Plantation shutters are either made from wood or they are made from something else. The “something else” can be what gets people in trouble.

The best non-wood material is a true solid composite resin material. However, the word composite gets used falsely all the time in this industry with salesman glossing over what they are selling by calling their non-wood shutters ‘composite’ when instead they are something completely different such as vinyl, a sawdust impregnated material, or a veneered panel with a wood-based core.

What they are doing is mis-labelling their non-wood product by using composite as a generic term for anything not wood.

A solid resin composite is the best material on the market for a plantation shutter.

Vinyl, for instance, is not wood, but it’s not composite either, it’s at the lowest rung of quality, vinyl shutters are basically plastic, they are lightweight, often hollow, or sometimes with a wood based filler susceptible to moisture and creating a vinyl/plastic veneer. They lack structural integrity, are known to sag and warp overtime and can only be used in small sized windows due to their lack of structure and rigidity.

Engineered resin composite plantation shutters are solid, with color all the way through the material, you can feel the difference in the weight of them, they are 10% heavier than natural wood. Because there is no wood in them at all so they are both environmentally friendly, and do not warp, swell or crack like wood will, they are perfectly at home in a humid environment so much so they can be installed in kitchens and bathrooms, even inside a shower.

Best of all since their color is through the entire material there is no paint to ever peel or crack or need to repaint them.

A wood core Faux shutter sold as a composite plantation shutter after it gets wet

Faux-wood is probably the most misused term in the industry. Is it wood? Is it not wood? Well, it’s “kinda wood, kinda not …”

‘Faux wood’ just means ‘artificial’ or ‘fake’ but it doesn’t describe the actual material it is made of. It could be vinyl, the lowest quality,or it could be a mixture of plastic and sawdust pulp, which makes it really a worse choice than wood, since you are not getting any of the natural beauty of solid hardwood while at the same time not getting any of the benefits of a solid resin composite being impervious to moisture, warping, cracking or peeling. All you are getting is a cheaper version with worse qualities.