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Signs of Poorly Built Cabinetry
Updated 2 min read
The short answer
Two cabinets can look identical on installation day and be very different objects five years later. Everything that predicts how a cabinet ages is visible in about sixty seconds — open a door, pull a drawer, run a fingernail along an edge, and look at the gaps.
The nine-point check
- Look at the carcass edgeLayered plies means plywood. A uniform speckled brown core means particleboard, which sags and fails at fastener points.
- Push on a shelfAny visible flex under normal contents means the material or the span is wrong. It will only get worse.
- Pull a drawer fully outDoes it extend fully? Three-quarter extension means the back of every drawer is permanently awkward.
- Look at the drawer box cornersDovetails or dowels are good. Staples through a butt joint are the component most likely to fail first.
- Run a fingernail along an opening edgeA lip, a catch or a visible seam means thin banding that will lift within a year or two.
- Check the hingesSix-way adjustable concealed hinges can be re-aligned in ten years. Non-adjustable hinges make a drifted door permanent.
- Look at the gaps between doorsThey should be even top to bottom and consistent across a run. Uneven reveals mean the run was not aligned properly at the end.
- Check the back panelA full-thickness captured back squares the cabinet and carries load. A thin stapled-on back is a dust cover.
- Look under the wall cabinetsA surface people forget to finish. Unfinished or poorly banded undersides tell you where else corners were cut.
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Answers
Frequently asked questions
- Is particleboard always bad?
- It is a legitimate material in some contexts and a poor one for cabinet carcasses carrying load over a span. The failure modes are sagging shelves and stripped fastener points, both of which show up after a few years rather than immediately. Plywood costs more and behaves better.
- My reveals are uneven. Can that be fixed?
- Usually yes, if the hinges are six-way adjustable — that is precisely what the adjustment is for, and it is a ten-minute job across a run. If the hinges are not adjustable, the misalignment is effectively permanent without replacing hardware.
- Does a cabinet with these problems need replacing?
- Not necessarily. Slides and hinges can be upgraded, edges can sometimes be repaired, and shelves can be stiffened or shortened. A failing carcass is the one problem that is genuinely not worth fixing.
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