Crisp white paint coat & full back panel but no instructions with the Ice White Shaker from BOC! 

With the Ice White Shaker, we see a traditional five-piece Shaker style door (Picture 1) and a middle panel composed of a combination of both hardwood as well as a high-density fibreboard (HDF). The HDF will resist expanding and shrinking situated between the hardwood rails and stiles but the material itself is of a lower-quality make than hardwoods such as birch and maple. Birchwood is the chosen material we find with the cabinet’s frame, and the frame itself is built strong, with clean cuts and smooth joints where the different parts of the wood come together

One of the major positive outcomes from packaging the cabinet’s face, door, and drawer face separate from the heavy components of the unit is that they remain protected from the threat of scraping or scratching by the heavier pieces of the unit. With no visible scrapes, wood grains, or seams where the joints meet, the separate packaging appears to be successful in keeping the face of the cabinet in pristine condition. There are no

Unique to the Ice White Shaker from Best Online Cabinets is the laminate sheeting covering the interior and exterior of the cabinet’s panels. There are a few places where the laminate finish is chipping away off the plywood at the edges of the panel, and it appears this occurs very easily. Fortunately, most of these demarcations cannot be seen once the panels are assembled (Picture 6). The biggest issue we found with the interior paint is

Composed of a seven-layer pressed plywood that is quality in nature, the side, bottom, and back panels measure 1/2 an inch in width (Pictures 8, 9, and 10). This is thinner than the industry standard 5/8 inches thick, and as a result, the panels, unfortunately, have a slight warping to them that increases the difficulty in fitting them into place onto the cabinet’s frame while holding the hardware in place (Picture 11).

The result of the warping in these thin panels is that there are slight gaps between the cabinet frame and the panel; these gaps can be closed, but doing so with only one set of hands will prove rather difficult. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the Ice White Shaker’s cabinet box is the exterior laminate finish over the frameless back panel (Picture 12). Typically we see a picture-frame back panel measuring at least 5/8 inches thick, but the picture-frame

With solid hardwood composing 5/8 inch thick side, back, and front panels, the drawer box of the Ice White Shaker is among the higher quality boxes we have reviewed (Picture 13). The bottom panel is 3/8 inches thick, which meets the industry standard precedent set in the shaker arena (Picture 14). The bottom panel slide into place in tongue-in-grooves between the side panels and front panel. A drawback of the drawer box is that the front panel requires assembly to the drawer box face, but to be noted is that there are penciled marks indicating where the

A deep drawer box is a key feature when determining the storage capacity of a cabinet. Typically, we see an industry standard drawer box depth measuring right around 3 inches deep, sometimes just shy of that and other drawers just over that depth. As with the other drawer boxes we have assembled and reviewed from Best Online Cabinets, the Ice White Shaker exhibits a depth of 3 1/4 inches (Picture 17). This depth, coupled with the full-extension nature of the drawer box glides (Picture 18) is impressive for the fact that it allows more items to be stored within the contents of the drawer and, thus, prevents it from catching on the frame of the cabinet when opening and closing this key component of the unit.

Another positive characteristic concerning the storage abilities of White Shaker units is the length of the shelf in the cabinet’s box. Ideally, a shelf will reach the full body of the shelf’s box from the back panel to the front of the unit where the frame is attached to the side panels. As with each other unit we have assembled from Best Online Cabinets, the Ice White Shaker has a full-body box shelf measuring 22 and 5/8 inches in length, 3/4 of an inch in thickness, and is finished on three sides (Pictures 19, 20, and 21).

Medium quality soft-close hinges are packed with the rest of the hardware of the Ice White Shaker (Picture 22). “Onus” is the name brand shown on the hinges and these require mounting to both the door as well as the frame of the unit. Pilot holes and borings make this assembly a very straightforward process, but the time it requires to mount the hinges still adds onto the overall clock when installing a full kitchen of units. Most disappointing about these hinges is that they fail to fully slow down the door for a proper “soft-close.” The door, if it weren’t for the pads on the inside top and bottom corners, would repeatedly slam against the frame of the Ice White Shaker until eventually, irreparable damage is done to the cabinet’s face. So while these are still considered soft-close hinges, they are not as effective as the Taiming or DTC brand hinges we have mounted onto doors and frames in past cabinets reviewed on RTA Cabinet Reviews.

Industry standard drawer slides, complete with full-extension glides and soft-close capabilities, are what we find with the Ice White Shaker (Picture 23). We don’t see a name brand anywhere on these drawer slides, but they are a quality build and perform with the same ability as past glides we have utilized in the past. The small plastic hydraulics found in the glides are effective in catching the drawer box and easing it into place without damaging the frame. So, while they may not be BLUM-grade hardware, we classify them just below the top tier quality in this category.

