I'm so sorry to see this happen to your new cabinets. Sending you good thoughts and hoping for and excellent resolution to this problem.

Oh dear
Holly-Kaye - add me to the list of those feeling bad for you and your gorgeous kitchen.
I grew up in the hood and none of DMs doors cracked and I am sure we didn't have a humidifier.
This is not your fault Stay strong. I am sending you positive energy for tomorrow

holly-kay: I'm wishing you the best for a positive outcome. What a distressing thing to go through, especially after the emotional investment of your renovation.

I, too, will say I'm somewhat skeptical of "humidity" or the lack thereof being at fault here. I've lived in a lot of houses that weren't climate controlled and never had any cabinets crack like that. It's a shame that you have to wait until Wednesday to get the maker's take on the situation, especially after having to wait all weekend. The stress of waiting and not knowing what's going to happen gives the mind time to anticipate every possible unpleasant outcome.

Holly kay-:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
Your cabinets and hardware are some of my favorites and I cannot imagine the stress you must feel. Of course, it's not your fault ! How frightening that must have been to hear such a loud noise and see your beautiful cabinets cracking. That would freak me out! You're being rational and reasonable, but your sub conscience ( your nightmare) is having a field day.

I feel confident that they'll make good on this and fix it properly. Sending good thoughts your way.

Wow--I mean, sure, it's wood-movement time in my house too--the standard separation of the boards in the floor (same place every year), etc., not a big deal, it's so cold == dry. But like others, I have plenty of furniture that doesn't do THAT, seems unreal that yours did. I'd bet glued panels, also, because that's what is supposed to do that, but !! Hope you get a good resolution (and "run a humidifier" doesn't count!) Good luck!!

After reading these posts, I realize that none of us posting has ever seen this happen--have we? I think it would add a little "muscle" to the argument for Holly-kay if many knowledgeable people can't think of a single example of this kind of cracking happening. Although we aren't a scientific sample, the reverse could be useful: "Show me examples where this has happened in the past due to (whatever factors the cabinet maker brings up..) I can't imagine very many....

I hope it all works out...your cabinets are beautiful.

Oh HollyKay, I'm so sorry to see this. How upsetting.
I too have never seen anything like it, and I've lived where the temps drop to subzero every winter, and humidity levels drop too. No cabinet should crack like that under normal circumstances.
I feel confident your cabinet maker will stand by his work.

I suspect most homes do not have climate controlled systems. The problem is isolated to the cabinetry. Previous cabinetry didn't crack. Furniture throughout the house is not cracking due to possible extreme fluctuations. Kitchen cabinets should be able to withstand seasonal fluctuations without cracking.

I think I remember reading about people having problems with furniture brought back from Europe, due to the climate/humidity changes. I wonder if it's possible they are having work done overseas. Which could also explain why glue might have been used where it shouldn't have.

Thanks for the input Snookums. I suppose it's possible but this cabinet shop was founded here in our home town. I remember them being a smaller shop when I was a child. They are still in the same location but have added on several times. They are one of the best known cabinet companies in the area and at least according to their website they make doors for other cabinet companies. I agree that most homes probably don't have climate control and I just find it strange that three cabinets split in less than two days. There were several doors I had them remake and it took just a bit over a week to have replacements to me so I suspect they are made in house. I can't imagine that they could have been ordered and shipped so quickly if they were made over seas but anything is possible at this point.

holly-kay, I am so sorry you are going through this. My hubby says the manufacturer of the cabinets is at fault. Moisture content of wood, whether it is kiln dried or air dried, will vary because it has a life in your house responding to humidity changes, which cause the wood to expand and contract. Because of this, panels need room within the frame, as both panels and frame, expand and contract. If there is no space for them to move or if they are glued in place, the movement will cause cracks. Properly constructed cabinets, have a very low failure rate. Improperly constructed cabinets eventually will fail somewhere. In your case, it was the panels. If you have a warranty on the cabinets, it should be honored, and replacements should be properly constructed. Maple is a good choice for cabinets. My husband is building all of our kitchen cabinets out of maple. I hope you have a good resolution to this problem.

Holly-Kay, you might point out to the kd that other cabinetry in the house haven't cracked. So it can't possibly be the environment. Will be looking forward to reading what the kd says. I'm sure their face will show dismay, too, when they see it.

Wow, I have never heard of cabinets cracking like that. How awful! I hope your cabinet maker/installer fixes the problem.

This is the first time I've ever seen anything like that - it's crazy. I do not believe for a second it was caused by lack of humidity. Holly-Kay, I certainly hope you get full satisfaction, and I expect you will since their future reputation is at stake. Best of luck on Wednesday.

