Oak Cupboards and Cabinets

A cupboard hides things. A cabinet shows them. Between those two jobs sits most of the case furniture in a house, and the decision that matters is which one a particular room actually needs.

We make both, one piece at a time, to your dimensions. The construction is the same throughout: framed and panelled carcases, framed side panels rather than flat boards, drawers running on timber, and solid ironmongery.

Solid Oak Chests of DrawersSolid oak chests of drawers made to your size in Suffolk: cross banded, William & Mary, Wellington, tea caddy, Rowton and moulded front patterns.Oak Corner Cupboards and Corner CabinetsOak corner cupboards handmade in Suffolk: glazed double and single, hanging corner cupboards, panelled and open shelved corner cabinets, and base units.Oak Drinks CabinetsOak drinks cabinets made to order in Suffolk: three and four door, with integral wine rack, square panelled and carved patterns. From £4,980 in oak including VAT.

The types we make

Corner cupboards — glazed double and single, hanging corner cupboards, panelled corner cabinets, open shelved corner cupboards and base-only corner cabinets. The piece that turns a dead corner into storage.

Drinks cabinets — three- and four-door, with and without an integral wine rack, in square panelled and carved patterns.

Chests of drawers — with and without cross banding, William & Mary, Wellington, tea caddy, Rowton caddy-top and moulded front patterns, from six drawers to thirteen, plus bedside chests.

Cabinets and cupboards beyond the three type pages

Glazed display cabinets. Two-door glazed cabinets, tall glazed cabinets with a drawer run below, and single glazed cabinets for a narrow wall. Glazing bars follow the pattern of the range, and shelf spacing is set around what you intend to put in. Panelled and glazed doors go on the same carcase, so a matching pair is straightforward.

Breakfront cabinet. A cabinet whose centre section projects forward of the two flanking it. It breaks up a long front and lets a deeper middle carry what will not fit elsewhere.

Chimney cabinet. Tall, narrow and single-doored, for the space beside a chimney breast — the piece of wall nothing standard ever fits.

Food cupboards, painted and polished. The traditional ventilated kitchen cupboard. Historically these had pierced or slatted panels so air moved through; we make them either way.

Sliding door cupboards. Where a hinged door would foul a route through a room, or a piece of furniture opposite.

Press cupboard in mahogany. The full-height press: a panelled cupboard for linen and clothes, related to the wardrobes but built as a cabinet.

Denbighshire Tridan. A distinct cabinet form of its own, related to the dresser family without being a dresser and rack, and part of the Denbigh collection.

Cabinets with drawers down one side. A single-door cupboard with a stack of drawers alongside, a great deal more useful than a two-door cupboard of the same width.

Contemporary work

The same benches make plain modern cabinets to the same construction: flush fronts, simple sections, no mouldings. A glazed cabinet with no glazing bars and a plain plinth is not a departure for this workshop. See contemporary furniture.

Timbers

Oak, cherry, mahogany and walnut are the standard four, and every cupboard and cabinet is made in all of them. Mahogany suits the press and breakfront forms, cherry darkens over the first few years into a deep red-brown, oak does everything.

Specials, on application: character oak; pippy oak in light, medium and heavy grades, for tops; oak selected for medullary ray, the silver figure across quarter-sawn oak; and clean timber with no knots at all.

Finishes: polished, painted, limed, sand-blasted, rub-through paint, natural, or colour matched to a sample. We can match furniture that is 100 years old to new reproduction purchases made the year before. Modern and sheet materials are used inside carcases where they add strength, and we will tell you where.

Order timber and finish samples. A tall cabinet shows more end grain and more edge than a low piece, and shade differences show up on both.

Made to your size

Cabinets are almost always fitted to a space, so almost every one is altered.

Common changes: height reduced to clear a beam or a picture rail; depth reduced so a door still opens; width set to an alcove; a plinth cut out for an uneven floor; shelf spacing set around particular glass, china or books; glazed doors substituted for panelled; a drawer run added below; sliding doors instead of hinged; the carcase made in sections for a difficult stair.

Where a piece is to be built into the fabric of the room, see fitted furniture. Otherwise see bespoke and commissioning.

Prices

Quoted individually. Tell us the type, the size, the timber and the finish and we will give you a guide price. Special timbers and finishes are on application. Lead time is normally twelve weeks, and up to sixteen when the workshop is busy. Your date is confirmed when you order, and a genuine one-off usually adds around four weeks.

Every cupboard we make leaves the same Suffolk workshop as our fitted joinery. Where a project also calls for panelling, a library or a fitted kitchen, that work is done by our sister companies, Reeve & Co Interiors and Square & True.

If the cabinet has to hide a television, our rise and fall TV cabinets carry the screen on a concealed lift.

Frequently asked questions

See the cupboards and cabinets in the shop, with prices and timbers for each.