Wood species
Cherry drawer boxes
Cherry is the wood that gets better looking after you install it. It leaves our shop a light salmon pink and turns a deep reddish brown over its first year in the light. We build cherry drawer boxes on custom and wholesale orders, quoted from your sizes and quantity.
Quick answer. Cherry drawer boxes are solid black cherry, a fine grained hardwood at about 950 Janka that darkens with light and age to the reddish brown people picture when they hear the word. We dovetail it with 5/8 in sides and a 1/4 in captured bottom, cut to the 1/32 in in Las Vegas. Cherry is not on the configurator: send sizes and quantity through the instant quote, the contact page or the trade portal and we quote it as a custom or wholesale order.
Cherry changes color, on purpose
Freshly milled cherry is pale, somewhere between salmon and light pink, and it surprises people who expect the furniture color. Exposure to light does the rest. Within weeks the surface starts to deepen, and over months it settles into the warm reddish brown that cherry furniture is known for. This is not a finish and it is not a defect; it is what the wood does. Two things follow for a drawer box. First, a box that lives inside a closed cabinet will darken more slowly than the drawer front on the outside, so do not expect them to match on day one. Second, anything that shades part of a surface, a drawer liner or a stack of plates left in one place, can leave a lighter patch under it until the rest catches up. Both even out with time.
Grain, gum pockets and feel
Cherry has a fine, straight, even grain with a satin sheen once it is sanded, closer in texture to maple than to oak or walnut. Boards carry the odd small dark speck or streak called a gum pocket, where the tree sealed a wound with resin; they are part of the wood and show up in every cherry kitchen ever built. The heartwood is the reddish part and the sapwood is pale cream, so a side can show a lighter band at one edge. Dovetails in cherry come out crisp, and the color contrast between end grain and face grain makes the joint read clearly once the wood has darkened.
| Trait | Cherry |
|---|---|
| SPECIES | Black cherry, solid North American hardwood |
| COLOR | Salmon pink when new, darkening to reddish brown with light and age |
| GRAIN | Fine, straight, even, satin sheen; small gum pockets are normal |
| JANKA | About 950 |
| WEIGHT | Moderate, lighter than Hard Maple |
| FINISH | Clear finishes; blotches under heavy pigment stain |
| ORDER | Custom or wholesale, quoted |
Hardness and weight
At about 950 Janka, cherry is softer than birch at 1260 and well under Hard Maple at 1450, on par with soft maple and a little under walnut. For a drawer side that is fine: the dovetailed corners do the structural work, and cherry is more than hard enough to carry a full drawer for decades. It will show a dent from a dropped cast iron pan that maple would shrug off, so it is a better fit for bedroom, office and display drawers than for the pot drawer. Weight is moderate, which is friendly to undermount runners rated by drawer plus contents.
How it takes finish
Clear. An oil or a clear lacquer or water based coat is what nearly everyone puts on cherry, because the wood supplies its own color and gets there on its own schedule. Heavy pigment stains blotch on cherry the same way they do on maple, so if you want it darker faster, use a dye or a conditioner first. A clear coat with some UV protection slows the darkening a little but does not stop it. Our boxes ship sanded and unfinished; ask about finishing when you request the quote.
Which drawers it suits
- Cherry kitchens and built ins. Boxes that match the cabinet when the drawer opens.
- Bedroom and office furniture. Dressers, desks, nightstands, hutch drawers.
- Heirloom and reproduction work. Cherry is the traditional American furniture wood.
- Not the shop or garage. That is Baltic Birch or melamine territory.
How we build a cherry box
| Spec | Cherry drawer box |
|---|---|
| SIDES | 5/8 in solid cherry; 1/2 in and 3/4 in on request |
| CORNERS | True interlocking dovetails at all four corners |
| BOTTOM | 1/4 in captured in a groove on all four sides; 1/2 in available |
| TOLERANCE | Cut to the 1/32 in |
| FINISH | Sanded, assembled, unfinished; ask about finishing |
| SLIDE PREP | Side mount clearance, or notched and drilled for the undermount runner you name |
Bottoms. A 1/4 in Baltic Birch bottom is the everyday pairing: pale, stable and light, and it sits quietly under the cherry sides. Ask for a cherry bottom if the box will be seen from above in a furniture piece. White or HardRock Maple melamine gives a wipe clean floor for a bath vanity. Step to 1/2 in on wide drawers.
How to order cherry boxes
Measure and count
Width, depth and height to the 1/32 in for each box, how many of each, and the slides they run on. See how to measure.
Request a quote
Send it through the instant quote or contact us and name cherry. Trade accounts use the trade portal; volume runs go through wholesale.
We confirm and build
Cherry is quoted per job with no published lead time. We confirm sizes, bottom and slide prep, then cut and dovetail in Las Vegas.
Cherry against the stocked standards
| Cherry | Baltic Birch | Hard Maple (Select Grade) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHAT IT IS | Solid hardwood | Multi ply birch panel | Solid hardwood |
| COLOR | Pink to reddish brown, darkens with age | Pale blonde, stays put | Creamy white, stays put |
| JANKA | About 950 | About 1260 | About 1450 |
| WEIGHT | Moderate | Lightest | Heaviest |
| MOVEMENT | Solid wood, a little | Very little | Solid wood, a little |
| ORDER | Quoted, custom or wholesale | Configurator, about 2 to 4 days | Configurator, +$34.99, about 4 to 5 days |
Want the reddish brown without the wait for it to darken? Walnut is dark from day one. Want the cherry look on a budget? Alder stains to a convincing cherry. The two standards are compared on Baltic Birch vs Hard Maple, and everything we mill is on the wood species page.
In photos
What cherry looks like
Questions
Why is my new cherry box so light in color?
Because fresh cherry is pale pink. It darkens to reddish brown with exposure to light over its first months, faster in a bright room and slower inside a closed cabinet. That is the wood working as it should.
Can I order cherry drawer boxes on the configurator?
No. Cherry is built on custom and wholesale orders and quoted from your sizes and quantity. Use the instant quote, the contact page or the trade portal.
Is cherry hard enough for a kitchen drawer?
Yes for everyday drawers. At about 950 Janka it dents more easily than maple or birch, so for a heavy pot drawer that takes abuse we would point you to Hard Maple (Select Grade) or Baltic Birch instead.
What are the small dark specks in cherry?
Gum pockets, small resin deposits the tree made while it grew. They are normal in cherry and are not a defect in the box.
Quote a cherry drawer box
Solid cherry, dovetailed, cut to the 1/32 in. Send sizes and quantity and we quote it from our Las Vegas shop.