Published 8 October 2026 · Updated 11 October 2026 · JIYU SDN BHD
IN SHORT
A new-cabinet smell can come from four different places: the board, the glue used to assemble and edge the cabinet, the paint or surface finish, and the hardware and packaging. A formaldehyde grade such as ENF (0.025 mg/m³ or lower under GB/T 39600-2021) describes the board sample only, so ask your maker about the glue and finish separately.
The cabinets are in, the keys are in your hand, and the first thing you notice when you open a door is the smell. It is easy to assume the board is to blame, but a finished cabinet is a stack of materials, and each one can add its own smell. This guide separates the four likely sources, explains what a grade on a test report does and does not cover, and gives you questions to put to your maker in writing.
A cabinet is not one material. It is a board carcass, doors with a surface finish, glue holding the pieces together, strips of edge banding on every cut edge, and hardware and its packaging. Each of these can give off a smell while it is new, and when you open a closed door in a shut-up flat, the smells collect and meet your nose together. That is why one sniff tells you very little about which part is responsible. A useful way to think about it is to split the cabinet into four suspects: the board, the adhesives, the paint or surface coat, and everything else such as foam, packaging and metal parts. Once you have named the suspects, you can ask a separate question about each one, instead of blaming the whole cabinet or accepting a vague promise that it will fade. If the unit has been closed up and other trades are still working, other smells may already be in the air.
It can be. Wood-based panels are bonded with an adhesive, and the adhesive is the main source of formaldehyde in a panel. That is the reason the grade of a board depends so heavily on the glue that was used. JIYU's plywood is bonded with soybean glue rather than urea-formaldehyde glue, which is how the board reaches ENF level. That describes the board's own bonding; it does not tell you which adhesives or finish go on the cabinet. A grade is a measurement taken under set conditions, not a promise that nothing will ever smell. Other materials in the cabinet can add smells that a formaldehyde figure does not describe. If a supplier tells you a board has no smell at all, treat that as a claim to question, because you cannot confirm it from a grade. A better question is which grade the board was tested to, which test method was used, and whether there is a third-party test report you can read.
GB/T 39600-2021 grades panels by how much formaldehyde they release in a 1m³ climate-chamber test: ENF at 0.025 mg/m³ or lower, E0 at 0.050 or lower, and E1 at 0.124 or lower. The key point is what was put in the chamber, which is a sample of the board. It is not your finished kitchen, not your wardrobe and not your room. JIYU's submitted sample tested at 0.022 mg/m³ in report JC26-WT0087, and that figure belongs to the submitted sample, not to every sheet or to a finished cabinet. When glue, edge banding, paint and hardware are added during production, the finished cabinet is a different object from the board that was tested. So a good grade on the board is a sensible first filter, but it does not describe the cabinet as installed. Ask for the report, check which board it covers, and keep the grade where it belongs: as evidence about the board.
These are the parts that a board report cannot speak for. Cabinet makers use adhesives to assemble the carcass, to fix edge banding strips and, in some builds, to bond surfaces. Doors with a sprayed finish bring the smell of paint and thinner while the coat dries. Edge banding strips are glued along the exposed cuts. None of this appears on a board test report, and the maker is the person who knows what was used. The honest position is that a maker who has chosen a particular adhesive or paint should be able to tell you its name. JIYU's test report covers the board only, so ask any maker, including us, to name the adhesive and paint used on the finished cabinet, and judge the answer on whether they can name the materials rather than on a general reassurance.
Put the questions in a message so that the answers are on record. First, which board is used for the carcass, and is there a third-party test report for that board, with the grade and the figure? Second, what adhesive is used for assembly and for edge banding, and is there a product data sheet? Third, if doors are painted or sprayed, which paint system is used? Fourth, who do you report to if a smell is strong on handover day, and what will they do? A maker who answers these plainly is showing you how they work. A maker who replies only that everything is fine has told you nothing you can check. Keep the replies in one place.
Start with the simple things. Open windows and doors so air moves through the unit, and keep the cabinet doors and drawers open for a while after installation so the inside air is not trapped. Remove any plastic wrap, foam and packaging from inside the cabinets, and wipe down the surfaces with a dry cloth. If the unit is still part-way through renovation, other trades such as paint and flooring add their own smells, so the air may feel different once that work finishes. We cannot give you a number of days, because the speed depends on the unit, the weather and what else was installed. If the smell is strong or does not ease, report it to your installer and ask for the materials list from the maker. Keeping a short note of when you noticed it and where it is strongest helps the conversation.
Does an ENF board mean my finished cabinet will have no smell?
No. ENF is a grade for the board's formaldehyde release, set at 0.025 mg/m³ or lower under GB/T 39600-2021, and it is measured on a board sample. The finished cabinet also contains glue, edge banding, paint and hardware, so ask about those separately.
Can I tell which part of the cabinet smells by opening one door?
Not reliably. The board, the glue, the edge banding, the finish and the hardware all sit in the same closed space, so one sniff cannot separate them. Ask the maker which materials were used for each part and take it from there.
Do I need a test report from my cabinet maker?
It is reasonable to ask for the third-party test report for the board, and to check that it covers the board actually used in your cabinets. JIYU's report is JC26-WT0087, which covers a submitted sample of our plywood.
Who should I contact if the smell is strong on handover day?
Tell your installer or the cabinet maker straight away, in writing, with photos or a short note of where the smell is strongest. Ask them for the list of adhesives and finishes used in your cabinets.
How many sheets do you need?
Enter your cabinet size and get a cutting list plus an estimate of 18 mm and 6 mm sheets.
Open the plywood calculator →JIYU SDN BHD is an ENF-grade plywood supplier based in Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia. It also builds built-in cabinetry such as kitchen cabinets and wardrobes for homeowners and installs it with its own team.
Planning kitchen cabinets or wardrobes and want to know exactly which board goes into them? WhatsApp your floor plan or specification to JIYU SDN BHD in Puchong, Selangor, and we will quote from it. Our built-in cabinets are made to size from our ENF-grade plywood and installed by our own team. 18mm and 6mm boards are in stock, board orders ship within 3 days with arrival depending on the courier, and the board carries a 10-year limited warranty on manufacturing defects.
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