Saw a custom maple kitchen in Asheville that made me question my own work

Was down in Asheville last weekend for a client consult and peeked into a house they were flipping. Someone had built this kitchen island with bookmatched maple panels and zero visible hardware, just these hidden push latches. The grain lined up so perfect it looked like one solid slab, and they'd mitred the edges at 45 degrees so the corner seam basically disappeared. I've been doing this for 12 years and I felt like a hack for a second. Have any of you tried bookmatching on a full-height side panel, or is that too much waste for most jobs?

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the_lee23d ago

Hang on a second. Bookmatching on a full height panel is not as much waste as people think, you just have to pick your boards careful. You're basically cutting one thick slab in half and opening it like a book, so the grain mirrors. The real trick is getting the moisture content stable before you glue up, otherwise that seam will open up on you six months later no matter how perfect it looks now. And that hidden latch stuff, it's all fun until a homeowner loses the little push button and starts kicking the cabinet. I've done a few bookmatched bar fronts and a pantry door, they turn heads but you gotta charge for the extra milling time or you're eating it. Good on you for noticing the mitre though, that's the part most guys skip.