I just visited a customers house today where they have three large dogs. They have a 8" white oak plank that was lightly wire brushed, chemically treated to acheive the color, and two coats of hard wax oil applied. They have been installed for approximately three months. The hard wax oil is superior to a UV cured coating. The homeowner can touch up scratches as needed with additional oil. The coating really cannot be touched up. Maintenance is vacuuming, occasional cleaning with proper cleaning solution, and touch up with oil. With a minimum of 4MM to 6MM wear layer there is no difference between solid and engineered.

I just used Rustoleum's Cabinet transformations on a medium colored oak cabinet and painted them black. I have to say the cabinet turned out pretty well. For now, I just tried one cabinet in a bathroom. The grain is definitely still visible. For my cabs, I dropped a piece of beadboard into the inset portion of the cabinet to cover up a majority of the grain. it's not clear how durable the finish will be; I've read posts from other folks who have said that the finish starts to chip away. time will tell; if the finish holds up I'll use the product on my kitchen cabs.

Thank you. That is exactly what I was afraid of. I knew wood could shrink and that wider boards would potentially show bigger gaps. I just was not sure there was a humidifying solution for dry climates. We will add this to our HVAC.

End panels look like laminate. Fine, if they are getting field applied decorative panels. Integrated decorative end panels are far preferred. These look unfinished. That by itself is also another big red flag. They haven’t been sanded enough. And do not have enough mils of whatever ENS is. And I’m familiar with a whole lot of finish coatings, and I never heard of that. But the biggest red flag was right there at the first. . ”he buys the doors from a factory”. You never end up with matching woods from boxes to doors to faceframes. Because none of it comes from anywhere close in geography. OK, I looked up ENS. It is not a cabinet coating. Its an exterior coating that looks similar to Thompson’s water seal. Totally unsuitable for hardwearing need to be stain resistant indoor cabinets. It doesn’t DO much of anything. Exterior ptofucts with mildewcides or fungicides should not be used indoors. Nor should they be adjacent to food prep surfaces.