Finishing edges of kitchen cabinets

[Rob Diz]

First let me say that I am a long time listener, first time caller . . .

I am in the planning stages of making my own Euro style frameless kitchen cabinets. Plan is that I will make the boxes out of Maple ply, and wipe on three or four coats of a water borne poly on the interior (after they panels are cut to size, but before rabbets, dados are cut). As I see these boxes going together, the joints will be rabbeted, glued with a brad nail or two to help in the process.

That process will not allow me to edge band the boxes until after final carcass assembly. I'm not concerned about applying the edge band, it's the finish I want to plan for.

My wife wants a painted finish with a glaze applied for the doors. I was planning on picking up a conversion HVLP system so i could spray the doors/drawers and exposed panels with the base coat, and then apply a glaze by hand.

As I try to figure out the process (and the time it will take me to accomplish), I was wondering how I would be able to finish the edge banding with the paint. Would I tape off the edges and put in some type of cardboard "filler" into the carcass to prevent any paint getting sprayed on the interior?

Can I spray finish on edgebanding and then apply with an Iron ???

Is there anyother approach that would make more sense - keeping in mind that I don't want to make the boxes with butt joint.

I have Jewitt's Taunton's book as well as Charron's Spray finishing book in the mail, but those books seem to be more about mechanics of the Spray rather than the realities of the jobs.

Thanks for the help!

[Phil Phelps]

From what I understand, you are making and painting boxes. I would forget the veneer edge banding altogether. You would need to band the edge of the rabbet, allowing for the thickness of the veneer, before assembling. I don't thing you'll gain anything. You can sand the edge smooth after assembly and fill with plastic wood, then prime and finish. That edge should look like the rest of the finish. I'd also refrain from finishing the inside until you assemble. You could prime the parts prior to assembly, however, leave of the back while finishing the interior.

[Jay Knoll]

Rob

Just came across your post. It seems to me that if you're going to go the Euro route then the doors are going to overlay the edges of the cabinet boxes to a very significant degree. So much so that the finish doesn't have to match the doors/drawers.

I put in an IKEA kitchen a few years ago, just went out to check the look, the doors are European oak, the interiors are melamine birch finish. I don't notice any difference in the look when the doors are closed.

So, I would edge band and finish the boxes and then put your fancy finish on the doors/drawer fronts.

Keep us posted on the project!

Jay

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Jay.

[Jay Knoll]

Rob

You could also look into buying prefinished maple ply from a cabinet supply house, thus avoiding the need to finish the inside of the boxes entirely.

Jay

[John Hemenway]

As a followup to Jay's post...
There is also pre-finished maple edge banding that matches the pre-finished maple ply.

Really speeds up the case construction when you don't have to do ANY finishing! As a bonus, the finish is really tough...

[Loren Hedahl]

For pre-finishing the inside of your drawers, I have found that a small paint pad works great with water-based coatings.

If you pre-assemble, you can mark the future glue lines with a fine pencil, then when you apply the coating you can leave it off the glue surfaces. Glue sticks better to bare wood than varnish.

With a small paint pad you probably won't even need to mask off the glue surfaces. You can follow a line nicely with one.

Then when you are finished, the short nap is easy to wash out, or if you plan to do some more within a day or two, just put it in a plastic bag to keep the air out. It'll probably work just fine. If not, just replace the pad. They're cheap.