Hard Maple Vs Soft Maple For Kitchen Cabinets

Main uses furniture paneling and millwork kitchen cabinets moulding doors musical instruments and turnings.

Hard maple vs soft maple for kitchen cabinets.

Buying ready to assemble rta kitchen cabinets online can significantly reduce costs and time. Now it may look like hard maple is heads and tails above the rest and to a certain extent it is but for reference black cherry has a janka hardness of 950 lb f the same as red maple and black walnut is rated at 1 010 lb f also note that black maple not pictured isn t quite as hard as its close relative hard maple and ranks in the mid range with a hardness of 1 180 lb f. Soft maples on the other hand are comprised of a few varietires of maple species such as big leaf maple acer macrophyllum and red maple acer rebrum. If blotching is a concern try a light seal coat to even it out.

Soft maple varieties are more comparable to birch in hardness and application than hard maple. For hardwood flooring. You can get around that by water popping hard maple before staining or using a spray stain. There s lots in the knowledge base about blotchy maple.

Hard maple is difficult for stain to penetrate. It has good steam bending properties. Best offers for your garden https amzn to 2innd0w how to tell the difference between hard maple soft maple trees. It is also good for moldings and trim and can be used in cabinetry.

I do like the color and figure that i can get locally in soft maple and have used it for legs on benches but where strength is necessary i stick with hard maple. Oak because it can chip or splinter is less desirable for molding trim or carvings but many still use oak this way. Soft maple is typically reserved for carvings knobs handles veneers and solid guitar bodies. Many common products like furniture cabinets and musical instruments are made using both hard and soft maple.

Soft maple is slightly less dense and not as strong. Typically hard maple is most often known as sugar maple. What are the differences in hardness color grain cost finishing considerations between hard maple vs soft maple kitchen cabinet cabinet doors. All of the soft maple varieties are softer than oak.

Even the most beautif. A standard 10 by 12 foot kitchen equipped with top and bottom maple rta cabinets can run from 2 500 to 6 000. Soft maple can be used as a substitute for hard maple to save money in situations where low to moderate density is called for such as profiled moldings trim plaques and carved items hard maple is roughly twice as hard as soft maple and is often reserved for structural items like workbenches and. Soft maple will actually absorb stain thus making it easier to get deep colors.