Opinions on melamine for kitchen cabintets?

[Jeff Monson]

My 1st post so go easy on me, I'm doing my 1st kitchen and its going to be maple construction, face frames and maple raised panel doors, my only real hitch at this point is what to use for carcass material.

I do like the clean look of white melamine but I'm concerned with the durability with moisture.

I can purchase 3/4 maple veneer core plywood for 18$ per sheet more than melamine. so the extra cost of maple ply is only 306.00 over melamine.

I know the maple ply will be more work to finish, so my true question is what do you pro's prefer when cost isnt the issue.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you're a big manufacturer, the bulk of your costs are in materials, so it makes sense to pinch every penny. If you're somebody making one-of-a-kind stuff, material costs are a much smaller part of the total cost. A nice result is that you can easily upgrade your materials choices if you want. Me, I'd go with the maple.

You might look into prefinished maple ply. In my area, pre-finishing adds only $10 or so to the price of a sheet of 3/4 maple ply.

One other issue you might consider is whether the outside of your carcasses is visible. IMHO, melamine might be acceptable inside a cabinet with real wood doors and such. However, if it appears on the outside, it will look plastic next to that nice maple. That is, you'll need to either accept melamine on the exterior, or else make maple end panels to cover the exposed melamine.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I have used melamine for cabinet carcasses lots of times. Maybe it is not the top of the line for "quality' cabinets, but it is quite durable in a cabinet application, and it looks nice on the interior. Every cabinet in my house, whether made by me or the builder, is a melamine carcass. We have lived here 12 years, and have had not one single problem with the cabinet carcasses. I simply use a veneer on any surface that shows to the exterior, like end panels, and the cabinets look and function perfectly well.

[Tom Ruflin]

Jeff,

I used 3/4 melamine for my kitchen cabinets and I think they look and perform great. I was also concerned about moisture so I ran a bead of latex caulk around the inside seams to seal it up, you cannot see the seams at all and it looks great. It is also easy to clean.

[Chris Curry]

Jeff:
While I'm really new too (It's my first month here) let me say welcome and I'm certain that the veterans will make you feel that way.
Now, down to business. I second Tom's suggestion about caulking the inside seams. My mother is forever spilling things, especially under the sink and just a small bead along the bottom edges really has helped. Even if you do decide to use melamine for the carasses (and I don't see any problem with that choice), I would recommend ply for the sink base. In the event of 'disaster' it doesn't bloat as much, as fast as the (particle core) melamine.
Welcome!

Chris

[Glen Gunderson]

Melamine is one of those very useful and innovative products that has been kind of dragged through the mud by being used in cheap cabinets and shelving. Few materials, expecially those as simple and plain as melamine, inherently look "cheap." However, because most people associate the product with poorly made cabinetry, it does tend to have that effect on people and you might want to avoid it. It is kind of sad that a useful product can be given this reputation, but there's not much we can do about that.

If you honestly like the look of it, and don't really care what others may think, I say go for it. Personally, I would never use melamine in cabinets I make myself. This is mostly due what I've mentioned above, but also its weight, the fact that it's particleboard, and the availability of high quality prefinished plywood. The extra cost would mean little to me considering the effort of making the cabinets and the length of time they will last.

[Jamie Buxton]

One more thought.... Melamine is almost always melamine-covered particle board. Particle board sags under load -- for instance, stacks of china or lots of canned goods. Plywood is much better choice for heavily loaded shelves. That is, even if you choose melamine for the carcasses, you should consider maple ply for the shelves.

[Dave Falkenstein]

One more thought.... Melamine is almost always melamine-covered particle board. Particle board sags under load -- for instance, stacks of china or lots of canned goods. Plywood is much better choice for heavily loaded shelves. That is, even if you choose melamine for the carcasses, you should consider maple ply for the shelves.

As I mentioned above, we have melamine carcass cabinets in our home. Not one single shelf has sagged after 12 years of use - and yes we have stoneware and heavy cooking gear and canned goods stored on the shelves. Apparently the shelves in our cabinets are properly made for the span. Plywood shelves will sag too, if they are too wide a span.

