Comparing the Designer Fronts: Materials
How Semihandmade, Reform and Walnut and Oak stack up
As we’ve mentioned in other blog posts, the beauty of Ikea’s Sektion Cabinet system is that it allows you to use a whole additional world of designer, on-trend and higher quality door and drawer fronts than what is offered by Ikea.
The three big players in the space are Semihandmade, Reform and Walnut and Oak. There are lots of plus and minuses to each one, but today we are going to focus on the materials used by the different players.
Semihandmade:
Semihandmade uses a MDF core (more fully: medium density fiberboard) with a thermoplastic foil skin (vinyl). MDF is essentially wood dust and a binder (glue) that has been pressed into sheets. It with a does have a bit of a reputation for a number of reasons, including its tendency to swell if exposed to moisture, generally low strength, propensity to ding and chip and most concerningly, it can off-gas dangerous chemicals. The off-gassing concerns have been largely addressed, thanks to both federal and state regulations limiting the amount of formaldehyde and VOCs that can be present in MDF. Its largest benefit, and hence reason for its relatively common use is cost. It’s a very inexpensive material.
While the core of Semihandmade’s products are MDF, the outer surfaces for most products use a thermosetting plastic foil. Think of this as vinyl wrap that comes in sheets, is heated up, and then pressed on to the MDF core. Its benefits, again, are its relatively inexpensive cost and fast production. Additionally, it is easy to clean. Downsides include low durability: the outer plastic skin itself is only hundredths of an inch thick, an it easily shows scratches and other marks. If this skin is damaged, it can begin to peel away, creating trouble for the entire door or drawer, especially if exposed to moisture.
The other consideration for the product is the look and feel. Deciding to use designer fronts is a decision based on wanting a certain look to your home. The thermosetting plastic foil has a certain look that some love and others find a bit lower-grade by comparison to a painted door. This goes hand in hand with how it feels - some love it, others find it has a bit of a plastic feel.
Keep in mind that Semihandmade does have other door profiles that use other materials: the Impression line uses a particle board substrate instead of MDF, and the exterior of the classic doors use wood veneer. See more info on that with the other players below.
Reform:
Reform also has a variety of styles. All products use a MDF (medium density fiberboard) core, with similar considerations to those discussed earlier with Semihandmade.
The exterior materials vary depending on the style. Degree, for example comes in both a painted MDF, as well a real wood veneer over MDF. The Basis style on the other hand has a linoleum or oak veneer option. And Profile uses either oak veneer or paint over an MDF core.
The additional styles bring the benefit of a larger selection of materials than Semihandmade, although Reform’s options still do have the downside of only offering a MDF core.
Walnut and Oak:
While Walnut and Oak only offers four styles, each with two finishes, the company’s offerings excel when it comes to materials. All of their products use a real wood core (7 or 13 layer wood ply) instead of MDF, resulting in a more durable door or drawer front. Additionally, being real wood, hinges and hardware wont loosen or back out as they often do when secured to MDF doors.
On the exterior materials, all of Walnut and Oak’s use real wood, either veneer in the case of the Linea, Highside or Moderno styles, and solid wood in the case of the Cubrio designs. Veneer isn’t perfect (it’s harder to refinish if damaged than solid wood), but in the case of most vertical surfaces (e.g. cabinet door and drawer fronts), they look beautiful and work well.