Hi Holly Kay, I am so sorry, I was sick when I saw your pictures, brought a tear to my eye. You poor thing. It doesn't matter what caused it, it's not your fault or the weather. What matters is how to fix it.

I live in a very fickle climate and my cabinets have never cracked in 15 years. People joke that you can experience all four seasons in one week here. I do hear loud pops in my house and heard a really loud one Sunday. I am sure I will find something but it's mostly my dry wall nails/screws and a huge armoire and a buffet that do a lot of snap, crackle and pop. But in all my furniture and the kitchen cabinets and the drywall pops I've never seen what you have experienced with your cabinets. Our cabinet boxes are particle board or some such mix of engineered wood but I have solid wood doors with end panels and it has always been such a perfect match I didn't even know this until we put new granite on a couple of years ago. I'm a big advocate for engineered wood for the boxes since they are so strong but I love the solid wood doors. To me this is the marriage made in heaven for long lasting durability but I digress...

Your cabinets are beautiful. If it is confined to the doors and not the cabinet boxes it seems like replacing the doors involved would be in the best interest of the company. I hope they will be kind and that they will match well : ) Good luck. Sympathetic thoughts coming your way. My kitchen cabinets, so far so good!

This post was edited by gr8day on Tue, Jan 28, 14 at 8:21

I have a lot of old Swedish furniture which I purchased there and had shipped. The Mora clock developed a crack in the base after several years. But it's nearly 300 years old and that's considered patina. No other cracks in any other furniture and my 10 y.o. painted cabinets don't have cracks even though I was told up front the paint might crack along the seams.

If you look closely at the very first photo in the 15:04 post, it appears that the cracks line up with where the screws secure the outlet box. I would remove the outlet cover to check that because if so, it's a very clear talking point in your favor.

It's easy to remove the outlet cover and would be interesting to see if the wood is splitting where it looks to be. Wood used in a cabinet should hold small screws without splitting. If not, it's a bad batch of wood which should be replaced as a part of waranty. If the shop is as well known and reputable as you say, they should do this without question.

My experience with furniture (and humidity, or lack thereof) comes from working with museum collections in the Upper Midwest. Museums monitor their furniture collections closely using a hygrothermograph that records fluctuations in the humidity (the fluctuations are the real culprit). In the same way your nose or lips crack when the humidity gets very low, wood can do the same thing.

It's unlikely that climate is the sole cause of what happened but certainly can be a contributing factor. For example, if the cabinets were sitting in an unheated garage and then brought into the heated house, the expansion and contraction of the wood can cause it to crack, especially if the center panel is too tight along the edges of the door or is glued top to bottom.

I feel certain that the cabinet company will replace these doors under warranty. Even the least sophisticated company will offer a one-year warranty on workmanship and defects. Not only should you insist on having the cracked doors replaced, but you should make sure that you are covered for any future wood cracks that might arise. Any company who wants to keep their good reputation will understand they need to work with you to solve this problem.

I just have to say I've been following this post and am also feeling really bad for you. We have a fairly relaxed response to things that "patina" in our old house, but I would be feaking out over this. A local business with that much history in your area should want to make things right no matter what.

As best I can recall I've seen this once that I can recall, and only on one panel. Might have had a wood stove involved.

My hunch is that the problem is not that the panels are glued in place. While that might do it, I'd really be surprised.

I'll bet that the end panel is held captive by screws at the electrical box instead of floating in a hole (a remodel box solves that but if a shallow box was needed it is likely screwed) That "could" alone do it but rarely more likely...

Briefly- wood is most prone to cracking when being dried from green to dry. Why? Wood shrinks differently in each direction- along it's length, width, and toward the center of the tree. Shrinkage along the width is called tangential, toward the center is called radial. The relationship between those two is expressed as the TR ration. For green sugar maple tangential shrinkage is 9.9%, radial 4.8; making aTR of just over 2. As it shrinks differently stress build up and can cause a crack. This is why kiln drying came about- allowing control over heat and humidity during the process so it never gets too fast or slow.

Once dry though the seasonal movement drops to 1.13 tangential, 0.77 radial, with a TR of 1.47. (going from 75% humidity to 40) The total shrinkage would increase if going to 10% humidity to maybe 2% but the TR only goes up slightly- so long as the wood is dried.