One other comment - adjustable shelves in cabinets are way more work than they are useful, IMHO. I cannot remember ever changing the position of the many adjustable shelves in our cabinets. The shelves could have been dadoed into the carcasses and would be even stronger, if you are concerned about them sagging under load.

[Jamie Buxton]

For equal thickness, plywood is stiffer than particle board. That is, it sags less under the same load. Furthermore, particle board takes a set. A loaded plywood shelf will spring back to its original shape when it is unloaded. In contrast, particle board will not. Another way to say the same thing is that particle board has an initial sag under a given load, and then its sag continues to increase over time, whereas a plywood shelf will not.

Yes, it is possible to use almost anything to build a shelf which doesn't sag much. However, it is substantially easier with plywood than particle board.

[Steve Clardy]

Welcome Jeff!!

I myself do not use melamine, as it is on PB substrate.
I use veneer core plywood in all my cabinet.

[George Summers]

How about melamine faced plywood, the best of both worlds.

http://www.lumberproducts.com/Products/Particle%20Boards/melaminehardwoodveneer.htm

George

[Lee DeRaud]

How about melamine faced plywood, the best of both worlds.Leaving aside the core-material controversy, that looks pretty cool. To my mind, the easy-to-clean and brightness attributes make melamine a clear winner for cabinet interiors.

[Steve Cox]

Basically I'll do what the customer wants.;) Having said that, personally, I won't object to any material if it is used properly. Melamine has several advantages over ply. Usually it is brighter which helps vision inside the cabinet. It is easy to clean. It is a more consistent thickness than plywood. If you haven't done too much cabinet work yet wait until you see a sheet of ply change its' thickness by 3/64" along the edge. Plays havoc with dados. Melamine also has several disadvantages. It's heavy, in the shop it's very delicate. The edges are prone to chipping and are very sharp. Some of my worst cuts have come while working with melamine. It is the one place where I break the rule about wearing gloves in the shop. Span distances are reduced with the particle board core as mentioned above. People respomd better to ply cases as PB has such as a bad reputation. If you don't care much what people think and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages go for it.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

How about melamine faced plywood, the best of both worlds.

http://www.lumberproducts.com/Products/Particle%20Boards/melaminehardwoodveneer.htm

George

I too thought that plywood is superior to melamine, but I have since changed my mind. I have cabinets in my kitchen that are approaching 20 years old. They are melamine by Wood Mode, a decent manufacturer of cabinetry. As similar to what Dave said, the cabinet doors, carcass and shelves exhibit no signs of warping, delaminating or bowing. The melamine also offered me an easy to clean surface, and a bright cabinet interior as if I had a light on in there!

I recently visited a moderate to higher end cabinetry retailer for a quote for a job estimate. The father, who owned the business was there for 30 years or more. He showed me two shelves: a warped plywood shelf that wobbled on the shelf pins, and an mdf core shelf that was flat and level. He said that he keeps these shelves in his shop to demonstrate a point on what really defines quality.

On the flip side, if you purchase melamine from Home Depot or Lowes, you are purchasing poor quality stuff. But I can also say the same for some of the cabinet plywoods that I've purchased that had hidden voids, began to delaminate and take a bend when acclimating. The greatest benefit to melamines are: no finishing required, no grain direction to deal with resulting in maximum sheet usage, and relatively inexpensive.

One downside to melamine is that you cannot make dovetail joints on the draws. However, I have found that mechanically fastened joints are no less durable with modern drawer glides. An extreme example of this is the drawers in our coffee room at work which stores all the supplies to make coffee for about 40 people everyday. This drawer has been beatened probably 50 times a day for the last 7 or so years, and it continues to look as good as the day it was installed. It was also made by Mills Pride, the manufacturer of low budget, self-assembled cabinets.

Time are changing. Engineered products and associated hardware are getting better and better. Another example of this is engineered lumber like Truss-Joists, microllam beams, and laminated flooring. There are a lot of folks that will continue to equate plywood construction and dovetails joints as quality. This is reinforced by higher prices for cabinets having these features because they simply cost more to fabricate, and many folks measure quality by money. Chances are, with the modern mindset of many homeowners I deal with, the cabinets will be ripped out way before their useful life ends because there is a new fashion trend in kitchens that is being pushed by HGTV.

-Jeff