DOOR finishes
what
There are 5 basic options to choose from for your doors:
Laminate - inexpensive, easy to clean, consistent, 1000's of options
Paint grade/primed - installed primed ready for your painter to paint on site, less expensive than either painted or stained.
Paint grade/painted - pigment conversion varnish
Stain grade/clear - clear conversion varnish
Stain grade/with stain - wood is stained and then a clear pigment conversion varnish is applied
LAMINATE
Maintenance-Free
We refer to our laminate doors as “maintenance-free” for a reason—they’re designed to be easy to keep clean. Do you love white cabinets, but fear they’ll get dirty in your busy kitchen? Fear not! With our laminate doors, you can enjoy the cabinets you want without having to routinely clean them.
Cost Effective
Since they don’t require nearly as much hardwood lumber as wood cabinet doors, laminate cabinets almost always come with a lower price tag. Saving money on your cabinets could free-up your budget for other upgrades you’ve been wanting to include in your kitchen project.
Reliably Durable
A lower price doesn’t have to mean lower quality—especially when it comes to our laminate cabinets! Our knowledgeable team works hard to source only the highest quality materials, because we want your new kitchen cabinets to stand up to even the heaviest of wear and tear.
PAINT GRADE
Five-piece paint grade doors are most commonly made of wood whose grain is mild and light enough that it will not show through the paint, like poplar, and you will be left with opaque doors the color of your choice. It is also possible to select a coarse-grained wood to achieve an intentionally visible grain texture beneath the paint.
For slab doors, we use HDF, or high density fiberboard. HDF has several qualities that make it a perfect material for this application; it's very stable (it will stay flat, no cupping), and it takes paint extremely well.
We use an industry standard pigmented conversion varnish as opposed to paint. Conversion varnish is a coating that achieves film density with fewer coats and dries quickly.
There are four painting options: primed (recommended), matte (10% sheen), semi gloss (35%) and gloss (75%).
Primed cabinets are installed with a base coat of primer, ready for your painter. This is ideal because a site finish will provide a more nuanced texture and will better integrate the pieces into the space.
if you select a shop paint, TIW will provide you a 12" x 12" sample for your approval.
STAIN GRADE
Stain grade doors are built with a type of wood that shows the grain to your preference. There are two options for finish:
Clear or One step finish - application of clear conversion varnish
Stained or Two step finish - a stain is applied prior to a clear conversion varnish layer
Conversion varnish is the varnish currently approved for use in CA. It is very durable, so fewer coats are needed before it is to x strength. It is harder to apply than lacquer (no longer usable in CA due to its toxicity) and needs a highly-skilled person to apply it...like Rogelio!