How to store Unfinished Cabinet Doors to minimize warping

All wood products need to be finished quickly but if you just can’t here are some things you can do to reduce the chance of damage until you can finish your new cabinet doors.

Cabinet doors, like any wood product, need to be sealed and finished as soon as possible.
Timely finishing will prevent several problems that humidity and temperature changes will cause to unfinished wood products.
A cabinet door that has been properly finished will react to climate conditions much more slowly than the same door in an unfinished state, and it is the speed of the wood’s reaction to these climatic changes that can cause adverse reactions.
For instance, the moisture gain or loss from an unfinished cabinet door exposed to wide humidity changes can be so rapid as to actually cause splitting or excessive warping.
In many cases the unfinished door may be ruined while the finished cabinet door reacts so slowly to the moisture change that damage to the door is avoided.

There are ways to minimize the damage possibilities if the doors cannot be finished quickly.

One method is to store the doors indoors in an area out of direct sunlight and away from sources of excessive heat, cold, and at a constant humidity.

Another critical method of avoiding warping is to un-wrap the doors and stack them with spaces between each door allowing air to circulate freely on all sides of each door. This method will usually eliminate the warping and keep the doors on the top and bottom of the stack from twisting due to uneven moisture between the door’s front and back. If doors are kept stacked, one on top of another, the top door will almost certainly warp in reaction to the difference between your humidity level and the door’s internal moisture content. So, it’s important to un-wrap the doors and separate them allowing air circulation around the doors.

Humidity caused warping is easily determined by looking at the doors on the outside of the stack. If the humidity is increasing the top door in the stack will warp in a concave shape with the panel raising up. Decreasing humidity will cause warping in a convex shape with the panels bending down. Allowing equal air circulation around the front and back of all the doors will prevent this warping.
The more serious problems are caused by humidity changes accompanied with high temperatures. The high temperatures increase the speed of the moisture gain or loss and can actually cause the panels and stiles to split. Very high temperatures like those in a closed-up car in the sun are almost always catastrophic.

The best method of preventing problems with cabinet doors is to finish the doors as quickly as possible. This finishing process should include sanding sealer coats followed by several coats of urethane or lacquer.

Kitchen cabinet doors that have been properly finished can be expected to last decades and increase the value and appearance of any kitchen.

If you need cabinet doors, CabinetDoors.Com can help.