Cabinet-Types

Before you buy a wooden cabinet, make sure you know what climate you are putting the wood in. If you are in Florida you would want to get a totally different type of wood than if you lived in California. Very few climates can get away with using cheap pine wood. Pine deteriorates quickly in certain environments.

Depending on the look you want and the longevity, you can get a very high grade wood glued to cheaper plywood underneath. This way, the elements don't affect the wood beneath the high quality exterior wood. But, depending on the climate, you may or may not get away with it. Most cabinets today are water proofed and sealed.

If you want that luxury look for your hot tub, get cedar. But, most people that get cedar don't take care of it after they get out of the habit of caring for it and the cedar starts looking ugly and warped.

Before choosing a wood type, know if you are the type that will have patience and are the type that is going to "groom" the wood regularly.

I would not suggest someone get mahogany if they are lazy doing manual labor to keep up the wood. This wood is the prettiest but gets ruined the quickest, even more than cedar. This wood will fade the first month you get it. Unless you want to stain it all the time and sand it, you are better off with an easier wood to take care of. I would only get the high maintenance, prettier woods if you are keeping them inside the house.

Non-wooden Cabinets

If you are not into the wood, you might like a plastic cabinet.

You don't have to think about maintenance hardly every with a plastic cabinet. The worst complaint that I get on these is that they get sun damaged and fade quickly in the sun. Some warranties cover sun damage and some don't. There are some plastic cabinets that look so close to wood that you can't really tell unless you looked closely. These are the type that usually have warranties on fading. Over half the people who buy hot tubs in the USA buy plastic ones.

The more expensive hot tubs will have "drop-in" cabinets. These are the ones where the hot tub shell rests on a rail and sticks out from the shell's lip.

The cheaper hot tubs and those that are usually the low end models, have the "lip-over" style. This is where the hot tub shell comes over the edge of the cabinet. The lip over models are more durable and don't have to made of the most durable materials. The drop in cabinets, unless they are made of high quality material, can get dented if something heavy bumps into it.

When buying a cabinet, make sure you know how the foam is glued to the shell. It's not fun when you have to pay a high labor expense from a cheaply made hot tub. Many hot tubs have cabinets that cannot be removed because its cheaper to make them like this. You might pay cheaper up front but if you have a leak, it can be much more expensive to fix than a shell that is not permanently glued to the cabinet.

Wood Warpage

If you are choosing a cabinet for your hot tub, make sure it has some protective element added so it won't fade or warp when exposed to UV light and extreme temperatures outside. The plastic like vinyl PVC's will often get all splintery and start to crack under harsh weather. I recommend getting a high grade vinyl so that it will resist rotting and molds.