Shop Cabinets

[tim walker]

What is your go-to plywood for shop cabinets? THickness for boxes (3/4 or 1/2). I have been quoted baltic birch 18 mm at $95/sheet at 4'x8' and 5x5 at $77. The 12 mm is $76 for 4x8 and 43 for 5x5. Still waiting on a cost from the lumber yard for Grade A and B plywood. Our local box store has Sandeply for $65 and birch (Columbia forest products)for $83 (3/4 4x8) and $45 and $67 respectively. I have not laid eyes on it, however.

[jack duren]

What’s ever is straight as possible at the big box..

[tim walker]

We have about three large lumberyards in the San Antonio area, wouldnt they have the better ply?

[Michael Dean]

My shop cabinets came used from someone's kitchen remodel. At the time it was cheaper than buying a good grade of plywood. Check your local Facebook, Craigslist, etc. But it you want to build something custom, we all enjoy starting a project with a fresh stack of wood!

[Patty Hann]

Mine also came from Kitchen re-model... only 6 of the wall mounted ones were usable (none of the base cabinets were)
But they were from a friend's remodel so the price was very right ;)

[Jim Becker]

The Radiata pine smooth ply from the 'borg has become my go-to for shop and other utility use. The surfaces are thick with the best surface very smooth with the back not much worse, it cuts cleanly and...I can lift the stuff up onto my cutting table or slider without killing myself. And at under $50 a sheet even last winter, an affordable buy, too.

Now I will admit that all my floor level cabinets, with the exception of the one that lives under the slider's right side table, are Husky tool cabinets and the few wall units I have are the lowest line from Ikea that used to be in the temporary gara-shop. My finishing cabinet is two stacked metal storage cabinets that I got 20 years ago surplus and painted black (to match the Husky stuff on the other side of the room) when I moved into the new shop. So in a way, I'm with others that have indicated using surplus/used/reclaimed cabinets is a good way to outfit a shop if they will work for the need. Even cabinet boxes that were originally with doors can be easily converted to drawers which is often a lot more useful.

[mike stenson]

We have about three large lumberyards in the San Antonio area, wouldnt they have the better ply?

I went to my local lumberyard and asked what they had for shop cabs, ended up getting multiple sheets of 18mm premcore for a screaming deal. They had some damage.

[Daniel O'Neill]

I'm also in the camp of used kitchen cabinets. Mine are 1950s era all built as long sections with a couple of one off cabinets. The price to speed ratio is good. The kitchen sink hole.... not so much. :rolleyes: That said all future base cabinets will be on wheels and built in the shop. When the time comes to build it sounds like Jim has a good idea.

[jack duren]

What is your go-to plywood for shop cabinets? THickness for boxes (3/4 or 1/2). I have been quoted baltic birch 18 mm at $95/sheet at 4'x8' and 5x5 at $77. The 12 mm is $76 for 4x8 and 43 for 5x5. Still waiting on a cost from the lumber yard for Grade A and B plywood. Our local box store has Sandeply for $65 and birch (Columbia forest products)for $83 (3/4 4x8) and $45 and $67 respectively. I have not laid eyes on it, however.


Do you have a Menards?

[tim walker]

No, I wish we had a Menards.

[jack duren]

I tried kitchen cabinets for shop cabinets. I never cared for them..

[tim walker]

So for shop cabinets, toe kicks or no toe kicks? I am building a variation of Jay Bates miter station and he did not have toe kicks but then he only had 9” of flat countertop available so that may be why

[jack duren]

You’ll want toe kicks

[Daniel O'Neill]

Do you have a Menards? Is there something worthwhile at Menards as to shop cabinets? I have a bunch of credit to use. :D

[jack duren]

The had some $68 light weight plywood. I bought a bunch and then there was none. But I thinks it’s back on the shelf.

[jack duren]

They may have stopped selling it..

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Before the Ukraine war, I used Baltic Birch. Now I have been using American birch and poplar core. It’s not so much the wood as it is the core quality- it needs to be very solid with no voids. Your price on Baltic Birch is pretty good for today’s market.

For sure you want toe kicks- you’ll be standing at the machine.

[Mark Wedel]

When I made mine ~4 years ago, I used 3/4 baltic birch. But at the time, it was only like 20% more expensive than 'furniture' grade at home depot, and given the amount of time I was going to take to actually make the cabinets, spending a bit more on better material seemed a worthwhile trade off.

I only made upper cabinets - beneath them I have a couple of workbenches, or other garage items (washer/dryer, water softener, etc).

I did make my upper cabinets a little deeper (16") than normal. I had been used my old kitchen cabinets (12" depth) before - aside from not many, there were also some odd shapes, but from those, I also learned that things like a circular saw don't fit quite as well in 12" (has to be sideways) where as with 16", it fits front to back. But by workbenches are also 30" wide (normal kitchen counters are ~24"), so 16" depth cabinets still keeps to the width being about half the width of benches underneath. And for other stuff, is of course 25% more storage space.

[mike stenson]

Yes on the to kicks. I really prefer a ledger strip in back and adjustable feet when installing on concrete. Especially if there's there chance of it becoming wet.

[Paul F Franklin]

How are you planning to finish them? Pre-finished ply can save a lot of time if you are ok with natural finish. Around here, Menards has reasonable UV pre-finished birch for around $85 per sheet. Suppliers near you may have something similar.