Cabinet Wood Question

[C Scott McDonald]

Hey folks,

Looking to make some cabinets for the house. I found these on FWW site. I really like them but to be honest I am not much of an Oak fan. I was thinking of building them in cherry instead. What do you guys think?

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignArticle.aspx?id=26527

Thanks!
Scott

[David DeCristoforo]

"... I am not much of an Oak fan."

I'm with you. Not much of an "oak fan" either (no offense anyone...). I think these cabinets would look superb in cherry....

YM

[frank shic]

cherry would work but i'm not a big arts and crafts fan...

[C Scott McDonald]

cherry would work but i'm not a big arts and crafts fan...

Yeah, not everybody is I guess. I am trying to find something different then the plain ole raised panel doors etc.

I am not planning on moving anytime soon so I thought I would make something I like for a change.

Scott

[Tim Malyszko]

Cherry would look great. I too am not a fan of oak.

[Scott Vigder]

I'm a huge QSWO fan, but I also love to work with cherry. Some of my better pieces are cherry/walnut combinations:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=35195&d=1143645564

[Jim Becker]

No oak here, either...and cherry is both an appropriate and authentic material for craftsman and mission style. If you pick up the Stickley catalog, you'll see both materials.

[Alan Schaffter]

Scott Gibson's article inspired my shop cabinets. I even borrowed tinting the interiors.

Since I kept some logs from when they clearing my lot, and found a local sawyer, I had a bunch of really cheap white oak. I had originally planned an old fashioned saw mill look, with rough, aged, gray clapboards, etc. until I saw those cabinets. Oak isn't my favorite, but quartersawn and riftsawn is nice. I really don't like plainsawn oak, but didn't have enough rift and quartered stock to be so picky building my shop cabinets.

My back bench:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/Backbench-57.JPG

Paint storage and cleanup area:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/SinkUpper-3.jpg

[Peter Quinn]

I'm not typically a fan of QSWO in great concentration, but last summer I toured the Vanderbuilt 'Breakers' mansion museum in Newport RI. They had a full room ( two stories high with a cat walk above) butlers pantry for silver and china storage, all made in a similar style out of quartered and rift sawn white oak. Soap stone countertops. Simply stunning. Something about the dark brown patina on the old white oak gave me a new appreciation for the wood.

I think cherry is a fine choice for that style, particularly if you don't have 100yrs to wait for a vintage patina to develope.

Crowne point cabinetry has lots of nice examples of kitchens in that style using cherry on their web site, you might get a few inspirations from their picture gallery.

[Alan Schaffter]

I'm not typically a fan of QSWO in great concentration, but last summer I toured the Vanderbuilt 'Breakers' mansion museum in Newport RI. They had a full room ( two stories high with a cat walk above) butlers pantry for silver and china storage, all made in a similar style out of quartered and rift sawn white oak. Soap stone countertops. Simply stunning. Something about the dark brown patina on the old white oak gave me a new appreciation for the wood.

I think cherry is a fine choice for that style, particularly if you don't have 100yrs to wait for a vintage patina to develope.

Crowne point cabinetry has lots of nice examples of kitchens in that style using cherry on their web site, you might get a few inspirations from their picture gallery.

If you think the Breakers has a lot of great Oak, you should see the Vanderbilt Biltmore Mansion in Ashville, NC- the whole place is almost filled with the stuff! Some of the raised panels are single boards 24" or wider. Not sure if they used QSWO because of its stability (I didn't see any cracking or reveals from shrinking) or because of the appearance. The source trees must have been huge!!

http://www.biltmore.com/images/landingpage/generic_header.jpg