Why the Best Kitchens Start With the Best Cabinet Materials and Finishes

And Why Our Company Uses Nothing Less

A kitchen renovation is only as good as the wood cabinets at its core. You can change the layout, add beautiful countertops, upgrade to stainless steel appliances—but if the kitchen cabinet materials are made from low-quality materials or finished with cheap coatings, the entire space will eventually show it. That’s why at Cabinet Coatings, we build every project around one non-negotiable principle: use only the best high quality cabinet materials and the best finishes available today for kitchen design.

Whether you’re refinishing your existing wood cabinets, refacing them with new cabinet doors, or undertaking a remodel to improve functionality, the outcome is elevated because the foundation—the materials and finishes we use—exceeds industry standards and delivers long-term beauty and durability.

The Best Cabinet Materials: What We Use and Why

Solid Hardwood: The Premier Choice for Doors and Face Frames

We work with solid woods like maple, cherry, oak, walnut, and hickory because they provide the strength, stability, and timeless beauty that lesser materials simply can’t match. Hardwood can be repaired, refinished, repainted, and re-stained—a major advantage whether you’re refreshing or redesigning your kitchen.

Why is it the best? It is exceptionally durable, allows flawless refinishing or color changes later. This is our standard, not an upgrade.

Furniture-Grade Plywood: The Strongest Choice for Cabinet Boxes

What’s Out There

Many mass-market cabinets are built with engineered wood like high-density fiberboard (HDF) or medium-density fiberboard (MDF) boxes. Both MDF and HDF are wood fibers blended with resin and compressed together with high heat and high pressure. 

Entry level cabinet doors and boxes use melamine core, particle wood, or laminate (from wood chips and sawdust which are glued and pressed together).  Particleboard is the weakest and undergoes the least pressure and heat.

While medium density fiberboard has a smooth surface for painting, it doesn’t have wood grain or grain patterns that can show through the paint. Particle board and melamine board are the least durable of engineered wood types and are more prone toward water damage and dents.

What We Use

We insist on durable material like furniture-grade plywood. This plywood is made with thin layers of wood veneer stacked with grains running in alternating directions, then glued and pressed together with moderate heat and high pressure. Furniture-grade plywood resists warping, is more heat-resistant than the other choices, has more water resistance, and is stronger with a lifespan that lasts for decades.

Why it’s the best: furniture-grade plywood offers superior structural integrity. It handles daily wear, humidity, and weight. It is also an ideal base for refacing or remodeling—the structure remains solid.  Your cabinetry investment should last, and highest-grade plywood ensures it does.

The Best Cabinet Finishes: Our Specialty

The finish isn’t just about color—it’s the protective barrier that determines whether your cabinets will still look beautiful in 5, 10, or 20 years. We work exclusively with professional-grade, high-performance finishes that outperform standard paints (never laminates, melamine, or thermofoil).

Water-Based Acrylic Coatings — Our Preferred Modern Finish

Today’s premium water-based acrylic finishes rival, and often surpass, the durability of old solvent-based products. They deliver an elegant, smooth finish while staying environmentally responsible.

Why we use it:

• Non-yellowing (ideal for whites and light colors)
• Low odor and low VOC
• Remarkably durable
• Washable and moisture-resistant
• Very good scratch resistance when fully cured
• Beautifully smooth, furniture-grade finish

This is the finish used in many high-end custom shops—and it’s our top option for both refinishing and refacing projects. The most popular choice by homeowners is a satin finish (vs high gloss, matte, semi-gloss finishes). A satin finish has the most balanced durability, a premium look, easy maintenance, and great resistance to fingerprints and smudges.

How Our Services Use These Materials and Finishes to Transform Your Space

Refinishing: The Best Finish on the Cabinets You Already Love

When your cabinets are structurally sound, cabinet refinishing is a budget-friendly option that lets you keep your existing layout while elevating the look with a professional-grade water-based acrylic finish. This is not “just painting”—it’s a high-end process that results in cabinets that look factory-new.

Refacing: New Doors, Same Quality Foundation

Refacing is ideal when your boxes are strong (which plywood always ensures). We replace your cabinet doors with solid hardwood, update the exteriors, and finish everything using our top-tier coatings.

You get the look of brand-new custom cabinetry at a fraction of the cost with cabinet refacing—all with premium materials. This is also a great time to update your cabinet door styles, and or/add soft close doors if desired.

Remodeling: A Partial Custom Cabinet Upgrade

When your layout needs to change, we build new partial custom cabinets for those awkward spaces that weren’t utilized properly to give your kitchen more functionality with cabinet remodeling. We use the finest materials available: solid natural wood, furniture-grade plywood, and high-performance finishes.

This creates a kitchen built for daily life, built for beauty, and built for the long term.

Why Choosing the Best Materials Matters

Many cabinets look good on day one, but fail over time. Particle boards swell, low-quality finishes yellow or peel, thin veneers bubble, and cheap paint chips.

We don’t work with any of those materials because they undermine the integrity of the kitchen you’re investing in.

By using only premium hardwoods known for their natural beauty, high-grade plywood, and the most advanced finishes available with cabinet construction, we deliver quality cabinetry that is: more durable, more beautiful, easier to maintain, more valuable, and built to last for decades.

This is why our kitchens age gracefully—because they’re built with kitchen cabinet materials of excellence from the inside out.

Why Choose Us

At Cabinet Coatings, quality is the foundation of every project. We don’t believe in offering “good, better, or best”—we offer only the best, period. Whether you’re refinishing your existing cabinets, refacing for a new look, or designing a partial custom remodel, the materials and finishes we use are the same ones found in premium custom cabinetry shops.

You deserve a kitchen that holds up to real life while looking beautiful for years to come—and that starts with the right foundation. We’re here to help you build a space where craftsmanship, durability, and design all come together seamlessly.