So my guesses (repeat guess) for this are the wood was not as dry as it could have been (perhaps air dried), cabinets were made during high humidity, we've had a brutal year leading to unusually low humidity in home. All in all making for a high TR. It is also possible that the individual pieces that cracked was originally milled in a way that increased the TR. It could even be "reaction wood" which has stresses in it in the first place (reaction wood comes from a tree that grew curved)

A lot can be found on the web or for the technically inclined there is "Understanding Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadly (be warned it is NOT a page turner)

I'd expect this would all be worked out to your satisfaction. I'm curious to see what, why and how.
The why may remain nothing more than a guess. It is unlikely the maker dried the wood themselves and it is extremely difficult to spot reaction wood unless it is really bad.

I just want to update everyone on my cabinet issue but first I want to thank you all for your words of encouragement and sharing your knowledge with me. You all are just the best and I am forever grateful for my fellow GW members.

I had to get to work this morning so I left the meeting with the KD in my DH's hands. I got a phone call from the KD while he was still at the house. He was stunned at the cracks and said in all of his years he has only seen a few cracked cabinets and never three in the same kitchen. They are replacing the affected doors and he also said that they have a lifetime warranty on the cabinets so if anything else crops up they will be taken care of no matter when it would happen. The cabinets weren't glued as they are floating and that is why they redo the whole door not just the affected center panel. He said it will take two to three weeks but he is pulling up the drawings with all the info as soon as he gets back to the shop. Their design center is in front of the manufacturing plant. He was so apologetic for the inconvenience and was just stunned at the extent of the cracking. He also apologized that it would take a few weeks to get them finished but I am delighted that the issue is being taken care of and because they are remaking the whole door I will still have doors on all the cabinets until they are swapped out. It looks like this will be a good ending to a bad story!

Yay! Good to know there are still craftsmen that stand behind their work and have solid ethics. Good for you.

Is that lifetime warranty in writing? I would keep a paper trail of all the interactions you have with the KD or the company. Unfortunately this issue may occur again maybe not for several years. I hope not.

Hallelujah!! So good to hear!

Nancy

I'm with deedles-I'm glad they are taking care of it. What a relief for you!

That is wonderful news - especially the fact that you have a warranty and the cracked portions will be completely replaced. Hopefully it will all be over soon and you can move on and enjoy that lovely new kitchen once again!

So glad to hear that you will get replacement doors!

Did the owner come up with any theories on why it happened?

What a relief!

I'm so glad to hear that the company is stepping up to address their product issues. I would be fearful, however, that the issue will crop up in the other doors (if they were made at the same time, from the same set of wood).

I will have to look at the contract but the KD did say life time.

Gooster, I know what you mean about the replacement doors could do the same if they were made at the same time but since they are custom and made at the time of ordering I would think the material is probably no longer on hand as it has been seven months since the install.

I will know more once DH and I have a chance to chat this evening but I am glad that he didn't try to make excuses and any guess as to what happened would be conjecture. I have to say though that I have been living on the edge of my chair waiting for another crack. The crack in the end panel gave way last night and now is a full split from top to bottom!

I curate a collection of antique musical instruments that are primarily wooden objects in a historic house setting. This is the worst winter weather in 25 years in terms of deleterious impacts on them. It has been the prolonged cold and dry, IMO. One day when the dewpoint is 13* below zero is bad enough, but weeks on end? I'm looking forward/dreading a year of repairs after this one crisis month.
Casey

It looks like a good company. I'm sure they were pretty horrified to see such a thing happen too. Hopefully it doesn't repeat itself with any more of their customers, which could be devastating.

It doesn't surprise me he didn't question anything and I would expect that they will stand behind the lifetime warranty for such a defect. That simply is not something that should ever happen. It's not like it's 100 year old cabinetry that developed a beautiful age crack in a door.

Make sure you have everything documented and your warranty stored safe anyway. Management or circumstances could change down the road.

This too will be behind you soon!

This post was edited by snookums2 on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 14:36

holly-kay: I wasn't actually worried about the replacement doors, I would be worried about the remaining doors. They were likely manufactured at the same time with the same wood stock. I'm certain the replacement doors won't have a problem. But if there was a manufacturing issue like the experts have explained above, it may actually have impacted everything produced at the same time.

Sorry I was not clear and I am sorry you two have to worry in fear.

Funny, isn't it?
I fully expected to hear they'd handle it appropriately, but 1/2 the time here we have stories of vendors that do not.

I am gratified for you that he was horrified. He might want to bring those doors to the (what?) head of manufacturing. Although this is soooo uncommon, you might not be the only one with this company.

I'll bet a load is off your shoulders!

What wonderful news to hear that this is all being taken care of, not only without a fight, but with sincere concern with making things right for you. We always hope that to be the case with the people we hire to do things for our homes...but as we all know here, sometimes that's not the case. Hooray that you got "good" people. I hope that you have no more issues and can just enjoy your kitchen.

