Material suggestions for painted cabinets in laundry room

[Bob Cooper]

I’ve build cabinets for my house and they’ve always been stain grade raised panel ones. So I’m used to iron on edge banding, pre-finished plywood and hardwood face frames.

My son has asked if I could build him some painted cabinets for his laundry room. So now I’m wondering about materials.

For example. Should I used malamine for the case sides and mdf for the doors? What about the edges of the shelves, etc

Any suggestions are welcome

[Richard Coers]

That would be one way to make very heavy cabinets. I'm still a plywood and soft maple door frames with 1/4" plywood inserts. But I'm getting old enough I don't want to carry in heavy sheets of particle board and especially MDF.

[Bob Cooper]

That is true and I don’t really love mdf but I’ve read that it finishes really well for painted doors. My default would be to use normal plywood and poplar but I’m curious what others that routinely build painted cabinets use.

[Jamie Buxton]

I'd avoid MDF near water. It turns into mush if it gets wet. My standard materials for painted cabinets is maple or birch plywood, and poplar where I need solid lumber. I edgeband with solid lumber about an eighth thick, glued on with titebond; I don't like iron-on veneer tape. For a laundry room, I'd probably do simple slab doors, and euro-style casework. That would mean the poplar only gets used for edgebanding.

[Frank Pratt]

If you go MDF, use a water resistant type such as Medex

[johnny means]

I would use waterproof MDF. It's much less work and produces a perfectly acceptable product. It also had a nice solid, weighty feel.

[Jim Becker]

I use prefinished plywood (finished side inside the cabinets). If you buy quality material from a real plywood supplier, the other side is very paintable or you can put a 1/4" MDF panel on the ends for a perfectly smooth paintable surface before putting edging on the fronts to hide the plywood edges (Euro style) or installing face frames if that's your choice. My kitchen cabinets were built this way. If you want the white melamine type surface on the inside, you can use that material, too, but you want to use proper fasteners for putting the cases together since melamine is almost always a particle board type product.

Keep in mind that melamine covered particle board is heavy stuff, especially if it's ~.75" thickness

[Bob Cooper]

Ok I think I’ll stick with prefinished plywood for the boxes. Now if he wants stile and rail doors with flat 1/4” panels...would you used poplar for the stiles and rails and mdf for then panel or all mdf?

[David Zaret]

prefinished is the way to go. for the doors, around water, i prefer soft maple to poplar. poplar is really, really bad when it gets wet.

[Bryan Hunt]

I would stay away from Poplar for rails and stiles. When you paint Poplar, the grain can print through the paint. I used Poplar for my bathroom cabinets and it's not horrible, but when I do my kitchen cabinets, I'm going with soft Maple.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I would use 3/4" Baltic Birch for the Boxes (pre-finished if you like, or just spray it white is what I would do) and Poplar for the rails and stiles. With a a good sanding, primer, and a couple coats of paint, I've never had a bleed through problem at all.

[Mel Fulks]

Melamine is so dog gone heavy. I consider poplar several steps up from it. Not really sure what the problem was that
Bryan experienced. It's my favorite for painting. I do think that it's best to use "bark side " of wood for fronts. It's possible
that some poplar used "wrong side out" might show some raised uneven grain.

[Jim Becker]

I would stay away from Poplar for rails and stiles. When you paint Poplar, the grain can print through the paint. I used Poplar for my bathroom cabinets and it's not horrible, but when I do my kitchen cabinets, I'm going with soft Maple.
My kitchen cabinets have tulip poplar rails/stiles including the face frames. I did not have any issue like you describe. (this was also air dried material off our property, not that it matters) That said, soft maple is similarly priced and a little more durable and smooth, so it's a good suggestion.

[Bob Cooper]

For doors and drawer fronts. If my son says that just flush slabs are fine — no rails or stiles — would you still go with poplar/maple or a sheet good like mdf? I’d still like to put a profile on it so plywood doesn’t make sense to me

[Peter Kelly]

Melamine clad flakeboard for the boxes, painted MDF for the doors. Transport the cabinets in pieces and assemble on-site.

[Marc Fenneuff]

I've made cabinets for my kitchen in two phases. First was 3/4" birch ply carcasses, second was 3/4" melamine. I vote for melamine all the way - just skin the ends that show with the plywood of your choice.

I can see the attraction of the pre-finished plywood though. That takes it to another level. But we love how bright and maintenance-free the insides of the melamine cabinets are.

[Jim Dwight]

I have used melamine but probably will not again. Particle board is a little stronger than MDF but still much weaker than plywood. I built a floor to ceiling cabinet in my bathroom out of the pine plywood HD gets about $30/sheet for. I used a good blocking primer and have had no issues. Finish is white tinted Resisthane. I would use this anytime versus particle board (with or without melamine) or MDF. Stronger, lighter, and easier to join.

I don't know if I've ever made a slab door. MDF is probably adequate but is you route an edge you will have to do something to stabilize the profile. It will suck up huge quantities of primer. Flat panel doors are so easy I'd probably try and talk them into them. Maple, poplar, and even softwood work well for the rails and stiles and plywood or mdf works well for the panel (in this case the edges will be in the grooves so not an issue).

[Mel Fulks]

I like the Ultralite mdf. And I remember when a big percentage of new homes had painted plywood cabinets with router
rounded edges. Filling and sanding the edges gave a popular "this is the way we do all of 'em" look.

[Frank Pratt]

Ultralite MDF would be a disaster for kitchen cabinets. It soaks up moisture with a vengeance, swells, and gets soft. The edges are also far more fragile. Easily damage & the core of the MDF just turns to fluff. Even standard MDF, though heavier, would be a better choice. Water resistant is even way better, though it's a little more expensive.

[Mel Fulks]

Ultralite MDF would be a disaster for kitchen cabinets. It soaks up moisture with a vengeance, swells, and gets soft. The edges are also far more fragile. Easily damage & the core of the MDF just turns to fluff. Even standard MDF, though heavier, would be a better choice. Water resistant is even way better, though it's a little more expensive.
I have not seen those problems. Seemed to me the core was more uniform ,not having as much fuzziness as the
standard type. But it's been over 10 years since I used either. We all have different picks for most important qualitys
The people who make laminate glue say it will last 5 or 10 years before it starts to let go. There are better ways to glue
laminate ...but few buyers ask about it and I have never heard of a salesman suggesting them.