.


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