Wood Species: What's Your Favorite?

Looking around the apartment, we see examples of all different types of wood — a teak dining table, oak floors, maple plywood shelves, and a walnut veneer Eames chair. Some people we know need every wood piece in a room to match but we're comfortable with more of a mix. Plus, a lot of what we have wasn't our choice — the old hardwood floors and beautiful hand-me-down table — so we can't be picky. However, when we do get to make the choice we seem to be partial to a few types of wood and were curious about your preferences...

Eames in Cherry, Light Ash, Walnut; Wegner in Oak

For light wood we prefer maple for it's clean, uniform look and for darker wood we love the variation and depth of nice walnut. We tend to dislike orangey Beech because of Ikea and don't really like oak for furniture because it unfortunately reminds us of cheap, clunky furniture — though the nice aged oak floors in our apartment look great and the variation in the grain hides a lot of the wear. We also prefer natural finishes such as wax and linseed oil. So what are your favorite wood species...

A description of common wood types (for Dummies).

Comments (23)

Who can choose just one???

My preferences include Walnut, Mahogany, Teak, Zebrano, Cedar (for the smell as well as its appearance), Sycamore, Hickory, Pecan, Rosewood, Palisander, and Mesquite.

Least favorites? Pine, Oak (particularly for kitchen cabinets and floors, unless it's quartersawn), Beech and Birch.

Depends on the use, but I would say cherry, mahogany, teak, walnut, and the not-mentioned-above, chestnut.

Fir is another favorite, cuz all the old floors in Oregon are fir. Orange and fantastic.

It really depends on the context, as well as the design and the product.

For example, I normally do not like maple because it is too ubiquitous, however, I love Sir Terence Conran's Pendine series -- he has made me appreciate the beauty of maple:

http://www.conranusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=591677&cid=Bedroom&language=en-US

Similarly, I am tired of oak -- the horrible '80s oak kitchen cupboards we had in our home, the strip oak flooring with lots of grain. However, I love French oak flooring (and Dutch), and find it amazingly beautiful. For example, the floors in Christiane Lemiuex's loft, or these --

http://www.duchateaufloors.com/chateau-collection/#

Those floors, along with Tom Dixon's Slab table

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/tables-dining-occasional/slab-table-by-tom-dixon-015012

have made me love oak again.

Of course I love walnut (although not how it fades over time), and I love our matte cherry kitchen cabinets (although I think that like oak, cherry has been over-done in the kitchen), and also love exotic hardwoods (as ecologically as I can love them) such as ipé, iroko and wenge.

So really, I couldn't begin to pick a favourite.

You should put an image of the *tree* beside each wood species!!!

My teak dining table has really changed my views on that particular wood--it takes oil so beautifully and when sanded is so silky smooth.

And I'm going to say pine because I love all of the pine floors upstairs in our home--we refinished them with Bioshield and no stain and I couldn't possibly be happier.

our floors.

I have a natural mahogany table that was my grandmother's. 30 years after she had the stain stripped the wood is still beautiful. Though darker than the original color it still isn't that funky black color.

Our favorite furniture wood is Brazilian rosewood (we collect mid century Danish furniture.)

"I have a natural mahogany table that was my grandmother's. 30 years after she had the stain stripped the wood is still beautiful. Though darker than the original color it still isn't that funky black color."

42rocky -
My grandmother's mahogany furniture all turned black - after she died we sent it out for refinishing, but it turned out not to need it: She had waxed the furniture so much over the years that it had built up and turned black.

You poll leaves out the wood species of the pacific northwest - Fir! I have fir floors and they are lovely. Douglas Fir is used everywhere here, and it can be gorgeous, especially left unstained.

It's hard to choose just one, and the survey won't record my vote anyway, so I'd say mine are teak and walnut.

Cherry for it's soft and gorgeous grain and color!

Maple is second for its birds eye markings and mineral streaks.

Oak is too orangey in its natural state, but I like it with a dark stain to show off the texture of the open grain.

I am also really surprised that people like hickory and pine. Those are not considered beautiful woods.
well, hickory if you want a rustic cottage look.

Walnut. The color, grain, strength and durability all go to walnut.

Definitely walnut, if to choose only one option. But I am already in love with eucalyptus wood after seeing this: http://www.v-showroom.com/se/8200500/product/1068765/