Yup! But they've only been installed for a few weeks, so cannot comment on durability. Keep in mind that there are wide variations on how each company makes them - which cabinet maker are you going with?

LC

Jdayo - your cabinets are beautiful. Can you provide the name of the manufacturer, or was it a custom job?

Thank you all for your replies! I am going with a local custom cabinet maker.

Lacuisine: can you point me to a resource/site that talks about the different qualities of bamboo and how to determine which to use?

Jdayo, I love the look of yours - simple, clean lines - that's what I'm going for. Were yours custom? As to the "embarrassing incident" - Do you think the injury to the door would have been the same with regular wood? The alternative we're looking at is rift cut oak, which I had never heard of before but the pix I've seen on Finished Kitchens blog are beautiful, and greatly resemble the bamboo - and it costs a bit less.

Thanks again, gang.

M-
Okay. (long breath drawn in)...
FIRST and foremost, has your local cabinet maker worked with bamboo before???If so, please go see his work in real life. (not just photos). If not, you might want to rethink this. With this kind of money, you do not want to be somebody's guinea pig.
Next, he will probably order the bamboo panels from plyboo. www.plyboo.com
On their site you will see the various choices, natural vs. amber color, edge grain vs. flat grain. jdayo and I have amber edge grain - i will post photos just as soon as i can get electrician out of my space!
with flat grain you will see more of the bulky knots. With edge grain you will get a narrower grain and you will also get that really cool edge detail on the sides of your doors and drawer fronts. Also, make sure you have a very good carpenter to install. when you cut in to the bamboo (for trim, lightrail, etc) it can splinter really easily. you have do do it VERY carefully, very slowly, and with masking tape across to reduce any chance of splintering. i learned this the hard way.
You also have to ask your installer to make sure that the grain matches up , say, if you have a set of three drawers on top of each other. they might not think of that. (notice to the left of jdayo's freezer).
Rift cut oak is really pretty! Henrybuilt uses it as well as bamboo, and for some reason their bamboo cabs are cheaper! do a search on this site for "henrybuilt kitchen " - you'll see another similar bamboo look.
one more thing, make sure your guy orders a big enough batch for you job, including unexpected extras. there is no color stain on the product, the amber is naturally carmelized, and you can end up with lighter or darker batches.

GOOD LUCK!

LC

To: alwaysfixin - Thank you. I totally agree with you - they ARE beautiful. They are custom, made by a small shop in Sausalito, CA called AlterEco
http://www.bamboocabinets.com/

To: momorichel - "Yes", the damage caused by my embarassing incident would have also happened to a wood door. Lacuisine refers to the grain matching done on my cabinets. That was something I discussed with the cabinet maker. I think that it really adds to that clean and simple look that you like (me too)

Thank you, you guys/gals are GREAT!

I am still investigating, but this is sooo helpful. I have a weird situation in that I have a dark wood ceiling (yes, really) and a laminate floor that imitates oak - i.e. it's golden and has an oak-style grain - so I need to find something that both blends, doesn't conflict and also doesn't seem too "matchy-matchy" as they say. I might be better off with painted or white-washed, but I am not thrilled with that option -

Lacuisine - I look forward to your pix!

But either way, I will check out the bamboo options. Of course, being a newbie, I had no idea there were so many choices.

what area of the country are you in?

I'm in So-Calif...any input or special recommendations??

just talked to "my" cabinet maker this morning - he has done a LOT of bamboo work and loves it. Says he would do his whole house in it if he could....and spoke highly of the durability....I will probably go with it and him, but still worried about too much of a woody-look.

I think I'll also get a bid from one of the other companies mentioned here, just to compare. Also I love Axxis-Rose's Henrybuilts so I'll check with them too. If only I could take time off my JOB for a while and just do kitchen research!! That would be helpful :-).

I thought I may be able to help you, wrong coast. Have you looked at the stranded bamboo from smith and fong. It is very attractive and has a more random pattern then the vertical or flat grain products. I love all of them, so I really have no preference, although the stranded is quite a bit harder then the other grains. I would specify that I want plyboo from Smith and Fong, I really think there product, service and company are superior to some of the other imports. They are the only manufacturer of FSC certified bamboo as well. We all know we have to be careful what we buy from china! They also have some really great other products like the tambour paneling, veneers for curved applications, and butcher block style products. Check out their website http://www.plyboo.com/. Sorry to rave, I should be working for them! If you do glass doors, outwater plastics http://www.outwater.com/outwater.html has thi frosted glass with a clear raised bamboo pattern which looks really good when backed by a piece of bamboo veneer. It would make a really cool backsplash behind a stove, and easy to keep clean. If you have any questions shoot me an email, mikemoore@moorescabinets.com. I would love to see pictures. I am still trying to convince these east coast delawareans about the greatness of bamboo!

Thanks, Mike, I appreciate all this great info and will check it all out.

I am also wondering about bamboo. We are looking at doing our kitchen cabinets in Design Craft vertical grain carmelized bamboo. Any comments on the quality would be helpful.