cabinets, should I be upset?

18 years ago

I had custom bottom cabinets made locally. Paint grade maple. He made them to match the slab 50's fronts on the top cabinets I kept for sentimental reasons (my dad made them). OK job, not incredible or anything. I try to shop local when I can.

Now the painter is complaining that the doors are plywood with edging, so he's having a hard time getting the trim seams to not show. He saw the cabinet maker at the paint store and asked him about it, and he agreed that the doors are plywood.

So - I know I did not specify "No Plywood". I know that plywood has its benefits, as in being more dimensionally stable.

I am just wondering if I should be upset, or if my painter is just being careful to cover himself in case I see visible seams - by alerting me that the cabinet maker made things difficult.

Partly I'm just weary of wondering if I'm being taken advantage of on this remodel every time I take a breath.

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Comments (5)

pcjs
18 years ago
Yes, you paid for Maple, you should be getting maple. Either get a discount, or get maple.
wes_s
18 years ago
I'm having a hard time understanding why you would specify maple in the first place if you were going to paint.

That said, I don't know whether you are being taken or not. I think that you should have specified "solid wood doors" if you wanted solid wood doors.

You are correct that plywood is more stable, but as you are finding out the edge treatment can be problematic. It this banding actual glued-on solid wood or thermal-set tape? I don't believe that tape will hold up over time as the edge on a door or drawer front. If these are inset doors rather than overlay, you might actually be better off with the plywood, however, with solid wood edging.

I'm having stain-grade cherry cabinets made but I specified 1/4" solid wood edging on all of the carcases but I have frame-and-panel doors so I don't have your issue.

If you are insistent on solid wood, I would suggest as a compromise you ask for the doors to be remade but to offset some your cabinetmaker's loss, agree to something like poplar, which takes paint better than maple anyway and is lower cost (at least where I live).
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kateskouros
18 years ago
yes, if you specified maple you should get your money back or have them done again. although once someone tries to stick it to me once i never give a second chance.

maple is commonly used for painted cabs. very sturdy and more of a high-end look.
edlakin
18 years ago
agree. plywood is fine for the boxes, but the doors should be the solid wood specified.

even when painting cabinets, woods are almost always specified due to the variance in graining which does show through the paint. painted oak looks drastically different than painted maple.
ci_lantro
18 years ago
Since you have slab doors, sheet goods (plywood, lumber core , MDF) is the preferred material for making them out of. Solid wood (that is solid lumber) doors would be prone to having all kinds of problems--bowing, cupping, warping, twisting, splitting, telegraphing glue lines where the boards are edge-jointed. And all of these propensities for wood to misbehave is compounded by the fact that the wood available today is generally fast growth lumber and nowhere near the quality of the product available 50 or 100 years ago. Since you specified 'maple', my expectation would be that I would get maple veneered plywood or MDF if I order slab doors. Edge treatments need to be specified/ understood before you order.

Now the painter is complaining that the doors are plywood with edging, so he's having a hard time getting the trim seams to not show.

What do you mean by 'trim seams'??? Veneer edge banding? Solid wood banding? How are the edges of the new cabinet doors/ drawers different from the existing uppers? What kind of primer is the painter using?