Healthy materials and finishes for custom cabinetry
What is the gold standard for safe cabinetry? It seems like there is no winning, the options are “natural” and likely to have issues or durable but full of chemicals.
Here is where I stand… we are working with a local custom cabinetry shop that does good work but it does not seem they know too much about environmental or health factors.
— The cabinetry will be PureBond plywood, so that is a good start since it has no added formaldehyde.
— The kitchen design includes both painted facing on perimeter cabinets, a wood island, wood open shelves and a wood hood cover.
— The idea of including painted cabinets was to save $ and it also looks nice, but is it stupid?
— We are spending a lot on pretty countertops, GreenGuard Gold locally made quartz brand Hanstone. And we are spending a lot on aesthetic choices like a fancy custom range hood cover. We don’t want these choices to come at the expense of toxic cabinetry materials.
MDF
— Approx 60% of the facing is painted (MDF). They like MDF because it is more stable and predictable than wood, I get it.
— They use Ranger Board which is low VOC, CARB2 compliant. https://www.westfraser.com/sites/default/files/products/MDF/Ranger%20Premium%20Specs%202019.pdf
— There is also EcoGold MDF from the same company with no added formaldehyde, however this is harder for routering and I think it might not work for this application…
https://www.westfraser.com/sites/default/files/certifications/2024%20WP%20Public%20Specs%20EcoGold.pdf
Paint finish
— They use a tinted water based seal with a clear top coat on wood, I get the impression it’s the same for paint but the paint is sprayed on first.
— They gave me one data sheet for a clear urethane showing VOC of coatings: 126 g/L and VOC of materials: 51.2g/L
— I think it is misleading, above numbers are clear coat not paint. We have chosen a very light greenish-greyish colour but I imagine this will have additional VOC compared to just clear.
— I accept that the paint will have some VOC if we want it to be durable over time, but should still comply with CARB2. It will be finished off site and the off-gassing seems low.
Solid wood vs. Compressed
— The supplier is pushing veneer for durability. They showed a piece of very warped/bowing solid wood. We agree we don’t want the cabinet doors to look all screwed up.
— For the island, we either want to do a narrow shaker profile or vertical V-grooves or slab. The V groove style would need to be solid wood, and the shaker style can have the veneer core with solid rails around but it costs more. So it costs less to do solid wood in this scenario.
— If we want 3/4” rails shaker profile, it seems the core insert could be particle board or MDF with the veneer on top. Maybe they could use a plywood core.
— People do use solid wood cabinetry. Is it really so bad?
— On the back of the island, under the seating, it is all door panels so this would be at risk of warping… also doors under the sink.
— Is warping most likely to happen within the first few years while still under warranty?
Wood finishing options
— We selected white oak with a mid-dark stain, we can either use their standard urethane or they offer Rubio despite seeming to not like it very much.
— Rubio can’t be sprayed on. He also said Rubio doesn’t like them to mix colours, I think he might be confused. The Rubio site clearly says you can mix colours for endless options. So I don’t see why they couldn’t match the stain we want with Rubio?
— I don’t know what the cons are for Rubio, it sounded like the finish is not durable and it’s hard to clean. It doesn’t seem that bad to me.
— While the VOC content for the urethane clear coat might not be insanely high, I think that’s within CARB2 limits, this does not include a tint though. Once you tint oak to look more like walnut, I bet that tint adds VOCs. Suddenly the numbers aren’t so good.
It’s all confusing. It will be an expensive kitchen and I just want to know materials offer the best value in terms of being safe for IAQ and chemical sensitivities. But the sales person is definitely trying to steer us away from solid wood and the less toxic Rubio stain.
There is so much to consider, where is a guide for cabinetry! I might have to make my own by the end of this. It is shocking every step of the way. For instance, we love the sandcast bronze hardware from Emtek, made in USA, but for an unknown reason the knobs (not pulls) have prop 65 warnings.
Perhaps it is safest to have no kitchen at all?
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Replies
Is that Hanstone Matterhorn countertop? You may want to look into the Italian cabinet finishes. Renner seems to perform well and the clear has something like 14g/L VOC.
As far Prop 65, I think it's unintended consequence is that virtually everything gets caught by it. So much so, that I tend to ignore it now.
Yes that is Matterhorn! That’s funny, how did you know? I’m a big fan of Hanstone. I always gravitated towards natural stones but since thinking about how they are mined and shipped I realized the carbon footprint is very high. Then discovering through GBA that the countertop sealers are horribly toxic and many are full of PFAS… yikes!
Renner is pretty similar to the urethane option we have in terms of VOC… Whereas Rubio monocoat is much better (zero-ish VOC) but it’s a risk because the finish is very different.
I saw there used to be a kitchen cabinetry guide on GBA but the link no longer works so there is not one. Any definitive guides for millwork?
We just ordered 4 and a half slabs of Leblanc for our kitchen. Matterhorn is beautiful but too much movement for us with so many slabs.
Good luck with your design and selections. My experience with many subs and contractors is that they like to do things the same way over and over again because it works and they can predict results. They resist changing things partly to avoid call backs and lost time doing something new. Even if I spec it out in great written detail and have on site meetings, their "guys" auto pilot it and do things their standard way. Can be time consuming and exhausting to chase, follow-up and correct.
plenty of solid wood kitchen cabinet doors around that don't warp. if the wood is dried properly, stored, joined and finished correctly then it should not warp.
if this shop doesn't do solid wood rails and stiles, then maybe they aren't the right shop for you.
My flooring guys tried to steer us away from Rubio Monocoat. We insisted we wanted it and are happy with the results. Make sure you understand their critiques and then stick to your value system when you make your choices. They are going to push you to use the value system of their average customer, but that’s not who you are.
I won't pretend I've put hundreds of hours of research into this topic, but we've picked Vermont Natural Coatings for everything we're doing in our house. They have a ton of products these days ranging from furniture stain to concrete sealer, but they are all low/no VOC made with whey. Their staff are very friendly and prompt, I've emailed them a couple of questions and they are also swift on the reply.
I have used Vermont Naturals Poly Whey as well and it is definitely low VOC and it works well. Recently though I have been questioning what it is actually made of- the formula is a proprietary bio-based polyurethane. Whereas something based on linseed oil is more straight-forward.