Stickers to cover cabinet screws?

[grwold]

The contractor we hired to do our kitchen remodel has used wood-grain stickers to cover the heads of the mounting screws.  Is this a common practice in the profession?  I have to admit, I'd not heard of it before seeing him do it.

In the two corner cabinets with glass doors, he painted those wood-grain stickers to match the interior color using the cabinetry touch-up paint. (These cabinets' interiors are color-matched to the exterior).  Cheaper than buying a whole sheet in the proper color, eh?

[DieselDennis]

I have seen the stickers before.

I'm bewildered that he's actually taking the time to do it.

I guess if it showed through a glass door, then maybe so. Maybe other people pay more attention to the inside of cabinets than I do.

[Cooler]

I've seen kits that include a choice of plastic plugs or stickers. 

The plugs require a special drill bit.  The stickers do not. 

Did he attempt to match the grain direction?

[Cooler]

I have seen the stickers before.  

I'm bewildered that he's actually taking the time to do it.  

I guess if it showed through a glass door, then maybe so.  Maybe other people pay more attention to the inside of cabinets than I do.

When I was a picture framer, it seemed that 1 out of every three customers would examine the back of the frame first.  

It became apparent that the customers associated a neatly applied dust cover, neatly coiled framing wire and little rubber bumpers at the bottom as the earmarks of someone who cared about the workmanship that went into the job. 

I think the same will hold true for cabinets.  The plugs and stickers serve very little function, but like the dust cover on the back of a picture frame, it shows care in the installation. 

By the way, the backs of my picture frames were always the best in the industry.  It took a total of 5 extra minutes to do, and it pleased a good number of customers.

[museumguy]

Actually, we do it quite a lot. About 90% of our commercial work is white melamine interiors. The lazy installers just place a sticker over the countersunk screw. I personally prefer to use a Fastcap counterbore tool. FlushMount Drill Bit System - FastCap In my opinion, it looks neater to have to sticker flush with the surface.

[grwold]

Thanks for the input, guys.  It feels better to know this wasn't just something he'd adopted.


Cooler, the stickers he chose are similar to the wood grain inside the regular cabinets, but no, they certainly don't match. Here are a few examples.

   

   

     

   

Here's one of the painted stickers, in a cabinet with a glass door.

   

I'm going to remove that one, as I don't think the screw's properly countersunk.  Once I get it in there, I'll either leave it exposed or maybe use wood putty then touch-up paint.

Here, he seems to have been trying to find the studs, on the exposed skirt of the cabinet.  I wouldn't let him sticker here.  Instead, I've got some veneer from a broken cabinet that I'll apply across the entire width, after the backsplash goes in.

   

I'm not concerned about the doors being out of alignment.  These cabinets use good Blum hinges & slides, so I'll be adjusting them shortly.

[MT Woodworker]

What I do not like about the use of stickers, is they will eventually come off.
Do it right with the correct tool, and then the proper cap to cover the screw.

[FS7]

I believe the last time I bought woodgrain stickers with the intent of covering screws was probably ten years ago or more. Even then I never used them. I will use the stickers that come with $30 particle board shelving from Target that I throw in my closet, but in terms of cabinets I will leave screws exposed inside. If they are to sit flush, I will countersink and stain (if necessary). Otherwise, a clean screw needs no hiding.

[Cabinet Monkey]

The industry standard is no cover.

Fast Caps are not available in “custom colors” unless you want to commission an entire run of them - tens of thousands.  Not really practical even for luxury kitchens. 

Yours don’t match because the wrong species was selected. Looks like he used oak amd you have maple or birch interiors. Hard to tell from here on my phone. 

Anything will eventually come off /out.  Even filler custom painted.

If you don’t want to see the screw holes or caps/covers  - there are techniques to eliminate them.  It’s expensive and time consuming though.

[Cooler]

I use finish washers.  I think it makes a tidy appearance.  There are also countersunk finish washers, but they represent an extra step and are very pricy compared to regular finish washers.