Our Cabinets
Thoughts on Counters
Accessibility
Featured Project: The Horton House
Ecological Cabinets

(click on photos to enlarge)

IBW

What is grain matching

Grain matching is a traditional way to make the most of the grain patterns in wood as you put together any kind of panel. In the example, we've got five drawers in one cabinet. The usual approach would be to find a board that was about the right size for each drawer front, and cut it to size and install it. Wood is beautiful, so that would look fine.

In grain matching, we create one large panel for the whole cabinet front. After planing the boards, we line them up one way, then another to find the most beautiful combined grain pattern. We can also position pieces to minimize the potential for warping. We then glue the boards together into one large panel. Then we saw the panel down to the required sizes.

We often pick out boards with strongly contrasting colors. In the example, the same strong, dark streak of heartwood goes right through three different drawer fronts.

Sometimes the boards give us wonderful patterns, landscapes of wood grain.