Help with PAINTED KITCHEN CABINETS

[Jim Watson]

I am finally going to work on a new kitchen for the wife. Our home has lots of exposed rock and natural wood T&G ceilings and exposed beams. We think natural wood kitchen cabinets might just be too much so we're thinking about painted kitchen cabinets. We're shooting for a country kitchen look and I have several questions if I may. First any type woods you folks wood recommend since they will be painted, and Secondly any good websites for info on getting a good finish if we go this route. Thanks much, Jim

[Jamie Buxton]

For painted cabinetry, I generally use maple plywood, and poplar where I need lumber. They're not expensive, they take paint well, and I prefer the stuctural integrity of plywood over MDF. Ply also resists water better than MDF, which is good in sink bases.

For finish, I HVLP-spray tinted waterborne "lacquer" --- Target's EM8000. (An HVLP spray does not go inside cabinets well at all, so you should spray parts before you assemble them into boxes.)

[Michael Schwartz]

Use a cabinet grade plywood or Melamine faced particle board panels for your carcasses, shelves, and drawers. I would them recommend either trimming them out or constructing face frames out of a low cost hardwood such as poplar if your going to paint them. Faux side panels can be made from 1/4" MDF and painted.

It is very true that plywood takes screws better than MDF or particle board, so if you use MDF take this into consideration. Particle board also has a tendency to snare on flooring surfaces if your skidding a base around ripping out huge chunks. I have seen many sets of particle board, or mdf cabinets removed from kitchens while working second hand retail for a while where the sink base is all but gone from water damage. The plywood sink bases seemed to have held up better.

I would recommend using a pre finished plywood if your going to use plywood. The finish is extremely durable and saves you alot of work. It costs more initially but it saves labor.

You have a few options for doors, one to make a door out of a paint grade hardwood with a plywood panel, or to trim out an MDF panel to look like a frame and panel door.

My advice is to look for some books that will walk you through the process from design to completion.

[Bill Huber]

I vote for the cabinet grade ply with poplar face frames and poplar raised panel door.

You can buy premade doors but I think its always best to build them yourself.

Now if you really want to go with a country look use beaded panels and not the raised panel, painted white and it is a really great looking door.

[Von Bickley]

My kitchen cabinets are painted birch plywood. My island is stained oak plywood. Works good together......

[Peter Quinn]

I like pre-finished maple ply interiors with painted cabinets, much more durable than most any other product you can apply. We use C-2 unfinished only for boxes with glass doors as prefinished doesn't paint well.

For solid lumber we use mostly soft maple on face frames and doors, sometimes poplar, usually poplar for moldings . I don't do finishing, but I have seen a lot of painters use Benjamin Moore Impervo on cabs, applied with a brush or sprayed over a good primer. I have also heard of guys spraying Target Coatings Lacquer on site, tinted with UTC's to color needed. They do this after install, so I have never seen the results.

[Jim Watson]

I appeciate all the advise fellows. And Bill we had desided to use bead board for the panels. Now that I am unemployed I have the time to work on the project and I am looking foward to getting started...thanks again

[Larry Edgerton]

I use birch for the box and Poplar for the face frames. I would not use melamine or MDF on a doghouse, but that is just my opinion. My own cabinets are painted, with natural finished birch interiors and beaded/glass doors.

I like cottage bead panels, adds a nice comfortable touch. Are you going to make your own beaded panels? I like doing that so I can adjust widths so they always end the same.

If you are doing that style of kitchen I would recommend Jim Tolpins book.

[Jeff Duncan]

Add another vote for maple on any solid wood parts. Poplar IMHO is too soft for a kitchen, soft maple works well and holds up nicely. As well as paints really well. Use poplar for the moldings if your going to have any.
good luck,
JeffD

[Rick Potter]

Add me to the list for the beaded cabinet doors. One thing to consider though, the beaded mdf sheets at home centers are MUCH different from the ones at a real lumber retailer. The two centers I go to have a choice of 2" or 4" between the beads, and the beads are machined into the cabinet for much more definition than the pressed beads at the borg.

Rick Potter