Hickory cabinets

Hickory is a strong, durable wood with timeless appeal, but it isn’t for every home. Typically used in axe, hammer and other tool handles because of its strength, but all the striations and graining in hickory, when combined with other wood elements indoors, may make the home's interior feel busy.

Along with hickory's beauty comes a hefty price tag that may be outside many homeowner's budgets if they want to outfit kitchens with hickory cabinets. Carefully review your options, your home’s overall design, the mood you want to create, and the pros and cons of hickory cabinets before making your final decision.

Tougher and stronger than maple or oak, hickory adds flavor to your decor and home just as it does to a barbecued meal -- only it presents a visual treat instead of for the palate. With its flame-like grain, distinctive striations of color and durability, these cabinets provide long-lasting decorative appeal to fulfill many hickory kitchen ideas for many designs: country, casual or even classically styled homes. Dark flooring creates a solid base for hickory cabinets.

Although hickory is a best wood for kitchen cabinets because of its toughness, you don’t have to relegate it to just the kitchen. Distinguished Kitchens & Baths cautions that hickory can't handle much humidity. But with the right kind of stain and sealant, hickory can last for years when installed in bathrooms, laundry rooms or even bedrooms.

Hickory cabinets are not so rare that they are hard to find, and you have the option of staining them in a variety of colors, from light to dark and the colors in between, or choosing wood with fewer grains. With careful artisanship to match grain patterns horizontally, hickory cabinets make a bold choice for a contemporary kitchen.

Hickory cabinets require gentle care; you cannot scour them with any kind of abrasive scrubber or cleanser. And according to WoodMagazine.com, you'll also want to avoid cross-grain sanding because it will leave scratches. The naturally patterned knots and twists in hickory wood, which make it attractive to many consumers, also make this wood higher maintenance that other wood choices when it's time to clean it.

Dedicate soft cloths to cleaning hickory to avoid scratching or marring the surface. You cannot clean hickory wood cabinets with harsh chemicals, as you risk permanently damaging the wood. Use a mild dishwashing detergent diluted in warm water.

Clean up splatters immediately. Avoid products that contain bleach or silicone, and don’t use waxing or polishing products on hickory at all.

A major drawback of choosing hickory is its overall cost. Priced on the higher end of the cabinetry spectrum, this cost only goes up if you have the cabinets custom crafted. While hickory has beautiful grain and patterns in the wood, after a while, you may feel as if the cabinets are too busy and overwhelm the space in which they were installed. When combined with wood flooring, hickory cabinets may make the space feel smaller with too much wood graining.