Flooring Materials Comparison

Countertop Materials Comparison

Vanities Introduction

Cabinet Maintenance

Cabinet Construction Introduction

Bathroom Cabinet Materials

Introduction

If wood is your cabinet material of choice, there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to selecting the species. Rely on taste and cost as your main determinants.

Your choice of wood will have the most impact on the cabinet’s ultimate look. If you want a light look, for example, you might start with a light wood like ash, beech, birch, elm, oak, maple or chestnut. In the mid-range, consider cherry with a natural finish. Or you can stain maple to be darker than its natural color.

For a dark bathroom, you’ll want to start with a wood that has a little color to it. But don’t start with a dark wood like walnut and try to lighten it. You can always darken the color of lighter woods, but it’s hard to go the other way.

Take note: Just because you’re selecting a wood look doesn’t mean your cabinetry is necessarily solid wood. Clarify whether your box and door are genuine wood throughout or if additives are present.

In veneers, thin slices of solid hardwood are bonded to plywood or composite boards. While laminate surfaces appear to be wood, these cabinets adhere plastic foil or paper photographs of wood grain patterns to particleboard or medium density fiberboard. Know what you’re paying for; a maple finish could refer to the photograph, not the wood.

And if you want something different than wood, laminate cabinets can also provide you with unique colors and a modern look.