Drawer bottom material?

[Cameron Reddy]

I'm making new doors and drawers for our kitchen. I'm at the stage where I have to get drawer bottoms made, and I'm trying to decide if I want to wimp out and buy Baltic birch plywood or use solid wood.

I've got nine drawers to make. Everything else is solid in these drawers and doors.

What do you guys use? Most of you go with ½" bottoms?

Cameron Reddy

[Van Huskey]

Why not meet in the middle with 1/2" hardwood ply. Just match the veneer species with what you are using. It would give you the matching asthetic you want with cost and time savings.

[Ramsey Ramco]

In most situations i use 1/4" birch, if the drawer is more than 18" wide I then use 1/2" Baltic birch. if you do choose to go with solid wood bottoms let me know how that goes, I always assumed solid wood would expand and contract too much, I like my dados pretty tight, Good luck either way

[Cameron Reddy]

Ramsey,

I'll orient the grain running from side to side so that the movement will be front to back. Then I'll extend the drawer bottom out the back a little and secure it with a screw in a slot that will let the wood move.

[Mark Woodmark]

Plywood would be a better choice than solid wood, it is more stable. The more plys the better

[Cameron Reddy]

Van, what source do you use for your ply?

[Chip Lindley]

For easily cleaned kitchen/bath drawer bottoms, I have used 1/8" hardboard with another thickness of 1/8" white (or almond) epoxy-covered, tempered hardboard, meant for shower surrounds. It's cheap, cleans up easily and does not stain; great to preclude ugly drawer bottoms after a few years of service. Wood or plywood bottoms must be finished to prevent eventual ruination, which adds an extra step.

On a few jobs I've gone really fancy with drawer bottoms and used high pressure laminate over 1/4" ply to compliment the countertops.

[Tom Lowry]

I've been using 5mm Luan. I daddo 3/8 up from the bottom so if a drawer gets very wide, I resaw a piece of pine to 3/8 thick and glue it to the luan, front to back on the bottom side as a stiffener.

[Mike Henderson]

The only reason our ancestors used solid wood for drawer bottoms was that they didn't have plywood or MDF. Many people line their kitchen drawer bottoms so really nice plywood (special hardwood) may be a waste. I'd use birch plywood. I've also used melamine faced MDF with very good success.

Mike

[Erik Christensen]

I do 1/2" ply on all my drawers no matter what size. I do not care about the loss of 1/4" height in smaller drawers vs having a common setup for all - one dado width, common offset for 1st dovetail, etc. I have an HVLP sprayer and shot 2-3 coats of clear water poly on all my drawer boxes no matter how the drawer front is finished so cleanup is not an issue.

I think the biggest advantage of a ply bottom is that you can glue it in place so you have a very rigid drawer box that much stronger as a unit and resists racking in use.

[Karl Brogger]

I use 1/4" Baltic Birch, with the grain orientated front to back.

Solid would be a giant waste of material and time for kitchen cabinets. For some special piece of furniture, I'd entertain the idea, but only if I wanted a tounge and groove, or beads or something.

1/2" anything can be difficult to hide if you are building dovetail drawers. Unless you're doing something other than half blind-1/2", there just isn't enough room.

[Glen Butler]

I use 1/4" Baltic Birch, with the grain orientated front to back.


Is there a reason you do front to back? I run side to side, because I feet it is more pleasing to the eye. Is there better stiffness one direction than the other?

Side note. I use 1/4 on all my drawers. If the drawer is oversize I glue a 1/2" x 1" stiffeners in the bottom.

[Karl Brogger]

Just for looks. My kitchen cabinets at home, (which I didn't do), has the grain running side to side, looks odd to me, especially after doing a few thousand of them in the shop going front to back.


If you're cutting out of a 4'x8' sheat then you will also waste less if the grain is going side to side. I buy 1/4" in 5'x5' so, no difference in usage.

[Glen Butler]

Thats funny you didn't do your own kitchen. Was it before you started cabinetry?

[Karl Brogger]

Thats funny you didn't do your own kitchen. Was it before you started cabinetry?

I'm insanely lazy. I bought a model home a few years ago, whats in it works for now, and I don't feel like dropping probably $10k in material/harware/finishing to re-do it. Its got box cabinets, *shudder*, but they're decent quality. I figure other than some pride I will get zero return on it when I sell the house, where as if I go bonkers on my still unfinished basement I will see a return on that when it is done.

I have drawn up plans though......

[Tom Lowry]

I'm insanely lazy. I bought a model home a few years ago, whats in it works for now, and I don't feel like dropping probably $10k in material/harware/finishing to re-do it. Its got box cabinets, *shudder*, but they're decent quality. I figure other than some pride I will get zero return on it when I sell the house, where as if I go bonkers on my still unfinished basement I will see a return on that when it is done.

I have drawn up plans though......

I went the opposite route. Wife wanted a total kitchen remod so I decided to do all the cabinets myself. That kept a couple $k in my pocked for some shop tool upgrades. I don't do this kind of work for a living so it gives me justifiable shop time. :D

[Kevin Groenke]

I often use a 1/4" 5ply birch plywood that is sold as an underlayment at the M-BORG (basically baltic birch, but not labeled as such). I usually run the grain whichever direction is longer for purely aesthetic reasons. Solid wood bottoms are overkill for kitchen cabinets (that coming from a guy who hand-dovetailed an entire kitchen of drawers). 1/2" is overkill too unless you're storing food service sized cans and kitchen-aid mixers in all the drawers.

-kg

[Van Huskey]

Van, what source do you use for your ply?


Unless it is an unusual species (you didn't mention) you just need to go where the local cabinet makers get theirs. My source is about 1,500 miles from you. :(

[Matt Meiser]

Cameron, Both Toledo Plywood and Kencraft in Toledo have 5x5 1/4" baltic birch readily available. I've also used some 4x8 from Menards with good success.

[Joe Chritz]

Not that it makes one difference with plywood or MDF core veneer but traditonally grain would be running side to side with solid wood panels. That would allow for movement without exploding the drawer box.

That said I tend to run all my pieces the same direction and that is front to back grain direction. Obviously if I use 1/4" MDF core melamine for bottoms direction doesn't matter.

Also, I use 1/4 material for bottoms except for a few special drawers, mostly wide pantry drawers that will hold a lot of items.

Joe

[James Biddle]

Cameron, I agree with those that recommend plywood. An advantage not mentioned is that you can glue the bottoms into the sides and it makes for a really strong box, necessary for a kitchen. All the boxes for my bathroom project use 1/4" ply and its plenty strong for that. But, if I were to build drawers for my kitchen, I'd use 1/2" for the weight associated with those drawers. What wood are the cabinets? For only nine drawers, I might be able to locate a spare matching sheet or two of 1/4" or 1/2" for you. If nothing else, I can order what you want from All America Plywood and have it delivered.

[Rob Sack]

What about using pre-finished birch plywood such as Appleply or an equivalent? It is available in 1/4" and 1/2" thicknesses. The factory applied finish over maple veneer is extremely durable and easy to clean.

[Paul Hingco]

I've only made a few but I use pre-finished maple 1/4" ply.