kitchen cabinet construction using pre finished plywood.

[eugene thomas]

I am planing on building my kitchen cabinets next year for my house, normally i would use unfinished plywood but planing to make kitchen cabinets out of cherry with maple or birtch cabinet bodys. in my quest top save time figured that finished plywood would be way to go. not sure about how to fasten them together though. usually would use dados and then glue face frames on but not sure with the finished plywood what would be best way to go. any pointers would be helpful.

thanks eugene

[George Bokros]

Pocket screws, Sommerfeld tongue & groove system

George

[David Hawxhurst]

the edges of the plywood aren't finished so you can attach the face frames with just about any method you want. i like to use dominos or some sort spline in a groove.

[Al Bacon]

I use Pocket Screws for the box and Face Frames and then conventional construction for the doors. The Pocket Screws do not show in the finished cabinet. If you have an exposed end you can use a frame and panel for it.

Al Bacon

[Matt Kestenbaum]

Another vote fore wide use of pocket screws. My personal method is to dado the bottom to the sides, pocket screw the drawer divider in, pocket-screw the face frame together and then pocket screw it right to the case. Tongue and dado the toe-kick together and then pocket screw it to the case bottom. You can shoot nails (or screw) in the top-strapping into rabbets on sides.

Pre-finished plywood is definitely your friend! Unless you have a spray booth or are painting cabinets, I think that using this material saves a 25-35% of the time it takes to make them.

[Jeff Heil]

I did my kitchen, bathroom vanities, and laundry room boxes in refinished birch plywood. Also had some large (32" and 36" wide) drawers and used the pre-finished ply for the bottoms for strength. It was a pleasure to work with and very durable. I would not think about doing it with unfinished plywood if I had to do it over again. Even if you are set up for spraying finish, the refinished stuff is pretty durable and easier than spraying inside a box. I think I went through over 2000 pocket screws for my face frames and box construction on my kitchen. Pocket screws are perfect for cabinet construction and allowed me to pull the clamps off right away and start the next unit.

[Larry Edgerton]

Don't be afraid of prefinished. I use it exclusively these days. I can not finish the inside of a cabinet for the 18 dollar difference a sheet. I never use pocket screws.

Larry

[George Bokros]

Do most lumber suppliers carry prefinished plywood? I have never inquired about it nor seen it anywhere.

[David Hawxhurst]

lumber suppliers may not stock it but they can usally order it. i have a hard time finding it near me. closest place that can get it near me is ~30mi or so.

[Jamie Buxton]

One issue with prefinished is how to edgeband it. Edgebanding is unavoidable -- for instance on shelf edges. Edgebanding with solid lumber glued with real wood glue gives you the problem of finishing the banding in a way that matches the sheen and color of the prefinished, and doing it without getting finish on the prefinishing. Edgeing with iron-on "wood grain" vinyl is fast, but then you're looking at vinyl, which isn't good IMHO. And it doesn't match the prefinished. And the durability of the iron-on adhesive isn't great either; the edges of the tape fray.

[Larry Edgerton]

Every prefinished ply I have used is a Matte finish, easy to match.

For edging I use solid wood with a shallow 3/4 rabbit in the back and I prefinish it before it goes on. Same with face frames, they are fit on splines and pulled off and prefinished.

I don't use edgebanding so I have not had to deal with that.

Larry

[Rick Potter]

Some may not agree, but I use prefinished birch for the insides, and rather than banding the edges of interior shelves, I used a 1/4" thick piece of red oak, stained to match the red oak outsides of the cabinet.

The wife likes it.

Rick Potter

[William C Rogers]

Somerfield's tongue and groove and pocket screws for the face frame. It is a very strong cabinet and you can build any size you want with Somerfield's method.

[George Bokros]

Is prefinished plywood finished on only one side? My gut tells me yes.

Thanks

George

[Ethan Melad]

You can get prefinished 1 side or 2, in my experience 2S is actually more common. The only place i have used 1S is 1/4" for drawer bottoms/cab backs.

