Graber shutters compared: wood and composite, the warranty, and a DIY poplar alternative

Updated October 30, 2026

The short version: Graber makes wood and composite shutters and sells them through local dealers, who consult, measure and install. We make one shutter, in solid poplar, that you price online, measure and fit. If you want someone else to own the fit, Graber’s route suits you; if you want to see the price first and do the work yourself, ours does.

Who Graber is

Graber is a window-covering brand with “eight decades of know-how”, by its own description, and its site says it “is a brand and registered trademark of Springs Window Fashions”^[1]. Shutters are a small part of the range: Graber also sells cellular, roller, Roman, solar and woven shades, wood and faux wood blinds, verticals, drapery and motorization^[1]. So when you search for Graber shutters, you’re looking at one category from a company that covers almost every kind of window treatment.

Graber’s two shutter lines, in its own words

• Wood Shutters: “100% North American hardwood”, called “a premium window treatment”, in 2½, 3½ and 4½ in louvers, “hand-crafted in a range of custom styles and colors”, with a Custom Color program^[3]. Graber lists twenty frame styles for wood^[2].
• Composite Shutters: “an engineered material” that “can withstand moisture and high humidity”, aimed at “kitchens, laundry rooms, bathrooms, and other high-humidity spaces”, in the same three louver sizes, with nine frame styles^[4][2].

Across both, Graber says it offers forty panel configurations, a divider rail that splits a shutter into top and bottom sections that move independently, and a split tilt that gives the two-section look without a visible rail^[2].

Graber’s own comparison of its two materials is unusually frank. Wood shutters “do cost slightly more than composite shutters”, and composite shutters generally weigh “a bit more than wood shutters”; composite is largely unaffected by humidity, while wood can warp, crack or twist if it absorbs water^[5]. That matches what we tell people about poplar: it’s lighter and takes paint beautifully, and it doesn’t belong in shower spray. Composite vs wood

Graber and Shutter Boys, side by side

Graber details from its shutter, wood, composite and warranty pages^[2][3][4][6], checked October 30, 2026. Our prices are for poplar, flat moulding, paint stage 1 and 3½ in louvers, before tax and shipping.

How you buy Graber shutters

Graber’s shutter pages lead to a person, not a cart. They link to “Find a Dealer” and “Schedule Consultation”, list a phone number, 1-800-466-2977, and describe working with a Graber expert “from consultation to installation”^[2][3]. Before that, you can order free swatches and try the Graber Visualizer on a photo of your room^[2]. None of the shutter pages we read shows a price^[3][4].

That’s the classic model for shutters, and it has real advantages: someone measures, someone installs, and if a panel doesn’t fit, it’s their problem. The trade-off is that the price arrives after the appointment, and it includes the dealer’s time.

Graber’s warranty, read closely

Graber’s warranty page covers original defects in materials or workmanship “for as long as the original purchaser owns the product”, including “all internal mechanisms, components, and brackets”, with repairs “made with like or similar parts”^[6]. The exclusions are the part worth reading before you buy shutters from anyone:

• “Shipping or labor costs incurred by taking product down, re-measuring, or re-installation”^[6].
• “Discoloration, fading, cracking, shrinking, or stretching caused by long exposure to direct sunlight”^[6].
• “Slight warpage of wood blinds or shutters”, and “excessive warpage caused by high humidity”^[6].
• Products that weren’t properly installed^[6].

Claims go through your Graber dealer, or Springs Window Fashions customer service, with the original sales receipt^[6]. None of that is unusual for window coverings: sun, water and the cost of labor are excluded by most warranties in this business. The useful habit is to keep the receipt and photos of the shutters as fitted, whoever you buy from.

Where Graber is stronger

• A composite option. For a bathroom or laundry room, Graber sells a shutter it describes as able to “withstand moisture and high humidity”^[4]. We only make wood.
• More frame styles, twenty for wood alone, and forty panel configurations^[2].
• Split tilt, a two-section look without a rail^[2].
• Someone else measures and installs, which is worth paying for if you don’t want to.
• One dealer for everything. If you want shutters in some rooms and shades in others, a Graber dealer can quote the lot^[1].

Where we’re different

• You see the price first. A 36 × 48 in window is $320 – $400 in the US, before tax and shipping, and the designer prices every window as you add it. Every size
• No appointment. Design when it suits you; a video or phone design consult is there if you want one.
• One material, chosen on purpose. Every shutter is solid poplar, in any paint colour or stain. Why poplar
• Canada. We ship across Canada except Quebec, priced in Canadian dollars. Graber’s pages don’t describe Canadian sales, and note that “not all product configurations are available in all countries”^[1].

Our shutters are one product: solid American poplar, made to the measurements you take, priced online window by window, and fitted by you. Price your windows

Which suits you

How to compare a Graber quote with ours

Put the same window on both quotes, then check these, line by line:

1. Material. Wood or composite? The two price differently; Graber says so itself^[5].
2. Louver size and frame. Same louver, same frame type; an L-frame and a deeper frame aren’t the same build. Louver sizes
3. Tilt. Front tilt rod, hidden tilt, or split tilt.
4. What’s included. A dealer quote usually includes measuring and installation; ours doesn’t, so add your own time or an installer’s fee.
5. Tax and shipping. Ours are added at checkout; ask the dealer whether theirs are in the total.
6. Warranty. Who it covers, for how long, and whether the finish is covered.

Measure before anyone visits

Even if you plan to buy through a dealer, measuring your own windows first is worth the twenty minutes. It lets you price the same openings with us, so you walk into the consultation knowing roughly what a wood shutter costs for your house, and it shows you which windows need a decision:

• Inside or outside mount. A shutter inside the opening needs enough depth for the frame and for the louvers to tilt without hitting the glass, a crank or a handle. Shallow windows often need an outside mount on the trim.
• Out-of-square openings. Measure the width at the top, middle and bottom, and the height on both sides. The smallest number decides an inside-mount size.
• Doors. A sliding door needs bypass or bifold panels; a French door needs panels on each leaf that clear the handle.

Our measuring guide walks through the five measurements per window. If the dealer’s numbers differ from yours by more than a fraction of an inch, ask why before you sign.

When a shade suits better than any shutter

Shutters are at their best in bedrooms and street-facing windows. A wide slider, a skylight or a wall of glass is often better served by a shade, and Graber sells many of those too^[1]. So does our sister company, Shade Boys: made-to-measure roller shades, cellular shades, zebra blinds and patio door blinds, for you to fit. Mixing the two is normal: shutters where you want privacy and the look of wood, shades where the opening is too big or too wet for a shutter.

Graber and its product names are trademarks of their owners. Shutter Boys isn’t affiliated with Graber or Springs Window Fashions, and this page isn’t endorsed by them. What we say about Graber comes from its own pages, checked October 30, 2026; products, prices and terms change, so check before you buy.