A unique and interesting assortment of connecting hardware maintains the structure of the Ice White Shaker from Best Online Cabinets. For the first time, we find brass cleats used rather than aluminum or metal cleats finished to match the cabinet’s interior finish (Picture 24). The brass cleats hold together the basic structure of the side panels to the back panel and the cabinet frame, with 3/4 inch wood screws being used as the main element in strengthening the body of the unit. There are no pilot holes on the ends of the side panels to guide these wood screws into place properly, but if you carefully hold the back panel and toe kick in place while guiding the wood screws through there should be no issue in properly aligning the wood pieces.

Hard plastic drawer glide anchors attach to the back panel and support the weight of not only the glides but the entire assembled wood box (Picture 25). These anchors, which snap into place in specified pilot holes, are more than capable of bearing the weight of a full drawer box in comparison to the flimsy off-white plastic anchors we’ve seen used with other white shaker cabinets. Wood blocks are the final stabilizing component found in each corner add a further layer of support to the overall integrity of the Ice White Shaker (Picture 26). Wood screws hold these solid wood blocks in place.

As mentioned earlier, the packaging of the Ice White Shaker from best Online Cabinets is extremely unique in that it arrives with two separate parcels: a smaller one containing the cabinet door, frame, and drawer box face and another with the panels, drawer box, and hardware. Only once before we have seen this method of packaging, the Best Online Cabinet’s White Shaker, and the success in protecting the parts

Again, we see single corrugated cardboard surrounding the exterior of the unit, arriving as a two-piece shell stapled together at the bottom and top with packing tape sealing the seams along the edges (Picture 27). Within the second parcel, we find the side panels surrounding the base and top of the unit while between these two largest components the bulk of the Ice White Shaker’s pieces are organized (Picture 28). There are no hard

Along with the larger panels and drawer box, the hardware is found encased in this larger cardboard parcel. The drawer slides, anchors, and plastic clips are protected in a long single corrugated cardboard box while the cleats, wood blocks, hinges, and wood screws are separated between three small plastic Ziploc bags (Picture 31). This division of hardware assists greatly in keeping the smaller items separated and organized, making them accessible for a relatively quick and painless assembly.

As we mentioned earlier, the brass cleats are held in place to keep the side panels attached to the front cabinet face and the full-frame back panel. While these cleats don’t do much in terms of holding together the structural integrity of the unit, they hold the box in place until wood screws can be tacked into place. The wood screws don’t have the benefit of pre-drilled pilot holes to guide them into place and properly bite into the back panel, but it is not too challenging to estimate the right location toward the edge of the side panel where the perpendicular back panel is visible (Picture 32). Two wood screws on either side panel are more than enough to give the Ice White Shaker the necessary strength to support the weight of a loaded countertop.

Once all the wood screws are in place along the back edges of both side panels, the toe kick can be held in place and fixed to the bottom of the unit (Picture 33). Toe-kicks are often overlooked for their contribution to the overall structural integrity of a cabinet; the toe kick of the Ice White Shaker exponentially improves the stability of the unit and adds a key foundation to the cabinet box. The only other obstacle in assembling this cabinet is properly aligning the front panel of the drawer box to the drawer box face (Picture 34). As you can see, penciled lines indicate

The Onus hinges are much easier to attach: pre-drilled borings and pilot holes ensure correct placement of the hinges on the door (Picture 35). Once the hinges are fastened to the door, they can be held in place and tacked to the frame of the cabinet (Picture 36). Half-inch screws or shorter are optimal for attaching the hinges to the frame, as the wood will split if the screws are too long or they simply won’t go in all the way.

Best Online Cabinets delivers a mixed bag of a unit with the Ice White Shaker. Sifting through the positive and negative attributes of this cabinet in order to provide a breakdown of the unit, we find a number of impressive characteristics:

• Separated single-corrugated cardboard box containing the cabinet’s frame, door, and drawer box face
• An even, thick paint and finish across all surfaces on the cabinet’s face
• A quality drawer box, with nice dovetailing, thick boards, and hardwood panels composing the walls
• A full-length shelf that utilizes the available space in the box for storage
• Organized packaging that keeps the hardware separated in plastic bags

The negative features that struck us as we assembled this unit are the following:

• Weak interior laminate finish that easily chips away and falls off
• Drawer box face that requires assembling to the front panel of the box
• No pilot holes on the side panels to guide the wood screws through and into the back panel of the cabinet box
• Hinges that aren’t effective in slowing the door down before it hits the frame
• No instructions included guiding along the assembly process

The Ice White Shaker from Best Online Cabinets offers a medium-quality cabinet in terms of composition and build, with a high-quality and traditional Shaker aesthetic. The paint and finish have been well preserved due to the dual packaging method, although it does increase the difficulty in handling the cabinet. With no instructions, the assembly can be confusing at times, especially when deciding which hardware belongs to which panels. Speaking to the quality and look of the unit, we strongly feel our score adequately fits the clean appearance and challenges presented by the lack of pilot holes and indicators for the front panel of the drawer box. Recommended for those with time and patience!