Composite Cabinet Hot Tub vs Wood Cabinet Hot Tub

Composite Cabinet Hot Tub vs Wood Cabinet Hot Tub

I would say that 90% of people who come to Arctic Spas Utah looking to purchase a hot tub, are looking for a composite sided “no maintenance” cabinet. We all love no maintenance! I I give you this comparison from someone who has a Trex no maintenance deck at my home as well as my house has the no maintenance concrete siding. In the hot tub world, I believe that I can give you the non-biased comparison because Arctic Spa offers both a composite cabinet option, as well as a real wood cedar cabinet. So frankly, I really do not care which you choose, it is up to you.

Every other spa manufacture only offers a composite cabinet. Of course, when asked, they will give you every reason not to buy a wood cabinet, obviously because they do not sell them. By endorsing anything other than composite, they are endorsing the only brand that sells a wood cabinet(Arctic Spas), and that’s something they would never want to do.

Let’s take a look at the advantages of each!

Composite Cabinets – They biggest advantage that the composite cabinet offers will be the no maintenance aspect. Many people simple do not want to stain their wood hot tub. It is so much easier to just hose it off when it gets dirty.

Cedar Cabinets – the biggest advantage that a cedar cabinet will offer is the beauty. While you do have to stain the spa (or have our maintenance techs stain it), meaning that it is easy to restore. This beauty can be brought back year after year, making your cabinet look brand new.

Which cabinet will last longer?

Lets look the pros and cons: I truly believe that will both last about the same. I know that sounds crazy but composite cabinets are susceptible to weathering from the heat and the UV. Cedar cabinets are not as much affected by the heat as they are with the UV. Both will fade over time. Composite will fade slower but over time will still fade and there really is no way to restore a composite cabinet. You simply need to replace it but that is really only for aesthetic reasons. However, Cedar cabinets, even if neglected for multiple years, can be sanded down, re-stained, and be restored very to close to the original condition when purchased new.

Years ago, when we all went shopping at the grocery store, there were only paper bags. Then came out the plastic bag invention. The evolution of the grocery bag has now ended up with the question, plastic or paper? For some people, having more renewable, green parts in the hot tub does make a difference. Cedar is vegan, green, vegetarian, renewable, biodegradable and uses less carbon footprint to produce than plastic composite.

Which cabinet should you go with?

That really is another loaded question and definitely a personal preference. The only thing that I can offer is what would I do given the opportunity to purchase either one. My opinion would be to go cedar. The reason why is that as much as it is a place to relax, your hot tub becomes part of your yard. You may be a heavy hot tub user and that means you are in your hot tub for maybe an hour a day. They rest of the time you are in your yard looking at it. Beauty does play a part and in my opinion, it is hard to beat the natural beauty of cedar.

Once again, I hope this helps by answering some questions related to hot tub cabinets and the choice between composite hot tub cabinets and cedar hot tub cabinets.

Happy Hot Tub Shopping!

Christian Staples

Owner- Arctic Spas Utah