Painted kitchen cabinet

[David Gross]

I’m planning a kitchen remodel, and i’d like to do painted cabinets. I plan to make the boxes out of prefinished veneer plywood (most likely maple or birch), with the painted face in poplar or soft maple. Doors and drawers will all be inset with painted fronts. My question is how to handle the visible end panels of my cabinet boxes. I’d rather not try to paint over prefinished ply, so I’m thinking I would do an applied end panel out of a material more suitable for painting. Would 3/4” MDF be a good choice? Obviously, it paints extremely well. Any other ideas on how to handle the applied ends?

thanks,

Dave
Oakland, CA

[Robert Engel]

MDF would be fine, but you would have to match the interior. You could use MDF glued to the plywood.

Another way is to use veneer.

Personally, I like to make the end panel to match the doors. You can apply a piece of 1/4" ply to the inside to match the rest of the interior.

[Adam Herman]

we made 1/2 in thick panels with 1/4 mdf panels and poplar frames for our ends. Looks great matching the doors. we also returned the toe kicks on the ends.

For clairity, boxes made of prefinish 3/4 and 1/2 ply.

[David Gross]

Thanks, Robert. I like the idea of the end panel matching the doors. For the interior, I was planning to make the entire cabinet boxes out of 3/4" refinished VC ply, so the end panel would not be integrated to the cabinet box, but rather applied to the end, so the ends are essentially 1.5" thick, covered with the face frame.

[David Gross]

Thanks, Adam. I hadn't thought of using 1/2" + 1/4" on the ends. Good idea.

[Jared Sankovich]

Just make the ends wrap, and build them the same as your doors

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[Jim Morgan]

You will save some money using 1s prefinished ply for your boxes, however you decide to make the end treatment.

[Jim Becker]

I used 1/4" MDF for the end panels on my kitchen uppers that were built from pre-finished plywood (for the insides). It's a go-to material for painting, IMHO. Smooth and flat. You certainly could use 3/4" or 1/2" if that is more in line with your design needs.

But building end-panels to match your doors is a very nice idea if you can support the thickness at the end of the run(s).

[Osvaldo Cristo]

More than 25 years ago I made our kitchen cabinets boxes using high quality 3/4" plywood and all fronts raised panel high quality (means no knots) pine. All painted white oil based enamel. Exposed plywood edges were covered with acrylic filler before painting.

They are great even after all those years of abuse!

[Jared Sankovich]

But building end-panels to match your doors is a very nice idea if you can support the thickness at the end of the run(s).

If you are using ply/mdf for the center panel, you can cheat and either apply the panel into a rebate, or just use thinner stock. Its also easiest if you flush the box to the ff with all the offset towards the exterior.

[David Stone (CT)]

Another option: sand off the finish on the exterior face of the pre-finished ply and paint that. That's what I've done with some kitchen cabinets I'm building now which are frameless with full overlay faces. (so applied ends aren't really an option). It will take some minutes and chew up a disc or two as the finish on pre-finished ply is surprisingly tough. But ply pre-finished one side only is not stocked by the suppliers handy to me, so this was easier than special ordering.

[Patrick Walsh]

Single sided pre finished plywood.

[liam c murphy]

I like the idea of doing the end panels the same as the doors. I’ve also done finished end panels with applied molding. I built the box out of maple plywood. The outside corner is mitered. If you’ll have have doors on the front of this cabinet and you plan to use Euro hinges, you might want to consider increasing the width of the outside stile. You’ll need enough room for hinges. I think I used 2.25” or 2.5” stiles in the picture below.

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[Jon Nuckles]

I agree that MDF on the end panels will be smoother than plywood, and that any variation will be more likely to be noticed after painting.

You didn't ask about your choice of materials for the front, but I'd recommend the maple over the poplar. Poplar is soft enough that it will get dinged easily in construction and in use. I used hard maple and still have some dents.