Cedar Crate Co is an independent online shop for cedar and solid-wood goods for the home. We sell the useful, unglamorous things that a house actually runs on: kitchen boards and utensils, storage crates and boxes, bath accessories, planters and garden pieces, and gift sets built from all of the above. We are based in Portland, Oregon, and we ship to customers across the United States.

Why Cedar

Cedar is the reason this shop exists. It is light for its strength, naturally resistant to moisture and to the insects that ruin stored linens, and it holds a scent that does not need to be faked with fragrance. A cedar box keeps a drawer smelling clean for years. A cedar planter survives a wet season outdoors that would swell and split a softer board. And unlike plastic, it improves rather than degrades with age: a little sanding and a wipe of food-safe oil brings a well-used board back to life.

We also work in other solid hardwoods where they simply do the job better, including acacia, beech, and walnut for cutting surfaces that take a knife edge kindly. What we do not do is particleboard with a printed wood-grain film, hollow-core panels, or anything glued together to be thrown away in two years.

How We Choose What to Sell

Every item in the shop has to clear four tests before we list it.

  • Solid material. Real wood throughout, not a veneer over composite. If a piece uses a laminated panel for stability, we say so on the product page.
  • Honest construction. Joints that are cut and glued properly, hardware that can be replaced, finishes that are food-safe where food will touch them.
  • It earns its shelf space. We would rather stock one excellent bread box than six mediocre ones. Our range is deliberately narrow.
  • Repairable. A product should be fixable with sandpaper, oil, and a screwdriver. Anything that has to be binned when one part fails does not make the cut.

Wood Is Not Uniform, and That Is the Point

Because our goods are cut from real boards, no two are identical. Grain runs differently. Knots land in different places. Color tone varies between a piece cut from heartwood and one cut nearer the sapwood, and the same board will darken or mellow over its first year in your kitchen. Photographs on our product pages show a representative item, not the exact one you will receive.

We think this is a feature, and we would rather explain it clearly up front than have you open the box expecting a perfect factory match. Genuine defects, such as a split, a crack, or a broken joint, are a different matter entirely and are covered fully by our returns policy.

Caring for Your Pieces

Almost everything we sell lasts far longer with three simple habits: wash by hand rather than in a dishwasher, dry standing on edge so air reaches both faces, and re-oil with a food-safe mineral or cutting-board oil when the surface starts to look dry and pale. Keep untreated wood out of prolonged standing water and away from direct heat. Cedar storage pieces need no treatment at all; if the scent fades after a few years, a light sanding of the inside brings it straight back.

Care notes ship with the products that need them, and we are always happy to answer a care question by email even years after a purchase.

How We Work With Customers

We are a small team, and we answer our own support email rather than outsourcing it. That shapes how we do business:

  • Clear pricing. Free standard shipping on orders of $49 or more, a flat $6.95 below that, and no surprise fees added after checkout.
  • 30 days to change your mind, with a plain-English returns policy that states exactly who pays return postage in each situation.
  • Fast, written answers. Support enquiries are answered within one business day, Monday to Friday.
  • No dark patterns. No fake countdown timers, no invented “only 2 left” warnings, no pre-ticked upsells at checkout.

Sustainability

Wood is one of the few materials that is genuinely renewable, but only if it is sourced responsibly, so we prioritise suppliers who can document the origin of their timber. We ship in recyclable cardboard with paper void-fill rather than plastic pillows, and we do not shrink-wrap products that do not need protecting. Where offcuts are unavoidable in production, we look for partners who use them for smaller items rather than sending them to waste.

Get in Touch

Questions about a product, an order, or a return are all welcome at support@cedarcrateco.shop, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time. Our office and warehouse address is 2035 NW Wilson Street, Suite 4, Portland, OR 97210, United States. The shop itself is online only at cedarcrateco.shop.