Maple Cabinets

Maple Cabinets

People have been making cabinetry and other furniture from many species of maple for centuries. Natural maple is as strong as it is beautiful and can last for centuries with minimal care. Maple cabinets enhance any kitchen design, whether it be modern or traditional.

The types of cabinetry are:

• Frameless: Frameless cabinets are a recent development when compared to framed cabinets, which have been used for centuries. Drawers, like those of Nexera’s natural maple file cabinets, slide in and out on slides or glides.
• Framed: The box that makes the cabinet has a face frame on the front. The frame keeps the cabinet square and allows the drawers to slide smoothly.

Natural maple is used for furniture because it has a fine, consistent grain that takes stains, paint, or a unique finish beautifully. Some specimens have irregularities that make them distinguished. The grain can be curly, bird’s eye, burled, quilted, fiddle backed, or tiger striped. The maple wood can be polished to a shine. Several species of maple are used for kitchen cabinets, including sugar maple and red maple.

Dowel construction means that the pieces of maple wood are held together by dowels. These are headless wooden pegs or sometimes a metal pin. Dowels are secured with glue and keep joints in furniture from slipping. Many of the maple cabinets available are made with dowel construction.

Solid wood is solid all the way through, while engineered wood has a top veneer of quality hardwood such as tiger maple over layers of plywood or other wood. These layers have been pressure glued together.

• Slab: These are flat and usually unadorned.
• Frame and panel: These can have raised or recessed panels, decorative molding, or panels made of bead board. The shapes of the panels can be square, arched, or cathedral style. Another type has a frame with two recessed panels, known as the Shaker style. Some have glass panels that allow you to see treasures on display.
• Louvered and shuttered: These have slats in them much like shutters on windows.
• Sliding: These are found on modern maple cabinets. The panels may be made of a different material than the cabinet and have bright colors.

Dovetails are a strong type of joint for securing the corners of a drawer. It is an interlocking joint where the pins on one piece fit snugly into the sockets of another piece. The dovetail joint is not only strong, but can also indicate the type of craftsmanship of the overall piece.