Why is glue so important in a cabinet joint?

When building cabinets with my dad, he used to tell me when nailing two surfaces together,

“The glue is what holds this together. The nails are just there to hold the wood together until the glue dries.”

It seemed so counterintuitive to me because a nail was so strong and seemed like it would hold better. But he was right! If you’ve ever thrown a piece of wood glued up and nailed, it will usually split at the nail hole, and not the glue seem.

Glue is a fascinating thing. Glue bonds to the wood on a cellular level by penetrating into wood fibers. Once properly clamped and cured, it is stronger than the wood itself. Because of this cellular bonding, it transfers the holding power across the whole joint, making it stronger and more resistant to warping and twisting. A nail or screw applies all the holding power to one local spot. Once it fails by wearing out over time, the whole joint is compromised.

With all this in mind, we recommend an upgrade on your Prefabricated Cabinets to have us build them. We will add glue and staples throughout the cabinet to make it as strong as our custom ones.

We charge about $40 a cabinet on average to do this, depending on the type of cabinet. So a job of 30 boxes would come out to a $1200 upgrade cost. (This is a rough estimate. Actual prices would be given on an official estimate.)