Okoume Plywood for Kitchen Cabinets??

[Eddie Johnston]

Hi all, I just bought a foreclosure with the kitchen cabinets ripped out, so I need to build some cabinets. Kitchen is going to be an L shape with 18' x 14' lengths. Originally, I was going to go with 3/4" prefinished Maple for the carcasses, but it's around $60 a sheet. However, I have an opportunity to get my hands on 1/2" Okoume plywood for $8 for a full 4x8 sheet. Since I'm going to need upwards of 20 sheets, this could save a pretty penny.

What do you guys think? Anyone work with Okoume?

[Scott Vincent]

I used it for the carcass of cabinets. It depends on the grade of Okume. Ive seen some that looked like potato chips. If the finish is good you could use it. Although its only 1/2 inch. I think you need 3/4 for strength at least on some parts. Some more experienced guys will chime in. At $8 Id buy a bunch for shop stuff if nothing else.

[Jim Becker]

Is it flat? Is it relatively void-free? Is it smooth and something you'll want to see on the interior of your cabinets? There is generally a good reason why cabinet grade plywood costs what it does. $60 for pre-finished 3/4" maple is actually a pretty incredible price...I pay more than that for 1/2" poplar cabinet grade unfinished... ;)

As to thickness, I've pretty much moved to 1/2" high quality ply for carcasses and find it to be more than strong enough for the job. It's also a lot easier to lift...

[Mac McQuinn]

1/2" Okoume Grade ply at $8.00 a sheet? Seems like a givaway price to me. I've used a lot of Marine grade Okoume and liked it alot. Is this Marine grade material? BS1098 certification? If it is I'd buy all i could get my hands on at this price.;)

Mac

[frank shic]

1/2" ply is fine for cabinets. have you ever seen a returned kitchen cabinet at home depot? 3/8" thick!

[Peter Quinn]

I'm paying close to $80 a sheet for prefinished A-2 maple, so $60 seems like a fine deal, even if its B-2. Frankly who cares for cabinet interiors except with glass doors. The only Okume ply I have seen was marine grade and had lots of plys, it was beautiful stuff and stupid expensive, pushing $200 per sheet for 1/2" IIR. Not sure how this relates to what you are looking at. I find 1/2" material to be a bit thin for my tastes for carcass construction, though at that price you could afford to laminate two pieces to 1" for some partitions for stiffness and still be ahead. Ever use 1" plywood? Now that is stiff.

I'd want to know exactly what I was buying and what shape its in because $8 per sheet for dumpster fodder is still too much if it turns out to be junk.

[sean m. titmas]

I use pre/fin maple or birch at $35 but at $8 for Okoume i would go for it . your faceframe will give you the stability and strength to overcome any issues with the 1/2" ply.

[Eddie Johnston]

Thanks for the help everyone.
I got to experience the lovely L.A. morning commute & drove to L.A. this morning to check it out. Real nice lady but the wood was in bad shape. Ended up being 3/4 thick, but the veener was paper thin, chipped and in general lousy shape. Definitely not cabinet grade and not what was in the picture. Not even sure it was Okoume because it looks more like luan. I still ended up buying 10 sheets to have in the shop for whatever. She only charged me $7 a sheet.
She has a huge stack, well over 200 more sheets. Check out craigslist and search for Okoume Plywood in Vernon.