Whew!! Good news!! I'm so happy for you.

Thank you so much everyone.

Gooster, I misunderstood where you were coming from and yes I agree that the other cabinets could have the same issue. It is quite unnerving not knowing what may go next.

This evening DH and I heard another loud crack and one of the cabinets that I was concerned about pulled from the side so that is another one that will need replaced.

One thing that I have learned is the proof of a good company is not when everything goes perfectly but how they react when there is a glitch. My flooring and tile company was amazing. Chip went out of his way to give outstanding customer service. Now with the kitchen this company is stepping up to the plate. I will call my KD tomorrow and let him know what happened with the cabinet over the oven. It could very well be that many more cabinet doors must be replaced. The doors are floating even though I couldn't feel movement there. The KD explained to DH how the doors are made.

Oh my...another one cracked tonight? It sounds like for some reason it was a "bad batch" of wood. I wonder if it's going to get to the point where they decide that they are going to replace all the doors? I guess it's fortunate that you didn't have grain matching going on in your kitchen.

I'm wishing you and your DH quiet evenings without any additional startling pops! Painful as it still is, I'm sure...at least you now know that the issue is going to be resolved.

What the heck? They must have gotten a load of wet wood. Do you find yourself waiting for the next one....?

holly-kay, I would ask to have all the doors replaced. It's sounds like a defective batch of wood was used.

This is true. It's not likely to stop with these few. Later down the road, or even now, you'll run into stain matching issues. As I recall, this unfortunately would involve a lot of cabinetry.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 21:46

I was so happy for you that your KD stepped up to the plate to take care of it. But to hear another cracked later, is not a good sign. I'm w/ jerzeegirl, you mite want to ask them to replace all of the doors to make sure it's not going to be a continuous problem.

I'm so sorry that you're having to deal w/ this. At least you have a good company you're working with. Best of luck & keep us up on how it goes.

Whew - so glad you are getting a positive resolution. It's always good to have a company stand behind their work.

I'm with Jerzeegirl - I'd want all the doors replaced since the cracking is happening with other doors...no sense in having slightly off colored doors if the problem continues over time.

oh no, holly-kay -- another one went! I agree with the others -- insist on getting full replacements so you can be assured that you won't have stain matching issues in the future. The statistical probability of future failure is exponentially rising.

Count me in with the group that would ask for all doors being replaced. Otherwise, you will always be nervously waiting for the original ones to fail. And while you won't ever have to live without the doors, doing the replacement "as they fail", could mean a few years of constantly contacting them and worrying about them. I wouldn't want that stress, vigilance, coordinating and waiting to happen over a prolonged time. You have a lot of people here sympathizing with you! Hoping that your troubles with this are soon remedied!

Get a humidifier on your HVAC system now. It might not have prevented the issue, but it will definitely help with your own comfort and that of your wood in the future. Most manufacturers of both wood flooring and cabinetry require you to maintain the humidity inside your home between 20-50% in order for the warranty to be valid. While it's great that the cabinet company is repairing the doors, if you don't have a humidifier, they could have just told you that you weren't in compliance with your half of the warranty requirements. A humidifier will greatly minimize the annual normal shrinking and swelling of wood, like those pesky molding gaps that develop in winter and the sticky doors that develop in summer. That is, if you use your AC in summer to minimize the humidity during summer. Extremes of either kind are to be avoided.

Humidifiers can also cause other problems. I think someone up thread posted levels to maintain relative to outdoor temperatures to help with condensation and mold that can develop when using them.

Holly-kay, do you know the humidity level in your house? If not, you might pick up a humidistat to check it out. Although the weather has already drastically changed here from the brutal cold spell.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Sat, Feb 1, 14 at 13:57

One more vote to get full replacement of all doors with a new supply of wood. You cannot keep waiting for the next one to crack...too unnerving! We are all pulling for you!

Holly-Kay I was trying to find info on kitchen cabinets cracking and came across this. I am having the same problem and my cabinets have been in about 7-8 months. I have panels cracking and even the cabinet frame of one cabinet. I paid a small fortune for the kitchen renovation and am very upset! The gal from the company said she has never seen this happen and never from the company that made mine. I have had about 10 cracks in two weeks! No other wood problems in the house and we have a humidifier on our heating system and both were new this past summer. I have a person coming tomorrow from the company. I even had panels crack that are not doors. I'm going to let her know we need something done. I'm really worried the ones that haven't might later.

Wondering what the outcomes were for both "holly-kay" and "cherie53" on the cracking cabinet problems?