Cabinet drawer materials?

[Mark Rios]

What material should be used to make drawer sides on nice quality cabinets? Solid hardwood matching the face frame? Particle board? hardwood plywood? 2 or 4 drawers (out of 7 or 9) will be 10" deep or so.

Thanks very much for your advice.

[Anthony Anderson]

I use either baltic birch ply and band the top edge (or not) or I use poplar. Thickness of the sides and front and back depends on the application. HTH, Bill

[Carl Eyman]

I've made some pretty nice kitchen cabinet drawers that way, but never had a bunch of luck dovetailing them. The BB chips out a lot. However, I've had pretty good luck with these corner locking router joints, I'll look up the product numbers at MLCS if anyone needs me to.

[Steve Clardy]

I buy pre-made drawer material in 8' lenghts.
Maple covered ply, pre finished.

[Michael Gabbay]

I'd go with poplar. It looks nice with you put a clear finish on it and you don't have to worry about the look of edge of the ply showing.

[Julio Navarro]

From where?

[Steve Clardy]

From where?

Me? Baer Supply. I'll dig out the #

[Frank Pellow]

Recently, I have made quite few (about 25) drawers using 12mm (just under 1/2 inch) balic birch. I jointed then with pocket hole screws. I edged a few of them on the top but most of then were just sanded then painted with white oil-based paint (3 coats). All the drawers have false fronts.

[Anthony Anderson]

Recently, I have made quaite few (about 25) drawers using 12mm (just under 1/2 inch) balic birch. I jointed then with pocket hole screws. I edged a few of them on the top but most of then were just sanded then painted with white oil-based paint (3 coats). All the drawers have false fronts.

Frank what are the drawers used for? I have been considering trying this method to build drawers for my workbench. Do you think these joints would be strong enough for this application? Thanks In Advance, Bill

[Mark Singer]

For furniture quality I use maple and hand dovetail. Otherwise I have been getting premade, grooved and banded drawer sides and I use my Kreg jig

[Frank Pellow]

Frank what are the drawers used for? I have been considering trying this method to build drawers for my workbench. Do you think these joints would be strong enough for this application? Thanks In Advance, Bill
They were several different places and diffeernt sizes:

-3 for a cabinet in my daughters bathroom. Approximately 12 inches deep, 30 inches long, and 14 inches wide.

-2 for a cabinet in our bathroom. Approximately 14 inches deep, 18 inches long, and 16 inches wide.

-6 for our kitchen. 4 approximately 12 inches deep, 20 inches long, and 14 inches wide. 2 approximately 12 inches deep, 20 inches long, and 24 inches wide.

-1 for a bedside table. Approximately 6 inches deep, 26 inches long, and 18 inches wide.

-12 for a library "bookcase" unit. Approximately 4 inches deep, 12 inches long, and 12 inches wide.

-3 within one of my workbenches. 1 approximately 12 inches deep, 20 inches long, and 26 inches wide. 2 approximately 12 inches deep, 20 inches long, and 12 inches wide.

I am confident that the drawers are strong enough. And, as you can see, I am using three of them in my workbench. There are a lot of heavy tools in the largest drwer in my bench.

[Rob Blaustein]

Mark's question is one I am interested in as well. So in general, there is no need to match the drawers with the rest of the cabinet? For example, is it typical to have darker cabinet material--say cherry or walnut, and lighter drawer sides, say maple?

[Steve Clardy]

Whatever preference I'd say. I use mostly all maple.

[Anthony Anderson]

Mark's question is one I am interested in as well. So in general, there is no need to match the drawers with the rest of the cabinet? For example, is it typical to have darker cabinet material--say cherry or walnut, and lighter drawer sides, say maple?

Rob, Depends on what you like, what your customer prefers, or what style you are building in. If it is for yourself, build what appeals to your tastes. Maple is nice to work with, but is about twice the cost of poplar. BB is easy to work with. I have not had the chipping/tearing out problem that others have mentioned. I take my time, play with the router speed settings, and backcut the face before cutting the dovetail. The key is to be patient. Buy BB from a reputable supplier vs. a big box store. I noticed the other day that our BB store is carrying BB, I wouldn't bet on the quality on anything that matters. I would like to try hand cut dovetails someday, as Mark mentioned, but up to this point I have only used a jig. HTH, Bill

[Rob Blaustein]

Thanks Anthony. I'm a little confused about BB and applyply and the other multilayer plys. Does Baltic Birch typically have a maple veneer, or is it generally available with a wide choice? Whenever I see it for sale they never seem to specify, so I thought maybe maple was the default. If so, is the birch used on the inside?

[Frank Pellow]

I have never seen baltic birch with a an outer layer that is other than birch.

[William Bachtel]

I use Quartersawn Sycamore for drawer sides and ply for the bottoms, but thats because I have lots of it.

[William Bachtel]

I use Quartersawn Sycamore for the side and ply for the bottoms, but thats because I have lots of it.

[Matt Tawes]

Hey Rob,

BB uses Bich veneer and Appleply as some call it is generally Maple veneer and the key difference is that BB has more ply layers and is more stable than Appleply.

As for drawers, I make all of mine from either solid Poplar for average grade pieces of furniture and Soft Maple for higher value pieces and kitchen cabinets. The difference in price from Poplar to soft maple is generally about .30 a BF. On occasion I've used BB or Appleply in the 1/2" thickness for drawers but prefer solid wood when you figure up the avg. cost anyway of the ply (especially BB, vs. solid).

[Anthony Anderson]

Thanks Anthony. I'm a little confused about BB and applyply and the other multilayer plys. Does Baltic Birch typically have a maple veneer, or is it generally available with a wide choice? Whenever I see it for sale they never seem to specify, so I thought maybe maple was the default. If so, is the birch used on the inside?

Hey Rob, I have never used Apple Ply. I think Mark Singer has though. I found this site that will help. http://www.statesind.com/prod/consumer_2b2.html


Good Luck, Bill

[Jim Becker]

Most of my drawers are poplar or maple. I generally don't use plywood for this outside of the shop...and even there I prefer solid stock.

[Bob Cooper]

i just finished wrestling with the same question. I went with Ash. I found it locally very very cheap and it's super hard and nice to work with. I'm dovetailing everything using the PC dovetail jig.

(to see a picture (though not good) see my recent post)

[Mark J Bachler]

I use a lot of Baltic Birch for drawers & pull out shelves. I score it on the SW315 scoring blade & then dovetail it so it doesn't chip out. I do have a LOT of skip dressed oak & maple that I've been getting for nothing from a local mill but I just haven't had time to plane it down to 1/2" yet. Sounds like a good summer job for a high schooler.

[John Lucas]

Appleply is great. Same layering as baltic birch but availbel in 4 x 8 sheets. My problem is that the local distributor can order but in 10 sheet or greater bundles. Sometimes he has some stock on hand. ALways worth a call. Otherwise I use 1/2" maple that I plane down.
I would never use pocket screws here. Dovetails of drawer lock bit but I dont like the latter all that much.

[Andrew Shaber]

A good alternative between pocket screws etc and half blind dovetails would be sliding dovetails. It should be pretty strong (much stronger than the bradded drawers in typical cheap production cabinets) and quick and easy to cut.