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Thread: Looking for Advice on Kitchen Cabinet/Closet Plywood

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
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    Tennessee
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    63
    A couple of other options to consider is just prefinished maple or birch plywood to save that labor and time. I get it for around $90-100 a sheet but its worth every penny. It is a B-2 grade. Since your doing white another option is called a white cabinet liner. similar to laminate but a very nice plywood. Around 100-120 a sheet for me. Or maybe find a good supplier and get a quote for having a better grade finished. It sounds like you would be using quite a bit maybe.
    "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door!"

  2. #32
    For selection the best I know of is Wurth. The closest to me is in Charlotte and also sells some hardwood. They are very easy to work with but clearly selling a lot more to people who use a lot more than I do. But they treat me great when I go there. I would tell them you are looking for cheaper options.

    I built a floor to ceiling cabinet that is painted white for my bathroom out of "radiatta" pine plywood from Home Depot. It is cheap and has thick face veneers. One side is clear, the other side is not but most sheets have no pieces missing despite the knots. I used my favorite "resisthane" white tinted finish and the compatible spray primer. It is stain blocking and I have had zero bleed through of knots. I had to sand pretty well with 220 after priming and may have even used two primer coats, I don't remember. But the cabinet came out great and has stayed that way for several years know. Resisthane is a quite durable finish and rated for kitchen cabinets. Easy to spray with my Fuji mini mite 3. I visited the Wurth website and noted they carry this plywood too. For a bargain option, I don't think you can beat it. I don't think it would look great clear finished for the cabinet interiors but only because it is obviously rotary cut pine.

    I would not use MDF under any circumstances for cabinets in my house. I hate working with it, it sags way to easily, swells if it gets a tiny amount of water on it, etc. I made cabinets for the basement of my last house out of melamine. They were durable but I would much rather work with plywood. You have to remove the melamine to get a good glue joint and it is noticably heavier than plywood. But it is hugely preferable to MDF for me.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    SW Michigan
    Posts
    668
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Dwight View Post
    For selection the best I know of is Wurth. The closest to me is in Charlotte and also sells some hardwood. They are very easy to work with but clearly selling a lot more to people who use a lot more than I do. But they treat me great when I go there. I would tell them you are looking for cheaper options.

    I built a floor to ceiling cabinet that is painted white for my bathroom out of "radiatta" pine plywood from Home Depot. It is cheap and has thick face veneers. One side is clear, the other side is not but most sheets have no pieces missing despite the knots. I used my favorite "resisthane" white tinted finish and the compatible spray primer. It is stain blocking and I have had zero bleed through of knots. I had to sand pretty well with 220 after priming and may have even used two primer coats, I don't remember. But the cabinet came out great and has stayed that way for several years know. Resisthane is a quite durable finish and rated for kitchen cabinets. Easy to spray with my Fuji mini mite 3. I visited the Wurth website and noted they carry this plywood too. For a bargain option, I don't think you can beat it. I don't think it would look great clear finished for the cabinet interiors but only because it is obviously rotary cut pine.

    I would not use MDF under any circumstances for cabinets in my house. I hate working with it, it sags way to easily, swells if it gets a tiny amount of water on it, etc. I made cabinets for the basement of my last house out of melamine. They were durable but I would much rather work with plywood. You have to remove the melamine to get a good glue joint and it is noticably heavier than plywood. But it is hugely preferable to MDF for me.
    I used HD Radiatta Pine ply and 1X's for some shop cabs and I agree with you. It is nice stuff especially at the price point. A little fuzzy when routing and sanding, but nothing that does not clean up.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    SW Michigan
    Posts
    668
    Quote Originally Posted by roger wiegand View Post
    Did you read my post? the veneer on the last stuff I bought from HD was 0.01" thick (think two sheets of typewriter paper). When a water-borne finish was applied to it it buckled and split over the voids, some of which measured up to 3" in diameter. You would have to be blind not to see them.
    I just mic'ed the last batch I bought about 6 days ago and it had a face ply thickness of .023 on the best side. There are voids but the Columbia brand maple and birch I used last had very manageable voids and accepted finish fine without telegraphing through the finish. Maybe I just got lucky on the times I've used HD ply, but for the cost, and until it produces unacceptable results, I will continue to save $$ by using it. Perhaps different parts of the country get different offerings at their respective HD.

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
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    Several years ago, the quality of plywood in Lowes, and Home Depot was noticeably better than it has been lately.