[Peter Quinn]

Use prefinished just as you would unfinished, no need to change your methods. Its a joy to not have to finish. If using dado construction you loose a minute amount of glue surface to the finished face in the dado, not anything to worry about. They sell prefinished iron on edge banding that matches the plywood, its easy enough to use for low traffic quick shelving. For heavily used shelving I prefer solid wood, I usually glue wood on and flush trim then either spray lacquer or use a wipe on satin poly, minwax is pretty close to the color of most refinished maple. Key here is not to over think this. Kitchen cabs, even nice ones, are not works of art headed for an installation at the MoMA…they are hard working boxes, the shelves spend most of there lives in dark and are typically covered in stuff, so typically the last and only person to hyper analyze the shelf to edging color match is the person making them. Close IMO is close enough. I'll gladly trade a decent but not perfect looking shelf edge for the convenience of having all the interiors finished with a tougher thing than most of us can realistically spray in a small shop. Worst case you could buy a sheet of unfinished just for shelves and spray just those.

I prefer 2 sided prefinished because it stays flatter. Some use one sided if they are going to glue boxes together, i just use urethane glue to glue the pre-finished together.

[Ruhi Arslan]

... Some use one sided if they are going to glue boxes together, ....
Why would there be a need to glue the boxes together?

[Loren Woirhaye]

I've used biscuits and screws for prefinished ply (and melamine) cabinet builds. I use confirmat screws now, but haven't built any cases in prefinished ply since I got the machine. Use any joint you like except a glued butt joint. Face frame cabinets are forgiving. It's nice to get a tiny step down (like the thickness of the veneer or 1/32"- so if it goes off alignement, it's flush, not shy) from the deck to the face frame at the bottom so they are easy to clean though. Pay careful attention to alignment there. I'd say pocket screws are the easiest way to get this little detail right. You can flex the ply with one hand and drive the screw with the other. There are pocket screw face frame clamps that assist too and I recommend getting one or two. Then you can flex the deck, clamp to one side, clamp the other side, and drive the screw in the middle and it will come out almost exactly where you want it.

For a bigger reveal, edgeband the bottom edge first and then the step can be as big as you want without exposing plies.

[eugene thomas]

lot of good input. i am going to make the drawers for sure out of maple and pocket screw face frames together and glue them on like would for any other cabinet. now jsut need to figure best way to transition from maple or birch to cherry on exsposed areas of cabinets mean ends of uppers and lowers.

[Mike Herman]

I have been very happy with the Sommerfeld tongue and groove system. No pocket holes to cover up or work around. Its self aligning. You don't need to worry about the glue not sticking to the prefinished part because you machine off material to make the tongue. As far as the shelves go you could use the prefinished stuff for the carcasses. Then use unfinished for the shelves. That way you don't have to worry about damaging the finish when sanding your edge banding

[Rick Potter]

Eugene,

To do the end panels, I put the pre-finished flush with the inside of the face frames, and built raised panel ends out of oak on the outside of the ends (double wall on ends).

Rick Potter

[Biff Phillips]

When assembling a plywood carcass now, I finish the pieces before assembly (thus, it is much like just buying prefinished plywood).

I like to use fixed shelves, so I will do one of the following:

1. 1/4" dado in the sides, rabbet the end of the shelves to 1/4" thick.. Then glue carcass together with cauls. I later add a face frame and back, so the whole assembly is strong. No nail holes or screws visible on the side.

2. Simliar method, but domino the sides in. I cut the domino slots in the carcass sides about .03" thicker than 5 mm on a CNC, this allows a little bit loser fit for easier assembly. The slots on the carcass side are also wider than the domino to allow front to back alignment. Then glue face frame on, nail back on.

The best advantage I have found for finishing before assembly is that there's no need to worry about glue seeping out and making a blotch when you finish later. Also, it's a lot easier to finish a bunch of flat pieces as opposed to an assembled unit. You just need to get some cheap shelving for a "drying rack" so all the plywood pieces can dry.
Prefinished ply would have simliar advantages. I like to finish my own so all the color matches through out the piece.