Baltic Birch vs Pre-finished maple ply for kitchen cabinets

[Scott Bernstein]

I am setting out to build a set of cabinets for our kitchen. I plan to do a frameless/Euro-style design with shaker-style doors and drawer fronts. They will be painted. I am leaning towards 3/4" Baltic Birch Plywood for the cases, but also thinking about pre-finished maple plywood. I don't think Baltic Birch, or Apple Ply, are available pre-finished. So if I used BB I would probably use a spray-on lacquer to finish the insides and outsides. The visible sides, edges, and doors/drawer fronts would all be painted white. Structurally and quality-wise I think BB is a better product than "cabinet grade" plywood, but obviously might save me a little time if it comes pre-finished. I will use either BB or solid wood for the drawer boxes.

Second question...solid edge banding or pre-glued edge banding?

Third question...I normally sketch out my furniture projects the old fashioned way - paper & pencil. Should I stick to that or is it worth it to learn SketchUp or some other such software? I suspect that would take an awfully long time...

Scott

[David Stone (CT)]

I built cabinets for my kitchen last year. I used prefinished maple ply for the carcases and would highly recommend that. The factory prefinish saves a lot of time and is more consistent and durable than what I could have achieved spraying myself. The inner cores had few voids and the material was considerably flatter than the Baltic birch I used for the drawers. I used shop-made solid edge banding which I made around 3 mm thick. Milling up the stock, gluing and trimming solid edge banding within the context of a hobby woodworking shop turned out to be lot more work than I'd forecast (especially trimming when the panels are even the slightest bit not flat), and much more than pre-glued edge banding--but I like the idea that it's bombproof. Regardless of which edge banding you use, if it's going on prefinished maple, you'll need to do something to match the amber-ish color. I used shellac, 6 parts clear to 1 part amber, applied with a foam brush, topped by a clear waterborne finish. This was tedious but manageable in the context of one small kitchen and produced a very good match. If I were to do it again, I'd consider tinting the top coat and masking off the prefinished panels, so I could spray the edge banding.

[Jim Becker]

Pre-finished so you don't have to deal with the interior of the boxes. Outsides of the boxes can be dressed as necessary from there.

[Kevin Jenness]

I use prefinished ply, either Garniga or Columbia panels, with 1/4" solid banding. I hate veneer tape for surfaces that will receive wear. If you go with Baltic Birch, Apple Ply or similar you can skip the edgeband.

I wipe a few coats of hard oil on the banding. As long as it is not exposed you don't have to match the color exactly. If you want to spray the banding on prefinished material. you can stack the panels up like stair steps to avoid masking tape.

For one project learning CAD will save you no time, but will pay off down the road, as long as you use it often enough to be efficient.

[David Zaret]

as these guys said, use prefinished material. the past few kitchens i've switched from columbia to garnica, and though i like the look of the columbia a bit more, the garnica is lighter, and much more consistent in thickness. for the edging, i agree that the regular iron-on stuff is thin and annoying - i use 1.5mm banding, no backing or glue. it's solid wood, and very high quality and tough. if you don't have an edge bander, then using solid material is probably your best bet, cut it wide and use a router setup to trim the edge with a bearing cutter. hard oil is a great way to seal the edges, i like to use that, or arm-r-seal wiped on with a staining pad. using a cutlist optimizer will save you time and money on such a large job.

[roger wiegand]

Love prefinished ply for cabinet projects. The time saving is huge (no sanding, yay!) and the quality of the stuff I get is top notch. I use solid edging, I've never found pre-glued edging that stayed stuck. It also gives you more options for detailing the edge. I have applied veneer banding with hot hide glue; that has been stuck for over 40 years now, so I think it's going to hold. Titebond would probably also work, but then you have to clamp.

If your brain is compatible with Sketchup go for it. I spent weeks, full time' trying to learn the program and draw a small table. It still wasn't right after all that time, a multi-day course at the North Bennet Street School, and several long one-on-one tutorials from the expert in drawing wood projects in Sketchup. After all that time and effort I didn't find the 3d drawing to be very useful; it was extremely difficult to use as a construction drawing and the flaws in my initial drawing prevented smooth export of a set of 2d pictures to work from. I have no trouble at all visualizing a 3D object from 2D projections but I know other people can't do that and for them 3D drawing seems to have great value. I'm still using pencil and straightedge; I'd love to find a simple 2D drawing program to make my sketches neater. I think the time saving only begins to happen when you start to be able to re-use components. Most of the time my projects are one-off, so I don't get that benefit.

[Mark Bolton]

Im in the pre-fin columbia pure-bond camp. BB is a foolish material to consider for kitchen cabs. Light your cigars with dollar bills. For the banding, if you dont have access to a serious bander it would be solid wood. Look around and see if you can find a shop to band your parts through their bander. Solid wood banding is also a fools errand but if you have no other option is all you have. If someone will band your parts you wont be able to remove the banding with vise grips.

Spraying box interiors should be left only to jobs where the customer demands a matching interior. You will never spray a clear that will be as tough as a prefinished UV clear. Your main concern is access to a product that is flat and not a potato chip.

[Richard Coers]

Definitely prefinished with 1/8" solid edge banding. I glue on the edge banding and then "clamp" it down with slightly stretched 3M packing tape. Why the quest for stronger material for plain ole kitchen cabinet boxes? I've seen 5/8" particleboard boxes that lasted for decades.

[Kevin Jenness]

To me the advantage of products like BB, Apple Ply or Columbia's Euro Ply in cabinetmaking is the decorative edge with minimal voids. The strength of the panels is not usually that critical. For kitchens the labor savings of prefinished material is key.

[Tom Bain]

Another vote for prefinished ply. The only minor downside about prefinished ply is needing to be more careful during the construction process to keep from scratching the finish. Since this will be cabinet interiors that’s probably even less of a concern.

[Bruce Wrenn]

For boxes, I use 3/4 ply, which I finish while in the flat. Either spray, or pad on Varathane's Diamond Floor Finish (gloss.) For padding, I use one of those edge painting pads. First coat, sand off nibs, then second and third coat, all in the same day.

[Ben Rivel]

So what do you do if you want dark wood cabinets? Can you darken the pre-finished panels or do you just have to work with the shades you can find? Ive never done kitchen cabinets before.

[Mark Bolton]

So what do you do if you want dark wood cabinets? Can you darken the pre-finished panels or do you just have to work with the shades you can find? Ive never done kitchen cabinets before.

If you want dark interiors all bets are off. Your out of the standard box world

[Ben Rivel]

If you want dark interiors all bets are off. Your out of the standard box world

Sorry, I meant exteriors. Maybe Im confused now, it sounded like people were talking about using prefinished ply for the exteriors.

[andy bessette]

Pre-finished for cheap garage cabinets only.