Our plywood is specially designed to deliver exceptional durability with a smooth even finish. To achieve this, the plywood used in our exposed finished end panels features a layer of medium density fiber board (MDF) on either side of a hardwood plywood inner core consisting of 3 or more layers of hardwood. MDF is the best surface currently available for the application of tinted varnish, as it delivers a near-perfectly flat surface free from defects. For this reason, tinted varnish is applied directly to the MDF layer. For stained finished ends, stain is applied to a hardwood veneer over the exterior MDF layer. This is an optimal technique as it preserves the beauty of the chosen wood species by preventing the undesirable characteristics of plywood from appearing on the stained surface over time.

A) Dovetail Joinery Ensures a strong joint

B) Sides 5/8” thick hardwood for superior strength

C) Routes Routes in the sides hold the bottom ¼” plywood panel tight and “captive”, stapled and glued for extra strength

D) Glides Soft-close, full-extension glides rated to hold 100 lbs.

E) Easy Release Depress button to easily remove drawer for cleaning

Ultimo® Cabinetry is manufactured with engineered materials as well as natural hardwoods. You will find select hardwoods of the highest quality in the face frames, door frames, and various moldings and trims we manufacture. We do not manufacture hardwood boxes – no cabinetry factory in the world does. Old growth forest, the only type of forest which can be harvested to produce large width boards, is protected – and it should be. Instead, we use that modern marvel – plywood – to construct our cabinet boxes. Other manufacturers will use “plywood ends” but otherwise manufacture their cabinets with particle board, or lesser plywoods like OSB. We do not use these materials in our cabinetry construction.

We do use MDF in some places. Veneer center panel doors like our Brookside door are made with this material. All our finished ends, as described above, will use some of this material as well. In addition, some finished pieces will use this material when structural support is not required. We do not use MDF in the structural construction of our products; MDF is used to enhance the quality of the finish only.

We are open about our use of these materials because we believe you deserve to know how your cabinets are manufactured and why we make the decision to use the materials we use. And we’ll let you in on a secret. If any other cabinetry manufacturer is telling you that they never use these materials, they’re not telling the truth. Everyone uses these materials because they excel at the purposes for which they were invented. Some may tell you “no our cabinetry is all hardwood” and their fine print will indicate that they’re referring to the face frame or some other component, we don’t believe in playing such duplicitous games. We use MDF where it is appropriate in order to make your cabinets as beautiful as modern engineering permits.

As with anything, there are good and bad plywoods, hardwoods, MDFs, etc. You can rest assured that the products we use in our Ultimo® Cabinetry are the highest quality specimens available on the market. As a result, our engineered materials exceed the clean air standards and feature the lowest VOC counts in the industry.