Exposed OSB cabinets - like or not?

[sammy.se]

This is in my trendy millennial workplace. I'm seeing it more and more.

What do people think of this material choice/finish?

Just curious what others think. I like it in the right context, can't bring myself to build my dining room cabinet out of it though...

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[Beau]

No never for something you may end up handling. Regardless of the looks you can get very nasty splinters under your nails from OSB. So easy to do when grabbing a handle.

All about the fashion but not practical IMO

 

[novocaine]

Let me ask the wife if she wants it for the new kitchen.


thanks for that, I now have a saw eye.
I won't put it in the workshop, never mind in the house, I can just about accept naked plywood OSB is one step to far for me, but I guess I'm old.

 

[Fergal]

No! Looks and feels terrible, especially the raw edges. It would've been nicer if they'd put some solid wood lippings around it. I'm all for trendy, modernist furniture, but this is a bit too raw. Also I don't think those doors would last long, the hinges will fall off. OSB doesn't hold screws well.

Valchromat would have been nicer. Lot more expensive though.

 

[Racers]

I panelled my kitchen 25 ish years ago in OSB as a temporary measure, but its still there.
My cupboard doors are 18mm birch ply with chamfered holes as handles, they cost me nothing!

Pete

 

[transatlantic]

God no! It's got that distinct builders material look to it.

As an asside, I listen to the Shop Stool Podcast, and it was interesting hearing that over in New Zealand, apparently, a lot of kitchens are fitted with bare plywood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZq_sAHuGro

:O

 

[ColeyS1]

It has its place

Cheap and cheerful material but can't imagine it'd be a very easy to clean material without a lot of effort to get a smooth finish. These live in the shed (besides the dog)

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[custard]

It has its place

Genius!

 

[peter-harrison]

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I did this a few years ago for a science centre in Cambridge- it was for schoolchildren. I sanded the edges well, and did a generous rad. and finished with acrylic varnish. It looked pretty good, and I never had any complaints about splinters!

 

[peter-harrison]

 

[sammy.se]

Interesting perspectives!.
The art so down the road (less than 1 mile feom that office) has completely un finished OSB for its display and shelving. Just sanded....

Im not keen on that.

The units in my pics are sanded and lacquered.

I think it has a place. Just not in my house.

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[sammy.se]

Interesting perspectives!.
The art so down the road (less than 1 mile feom that office) has completely un finished OSB for its display and shelving. Just sanded....

Im not keen on that.

The units in my pics are sanded and lacquered.

I think it has a place. Just not in my house.

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Art shop*

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[Tasky]

YUKKY!!!!!
I can't even imagine that as some DIYer's cheap solution for garage shelving...

Maybe.... just maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe..... it could be done by a master craftsman, in a way that resembles cork, or something.... But it'd have to be well smoothed, edges all broken, and the wood sealed in with a decent finishing job. Even then, I'd expect it to be more of an accent than the entire construction.

 

[yetloh]

As long as its finished reasonably and you like it, then why not? It's not surprising that wood lovers who frequent places like this dislike it but I can see that people who come to it without the sort of prejudices we have might go fo it and it is hard to find anything cheaper. I wouldn't use it in the house but have used it to make a pair of insulated compost compost bins - double skin of OSB with exp. polystyrene sheet between, painted inside and out with black bituminous paint. It does the job.

Jim

 

[thomashenry]

I think it looks bloody awful

 

[Fergal]

I remember seeing one of those house renovation programmes on TV where they did the whole interior out of OSB, including the walls as it was cheaper than plastering. It looked like a shed in there.

 

[custard]

This is in my trendy millennial workplace. I'm seeing it more and more.

What do people think of this material choice/finish?

It's difficult to completely separate furniture from its environment, and this is a case in point.

In some ultra hip Shoreditch loft apartment then it could look terrific. But in a Barrett estate semi no one would get the irony, at which point it starts looking a bit silly.

 

[Brandlin]

All things have a place. As purely functional (one might say) industrial pieces I can see it has a place and is in keeping with its location.

Would I have it in my house? No. But then that would be out of context. Would I have it in my workshop - sure, if it is functional.

 

[rafezetter]

My 2 large almost floor to ceiling bookshelf units are made of OSB, but I stained them with vandyke plus a touch of red so they are a very deep mahogany almost teak colour, shelf edges are rounded over with a quaterround bit. I did sort of smooth out the roughness with a few coats of varnish, but they still retain some of it, the shelf edges though are quite smooth.

Overall the effect is much milder than the OP's pics and I like the interest of the "grain" that otherwise would not be there unless I used a very expensive wood.

Because there is an industrial element and feel with large coachbolts for fixings and threaded rod used to pull the sides together and support the shelves, the OSB (or the metal) doesn't look out of place.

Stucturally I used hardwood dowels to screw into the endgrain.

Good birch ply would have been incredibly bland by comparison.

 

[John Brown]

I'm travelling in the US and Canada for three months. Here they build almost entire houses out of OSB, but the kitchen cabinets are usually hardwood, cherry more often than not.