Anyone know where to find this dry erase board for inside a cabinet off the shelf?

[Matt Meiser]

We saw a pantry cabinet (I thought KraftMaid) at Home Depot that had a magnetic steel dry erase board inside the door. I want to do the same. It was just a piece of enameled or powder coated sheet metal and therefore was very thin so it doesn't interfere with the rollouts. And being magnetic, a magnetic eraser/marker holder stays right on it.

Plan B is to cut a piece of sheet metal, debur the edges and drill the holes, and take it to be powder coated. I'm guessing if I can find a supplier for them, it will be cheaper to just buy one off the shelf.

I tried Google, but all I can find are 1,000,001 how to's on painting your doors with chalkboard paint or mounting melamine.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

I must be missing something. I find "Dry erase paint" all over.

[Jamie Buxton]

Why powder coat it? Dry erase markers should work on bare metal.

[Matt Meiser]

I wouldn't want bare steel as it would rust over time and stainless, while it would look cool, wouldn't be magnetic. I talked to a powder coater this morning and he doesnt' recommend powder coating either as it will scratch over time from the eraser. He gave me a number for a company that does a ceramic finish he said might work but they are out of town so now its starting to sound really expensive.

[Jamie Buxton]

I wouldn't want bare steel as it would rust over time..

I have bare steel on plane bodies and screwdriver shafts and chisels and kitchen knives. They're all attracted to magnets, and they haven't rusted.

[Matt Meiser]

True, but those aren't mild steel. The piece I have sitting in my shop that I was considering using for this has some rust spots despite not having a rust problem with tools.

[scott vroom]

Matt, why can't you just use a standard hardboard dry erase board and glue a eraser/marker holder to the door?

[Matt Meiser]

Something like that would be plan B2. We'd lose the ability to stick some of the business card magnets we have on the fridge on there. We just liked this approach. I kind of assumed when we saw it that if one of the cabinet companies was doing it, it was something relatively available but its not looking that way.

[Bob Vavricka]

Matt,
I Googled "metal dry erase board" and got a bunch of hits. Walmart has some inexpensive magnetic boards, painted steel - http://www.walmart.com/ip/15151883?a...l5=pla&veh=sem and Uline has some that look a little on the expensive side-porcelain - http://www.uline.com/BL_3402/Magnetic-Dry-Erase-Boards The Container Store lists some as stainless steel magnetic dry erase boards.

[Matt Meiser]

Yes, found the ones with frames. What I'm talking about was just a flat piece of steel, maybe 16ga or 18ga with a coating, probably porcelain. I have found some places that sell "frameless" ones which appear to be a very thin steel over some kind of plastic or foam so I don't think they will meet my needs. I found something really close, but the manufacturer didn't list dealers and was in Europe. And it came in min 3x4 pieces. The Container Store ones have promise judging from the poor pictures--I'll be checking those out next time I'm in Columbus.

I might just have to go to Home Depot and see if I can order what we saw as a part from the mfg. Wish I could remember who it was!

Hmm...I wonder if I could laminate a piece of mild steel and thin stainless with contact cement and achieve a cool looking stainless one?

[Mel Fulks]

How about a piece of an old stove or other appliance?

[Matt Meiser]

Aha...finally found a picture...

[Matt Meiser]

That might work Mel. I think I could plasma cut it with minimal damage to the finish and just cover the edge with something.

[Trevor Howard]

Matt, not sure how expensive you want to go, but you could get some Dry Erase Vinyl and stick it over the steel. You may be able to find a smaller cheaper piece than here http://www.signwarehouse.com/p-VS-HX-DW829B-2411.html
Good Luck

[Mark Blum]

Matt, in the cabinets I'm currently building for my kitchen I will be inserting a magnetic dry-erase panel similar to your plan, except mine will be facing out. My plan is to paint a piece of flat sheet metal with a paint color similar to my cabinet stain and then coat it with transparent dry-erase film. This will give me a magnetic dry-erase board that does not stand out too much from the rest of the cabinets (my cabinets will be light in color).

I then plan to laminate the metal panel with a sheet of plywood stained to match the cabinets and the whole panel will be removable. That way if I ever decide I'd rather have the dry-erase panel on the inside I can just flip the panel and the outside will now match the rest of the cabinet panels.

Here is an example of the dry-erase film I planned on using.
http://www.dryeraseplus.com/