Anyone know where to find this dry erase board for inside a cabinet off the shelf?

[Matt Meiser]

We saw a pantry cabinet (I thought KraftMaid) at Home Depot that had a magnetic steel dry erase board inside the door. I want to do the same. It was just a piece of enameled or powder coated sheet metal and therefore was very thin so it doesn't interfere with the rollouts. And being magnetic, a magnetic eraser/marker holder stays right on it.

Plan B is to cut a piece of sheet metal, debur the edges and drill the holes, and take it to be powder coated. I'm guessing if I can find a supplier for them, it will be cheaper to just buy one off the shelf.

I tried Google, but all I can find are 1,000,001 how to's on painting your doors with chalkboard paint or mounting melamine.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

:confused:

I must be missing something. I find "Dry erase paint" all over.

[Jamie Buxton]

Why powder coat it? Dry erase markers should work on bare metal.

[Matt Meiser]

I wouldn't want bare steel as it would rust over time and stainless, while it would look cool, wouldn't be magnetic. I talked to a powder coater this morning and he doesnt' recommend powder coating either as it will scratch over time from the eraser. He gave me a number for a company that does a ceramic finish he said might work but they are out of town so now its starting to sound really expensive.

[Jamie Buxton]

I wouldn't want bare steel as it would rust over time..

I have bare steel on plane bodies and screwdriver shafts and chisels and kitchen knives. They're all attracted to magnets, and they haven't rusted.

[Matt Meiser]

True, but those aren't mild steel. The piece I have sitting in my shop that I was considering using for this has some rust spots despite not having a rust problem with tools.

[scott vroom]

Matt, why can't you just use a standard hardboard dry erase board and glue a eraser/marker holder to the door?

[Matt Meiser]

Something like that would be plan B2. We'd lose the ability to stick some of the business card magnets we have on the fridge on there. We just liked this approach. I kind of assumed when we saw it that if one of the cabinet companies was doing it, it was something relatively available but its not looking that way.

[Bob Vavricka]

Matt,
I Googled "metal dry erase board" and got a bunch of hits. Walmart has some inexpensive magnetic boards, painted steel - http://www.walmart.com/ip/15151883?adid=22222222227006867820&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=13690316350&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem and Uline has some that look a little on the expensive side-porcelain - http://www.uline.com/BL_3402/Magnetic-Dry-Erase-Boards The Container Store lists some as stainless steel magnetic dry erase boards.

[Matt Meiser]

Yes, found the ones with frames. What I'm talking about was just a flat piece of steel, maybe 16ga or 18ga with a coating, probably porcelain. I have found some places that sell "frameless" ones which appear to be a very thin steel over some kind of plastic or foam so I don't think they will meet my needs. I found something really close, but the manufacturer didn't list dealers and was in Europe. And it came in min 3x4 pieces. The Container Store ones have promise judging from the poor pictures--I'll be checking those out next time I'm in Columbus.

I might just have to go to Home Depot and see if I can order what we saw as a part from the mfg. Wish I could remember who it was!

Hmm...I wonder if I could laminate a piece of mild steel and thin stainless with contact cement and achieve a cool looking stainless one?

[Mel Fulks]

How about a piece of an old stove or other appliance?

[Matt Meiser]

Aha...finally found a picture...

[Matt Meiser]

That might work Mel. I think I could plasma cut it with minimal damage to the finish and just cover the edge with something.

[Trevor Howard]

Matt, not sure how expensive you want to go, but you could get some Dry Erase Vinyl and stick it over the steel. You may be able to find a smaller cheaper piece than here http://www.signwarehouse.com/p-VS-HX-DW829B-2411.html
Good Luck

[Mark Blum]

Matt, in the cabinets I'm currently building for my kitchen I will be inserting a magnetic dry-erase panel similar to your plan, except mine will be facing out. My plan is to paint a piece of flat sheet metal with a paint color similar to my cabinet stain and then coat it with transparent dry-erase film. This will give me a magnetic dry-erase board that does not stand out too much from the rest of the cabinets (my cabinets will be light in color).

I then plan to laminate the metal panel with a sheet of plywood stained to match the cabinets and the whole panel will be removable. That way if I ever decide I'd rather have the dry-erase panel on the inside I can just flip the panel and the outside will now match the rest of the cabinet panels.

Here is an example of the dry-erase film I planned on using.
http://www.dryeraseplus.com/

[Matt Meiser]

Mark, that looks like it would work great. It could probably even be applied to my piece of sheetmetal for really good magnet performance.

[Larry Browning]

I don't know, maybe my standards are a bit lower, but I have found that plain old white gloss masonite, found just about everywhere in 4x8 sheets for less than $20 work great for white boards. You might have to thumb thru the stack to find one with fewer scratches, but for the price it's worth it. I have one in my office right now that I made a frame for 20 years ago. I think it cleans easier than those $100+ fancy boards that the company buys. It comes in 1/8 thickness that could be glued to a piece of sheet metal.
Maybe you could use a piece of glossy white formica. It is thin enough that if it were glued to a piece of sheet metal a magnet would stick to it pretty well .

Just my 2 cents.

[ray hampton]

you can buy stainless steel that are magnetic but I not sure if they made it into sheet , if you paint a sheet metal , do it need to be black paint ?

[Brent DenHartog]

I agree with Mel. Appliance case was my first thought. Then remembered that dishwasher front panels are interchangeable. Googled dishwasher front panel replacement and found multiples for <$15.

[Philip Rodriquez]

Hi Matt,

I can get 4x8 1/4" sheets of dry-erase board at my local sheet-goods supplier. IIRC, I think they run about $14.99 a sheet. Have you checked with your local supplier?

[Lee Schierer]

Matt her's a couple of links I found looking for Magnetic dry erase boards.

Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=1069312)

Free Shipping (http://www.flex-a-chart.com/dry-erase-whiteboards-sales-landing-page?gclid=CO2-h4H0tbICFYTd4AodbAgA0g)

Depend upon the size you want the prices aren't too bad.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I have one, and got it at Staples, an office supply store. It had a frame that I tossed out. It's just a sheet of white metal now.

[Matt Meiser]

I'll have to check Staples out in person. I bought one once and made a new frame for an easel. It was super-thin sheetmetal over a foam core.

[johnny means]

I've made dry erase/magnetic surfaces by laminating vertical grade laminate on to sheets of steel. Pretty common practice in the retail fixture world.

[rick carpenter]

You may want to look at Office Depot too.

[M. Dale Rockett]

Try diamondlifegear.com. I got a 24" x72" panel cut into 2 11" x72" pieces. The charge $1 per cut. High quality.

[James Conrad]

Lowes and Home Cheezepo sell metal backsplash painted white (and other colors), mostly used for on the wall behind stoves, but should work for what you need. Just needs to be cut to your specs.