Applying Maple Veneer to a Kitchen Cabinet
Hi Houzzers,
I have benefited a lot from this community so far. Thanks for all your advise and help.
We are gutting our kitchen, knocking walls and getting a new kitchen. I selected a cabinet maker who is also a trained kitchen designer and fabricator. We opted for solid walnut cabinets with laminated maple cabinet interiors. We selected full overlay with solid face frame so that we can have the option to refinish wood a few years down the line, if we wanted to.
In the design, the exposed areas of the kitchen cabinets showed panels that were the same design as the doors. Fridge side panel opening to the breakfast nook and the backside of the peninsula all have the same consistent look as the cabinet doors and are made of real walnut wood. Early on, the cabinet maker said that the panel on side of the fridge adjacent to the counter tops and the panels adjacent to the range hood will not have the same door design. I interpreted this to mean that the panels will be wood, but just wont have the same decor as the door and agreed to it.
However, when the cabinets were delivered, much to my disappointment:
(1) The non-decorated panels on the fridge and adjacent to the hood were made of veneer.
(2) Face frame was also veneered instead of the 3/4" solid face frame as discussed.
It is heartbreaking to see veneer in some places when I ordered wooden cabinets. Now, I understand that there are many people who like veneer and opt for it. I am not one of them and I have an aversion to it, despite being aware of all the history and quality behind veneer - its just not me.
The cabinet maker is trying to fix #2 by building a face frame that they will put on the current cabinets (depth will increase by 3/4"). While this is not an ideal situation, I am settling for it. Its not ideal because space is premium in the bay area and we spent a lot of money to knock down load bearing walls, moving doors, fireplace, etc to gain extra 1 feet of space. So in that context, losing 10% of what we gained is significant, but I am willing to put this aside and move on.
However, this still doesn't address #1. My cabinet maker is trying to convince me that the veneer is good and that solid panel could break.
My question here is this:
(a) Why is it okay for the exposed side of the fridge to have a solid panel? If that is capable of being sturdy and holding up without warping / breaking, why cant the side adjacent to the counter top be also of solid wood instead of veneer?
(b) The panels adjacent to the hood are the same size as the solid wood doors. Other than saving cost for the cabinet maker, what advantage does a veneered panel bring in this situation?
(c) Should I hold ground and ask my cabinet maker to redo these panels? It means that my project is going to be delayed further. But I don't know if I can get past the idea of looking at veneer everyday. No offense to the veneer lovers, again its just not for me. To each their own.
This contractor is 30% more expensive than someone who told me up front that they will be using plastic face frame. We selected this contractor and shelled out extra money so that we can get quality and solid wood like we wanted to. And he knew from the beginning that my main criteria was to have the option to refinish, if I wanted to. Now, I may or may not exercise it in the future - but that would be my call instead of being limited by the design / material.
Unfortunately, I had to leave my better half in charge on the day of the install due to immovable last minute work situation. The cabinet guys installed the cabinets and DH didn't catch these issues.
Apologies for the long post. But I am looking for your guidance and wanted to be as clear as I could. Please see photos of the panels attached.
Applying Maple Veneer to a Kitchen Cabinet
Source: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5772724/kitchen-cabinet-given-veneer-instead-of-wood-in-some-parts