Statistics, trends and forecasts for the U.S. and Canadian cabinetry and countertop industries.

Home Depot, massive plywood, and fractal burning were just a few of the topics that dominated traffic this year at Woodworking Network. Take a look at the year's top nine stories.

The wood components market is inherently tied to the other wood secondary products industries and as such, it also looks to be on a generally upward growth trend. This market encompasses a variety of products, including those used in the cabinetry, furniture, home storage, architectural and millwork industries.

 Overall, the wood and laminate flooring markets continue to increase their share of the floor coverings market as residential and commercial buyers’ preference for these durable and design-oriented products continues to grow. According to Catalina Research, the hardwood flooring market rose 5.9% in 2016, reaching $3.64 billion. Laminate flooring, which faces greater competition from low-cost imports, showed minimal gain last year, less than 1%, to reach $956 million.

Overall, window and door sales are projected to rise 4.8% annually through 2021, driven in part by the strength in new housing activity and commercial building construction, according to the Windows and Doors Market Forecast by The Freedonia Group.

The U.S. closets and home storage organization market is projected to grow 3.5% annually to $10.5 billion in 2019, according to research by The Freedonia Group. Closets and bedrooms continue to bel the most important areas for home organization products, with demand for closet storage outpacing that of other bedroom storage due to greater investment in modular units. Other storage products purchased for the bedroom (not including closets) includes shelves and bins, baskets, and totes.

The architectural woodwork industry should experience improved operating margins in 2017 and into 2018 as business in the commercial and residential markets continues to show signs of strengthening, according to recent surveys by the Architectural Woodwork Institute and American Institute of Architects.

Just ask Amazon and Google, both of whom have ramped up their retail presence with physical stores. The fact is, brick and mortar stores are here to stay. Stay, but not be stagnant. In order to compete with their online counterparts, physical stores are evolving in the services and technology offered, as well as in the style, accessibility and feel/texture of the visual merchandising displays and fixtures used.

Despite a slow start in 2017, the residential furniture industry continues to demonstrate steady signs of improvement, both in solid wood and panel-based products, with the latest year-to-date figures from Smith Leonard’s Furniture Insights showing a 6% gain in new orders over the first eight months of 2016, with shipments up 5%.

North America continues to control the largest piece of the pie when it comes to the global contract furniture market, with consumption of office, education and healthcare furniture estimated at $18.41 billion in 2016, the most recent figures published by BIFMA/IHS Markit.