Hello,
We have recently bought a house and we are in the process of picking up the kitchen cabinets , bathroom cabinets .....we are confused about which wood cabinets to pick....Maple or oak ?...Please suggest which wood is good and stays long .
Appreciate it. Binky
There is basically no functional reason to pick one over the other. Since they're probably all veneers, why not cherry?
IOW ... it boils down to a matter of taste ... which grain looks good to you, in the color that your wife wants.
They're both good woods that will last a long time. I would suggest you simply go to Home Depot and have a look at their oak and maple cabinets. Pick whichever one you like better.
In my experience, maple is a little more expensive, but personally I think it looks better.
snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:
And even if they are solids it will not make a functional difference.
So true, for your needs it is a completely aesthetic choice. But let me point out what is obvious to most of us here but seems to escape Joe and Jane average:
Contrary to what the Minwax marketers would have you beleive, "walnut", "cherry", "mahogany", "maple" and "oak" are woods, not colors. Maple and oak are naturally pretty light so they and be coated with finish to make them just about any color you could imagine. The apparent difference between maple and oak will be the grain pattern. Oak has large open pores which form a prominent pattern. Maple has a tighter smoother grain.
-Steve
My personal opinion, which is all you're going to get in here... Well, you won't just get mine, but everyone else's personal opinions...
Anyway, I dislike oak, and would go with maple or cherry, depending on if you want light or dark. Of course, even with those choices, it's the stain that will determine how light or dark everything is.
And of course, our house has oak cabinets, and oak-style laminate floors...
*sigh*Clint
They are completely different looks, which one do you like?
As far as durability, the wood choice between those two makes no difference.
The only non-aesthetic reason I can think of for choosing one over the other is IF you intend to have a matching hardwood floor...maple flooring shrinks and swells (a LOT) and I've never seen it available as quartersawn...however oak flooring can be had quartersawn and is about the most stable wood flooring material available. I've had both (in different homes) and am totally suffering with maple flooring now (though it does great as a cabinet).
George
Pick whichever one Mrs Binky likes.
Trust me.
This is purely a personal preference. Which wood do you like the look of more? I use maple is situations where I am concerned that the room might look too dark and cherry where I think the room is a bit too bright.
That's so true that places like Lowes design and decorate stores to appeal to women's tastes.
Not to mention: "Happy wife, happy life!"
I prefer the look of oak to maple. Simply, because of the open pore look. The contrasting colours look really beautiful. Nothing like the usually woods I work with which are maple and cherry.
Different tastes for different people. I use cherry and maple almost exclusively and really dislike the look of oak. I have turned down work because the customer wanted oak.
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