    Richmond is where I go, when I need something better than I can find in the box stores. There are all sorts of cool suppliers in the area to the East of the Science Museum, near the ball park. It's an hour, and a half away though, so I get by, as good as I can, from Lowes, and Home Depot. It's about to the point that it would be worth the extra hour, one way, drive.

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,675
    Julie, it really depends upon your local home center store and what they get in and how they store it. Mine doesn't have any sheet stock that I would normally consider for woodworking projects and they don't take very good care of inventory. My local independent lumber yard does store things well, but other than BB, most of the veneer product is import with very thin top layers. For the same or less money, Industrial Plywood, one of several "real" sheet goods suppliers in this geography has really good quality, North American produced product...and they deliver for free with a $300 order. No commercial status required.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
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    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
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    Here's a picture of some that came from Lowes, 6 to 8 years ago. It's for a box in the Puppy Room. Varnished with no prep, other than sanding between coats. That was the last of the good Birch plywood from box stores.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  8. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Josh Baldwin View Post
    Hey Bruce I'm in Richmond VA. So are there different types of melamine? The way I've always seen it is hard plastic like material that looks super cheap. Am I thinking of the wrong thing here? I was hoping for the matte painted look.

    Next time you are in doctor's office, look at the melamine used on their cabinets. BORG's stuff isn't in the same league. Remember the BORGs buy the cheapest there is to increase their margin. Back in the eighties, worked in Richmond for a few months. People would kid me saying, " NC taught the three "R's." Reading, writing, and the road to Richmond." I would reply, we taught those three, plus the most important one The road back to Raleigh!

  9. #39
    Only problem I have had with Radiatta is it will mold in a heart beat in higher humidity. Used a lot of it for substrate under laminate.

  10. #40
    I also like the idea of building the carcasses with melamine. That's what I did when I built my kitchen about 8 years ago. Cheap and flat and worked great.

    I wouldn't want it exposed on the exterior of the cabinets but for the interiors (which you said won't be very visible because of drawers) it looks fine to me and cleans easily if needed.

    On my kitchen everything visible from the exterior was alder. I simply used panels to cover any sections of exposed carcass like the ends and an empty area between cabinets for seating. Looked great and the only time you could see what the carcasses were actually made of was when you opened the door under the sink. Everything else was drawers. I figure to 99.9% of the people a white cabinet interior is a white cabinet interior when you're talking base cabinets. No one on their knees rummaging around for what they need is going to notice.

    I also used 1/4" white melamine for my drawer bottom because it's tough and easy to clean. I used baltic birch for the rest of the drawer.

    Something to think about anyway. Building a couple end panels is quick, cheap, and easy compared to buying high quality ply and then painting it. And with end panels you can dress it up a little with a frame and panel rather than the flat slab of a cabinet side.

    I'm currently doing a kitchen in my new (to me) house and made the carcasses from a mish-mash of 3/4" ply and MDF that I was sick and tired of moving around so none of them even match. But again it's all drawers so you can't really see in there anyway. All anyone will see from the outside walnut. I didn't even apply a finish to them except for the inside of the sink base and trash cabinet. One for water resistance and the other to aid in cleanup if necessary.

    Here you can see mine before it was finished with one end panel installed but another missing. And the inside of one cabinet with no drawer installed.

    20120513_007 by Alan, on Flickr

    Alan
    Last edited by Alan Gage; 02-27-2021 at 9:13 PM.

  11. #41
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Three Rivers, Central Oregon
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    2,340
    For paint grade cabinet boxes, I use 3/4 C-2 maple ply. It costs $65-70 in my area but is well worth it...I get a hard, dent resistant surface with virtually zero grain telegraphing...it really paints nicely.
    Scott Vroom

    I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Mt. Pleasant, MI
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    2,924
    Amazingly enough my local Menards has very high grade US built plywood. It has consistent cores and thick face veneers. The best I have used outside of real baltic birch ply.

    My understanding is not every box store has the same suppliers but it is certainly worth looking around.

    That said I really like melamine for cabinet boxes. It is a pain to work with but makes a nice clean box and is strong "enough".

    Joe
    JC Custom WoodWorks

    For best results, try not to do anything stupid.

    "So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala "Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith"

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    Menards is "different" than most other big mass market home centers as they also do a serious business with contractors and others that demand the "good stuff". Most of us, unfortunately, do not have a Menards within many, many hundreds of miles.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

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