We use only the highest quality hardwoods, plywood, and engineered materials for cabinet construction. Specifically, all of our bright (non-rustic) hardwoods are FAS (First-and-Seconds) and Selects grade, the highest grade of hardwood lumber which can be purchased on the market. Our plywoods are veneer-core, which means they aren’t made with wood chips or oriented strands but instead with full sheets of hard and softwoods. Some plywoods that we use will have a layer of MDF before the final hardwood veneer, which is a time-consuming and expensive step that significantly enhances the quality and durability of the finish when compared to hard and softwood-only veneer core plywood. We use hard and softwood-only veneer core plywood on cabinets without finished ends as a cost-saving measure over the more expensive MDF-impregnated plywood described above.

Yes we do. Many door styles will have a “sister” door with an MDF center panel at a less expensive price point, but we offer many of our doors in a hardwood center panel (when stained – when painted maple doors are chosen all center panels are MDF for the highest possible finish quality, see below). These hardwood panels will be constructed of high-quality hardwood staves, glued together and sanded smooth to form a larger panel.

We get this question often enough that it’s clear someone out there is misinforming potential customers. No one in the world makes cabinets out of single pieces of wood, and if they are, they’re breaking a lot of laws to do it. Consider that a 20” diameter tree of most species would be over 100 years old and would be considered protected old growth forest by responsible governments the world over. Then consider you’d need at least a 30” wide tree to cut a single board wide enough to fit some of our cabinets. Anyone who tells you they make cabinet doors out of a single piece of wood is at best, lying, and at worst destroying the environment for future generations with no appreciable reason for it. We only source our wood from responsibly managed sustainable forestry stands, and plant two trees for every tree we use.

They do not. You are either looking at a wood veneer, which is very thin and standard in the industry, or you are looking at some type of structured surface – a fabricated man-made wood grain. Some high-end European cabinetmakers will use “book matched” veneers, which are real wood veneers which look fake because the grain matches perfectly. This is a tradition for high-end ultramodern cabinets, and Tuscan Hills sells only high-end traditional style cabinetry, so we do not offer book matching.

Tinted varnish is the technical term for our painted finishes. Three tinted coats of catalyzed material are uniformly applied to Maple and Oak cabinetry. Light sanding between coats assures a smooth finish. The finish is oven cured for durability. Tinted varnishes last longer than paint, hold their color better than paint, and get damaged more predictably than paint, which typically peels when damaged. The kinds of dings and dents that accumulate (by themselves according to my kids) over the life of your cabinet are much more easily treated with the provided touch-up materials than painted cabinets are.

Contrary to popular belief, glazing is not a protective top-coat that you pay extra for. A glaze is actually a second color which is applied during the finishing process and is used to accent the woodworking elements of your door. It is applied to the front of the door, and then wiped-off by hand, so that areas of heavily concentrated glaze remain in the nooks and crannies – a technical term called “hang-up.” Because of this, you may not get the full benefit of glazing from a flat slab door or a Shaker door – you’ll see a lot less of the glaze, even though the overall color is hued, because there’s nowhere for the glaze to hang up. It is a good idea to glaze a highly decorative door, as it will highlight those woodworking features.

Like other custom cabinetry manufacturers, Ultimo uses engineered hardwoods in some construction applications. Some door styles are made with MDF center panels (these are labeled “veneer recessed center panel” on the website). On the finished end panels of stained cabinets, the MDF veneer is the second-to-last veneer in plywood, with the last (outermost) veneer being the hardwood of your choice. This prevents the telegraphing of any voids in the inner plys from showing through to the finish. For tinted varnish cabinets, the outermost veneer on cabinets with a finished end panel is MDF. This gives the cabinet finish a smooth surface to adhere to and creates a glass-like smoothness and imperfection-free painted finish. Sometimes, if your order contains 5-piece drawer fronts, we include a ¼” hardboard (Masonite) filler to ensure that the drawer front fits snuggly and securely to the drawer box. Some specialty cabinets, like our tambour doors, will be made with engineered material as well, as it is the best available material for the given purpose. None of the stiles and rails on any of our doors come in an MDF or Particle board construction, and our face frames are always made from the hardwood of your choice. MDF will sometimes be used as backers for island panels, depending on your design. It will never be used as a structural component of your cabinetry.

Maple cabinet doors and five-piece headers with a solid center panel finished in a Tinted Varnish and its variations (i.e., painted finishes and glazed painted finishes) will be upgraded to an MDF center panel. MDF is better suited to handle the changes in temperature, humidity or atmospheric pressure that cabinets experience over their lifetime which can cause the finish to crack, the doors to swell or raw wood to be exposed. MDF center panel construction will help mitigate these effects and keep your cabinetry looking pristine longer. This change does not apply to any oak doors, slab doors, stained maple doors or tinted varnish doors with a distressed finish.

The mounting screws are not included with your cabinetry and should be provided by your installer. We recommend using #8×2.5″ screws and washers. A square socket or torx drive screws are preferred to Philips head, and flat head or washer head screws are ideal. Pre-drilling is not necessary to affix the cabinet through the plywood to the wall, but pre-drilling is necessary for any screwing through every hardwood component of your cabinetry. DO NOT USE SELF-DRILLING SCREWS FOR HARDWOOD APPLICATIONS

We strive to use only the best components in our cabinetry. Our soft close hinges are manufactured by Blum, the world’s premier operative hardware manufacturer. Likewise, our drawer glides, also made by Blum, have their highest weight rating and smoothest soft close profile available for framed cabinets. We use only veneer core plywood with high grade engineered material to prevent finish defects, with the highest grade exterior veneers for finished ends. Our face frames are cut from FAS & Selects grade hardwood lumber and all our center panel doors use a floating panel technique to help mitigate the effects of thermal expansion and contraction. Every cabinet is measured, cut, and assembled by hand at our factory in South Dakota, inspected, and packaged with care.