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Thread: Kitchen Cabinet Material Advice

  1. #1

    Kitchen Cabinet Material Advice

    I'm ready to get started making cabinets for my new house. I'll be making all of the cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms, some built-ins and utility cabinets for the laundry room.

    For those of you who build kitchen cabinets, do you have any advice on which materials you prefer for the cabinet boxes? For the kitchen, I will be making face-frame cabinets from cherry. Drawer boxes of maple. Hinges and slides from Blum.

    I have a Kreg Jig and plan to use it along with biscuits to construct the cabinet boxes and face frames. I'm trying to determine what is the best material to use for the inside. I'd appreciate a discussion of the Pros and Cons of each.

    • Particleboard, MDF, Plywood?
    • Melamine-coated or do I simply paint the innards?
    • Do I buy the white melamine or do I use the wood-grain stuff? Cost?
    • Hot-melt edgebanding or pressure-sensitive?
    • Whose product would you recommend? (Panolam, Uniboard, Roseburg, others?)
    • Which should I avoid?
    • Where can I buy it?
    • Do the Kreg coarse-thread screws work well with both particleboard and MDF?
    • Finish? I'm leaning toward spraying Sherwin Williams Precat lacquer with their Vinyl Sealer. Each is about $40 - $50 per gallon. Other recommendations?


    Your input is certainly appreciated!

    -Kevin

  2. #2
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    do you have a budget?....jack

  3. #3
    No budget, per se... I need to build them for less than I can buy them. I can buy 'em for about $14,000 but where's the fun in that?

    I want decent quality because I'll have to look at and use them. I want them to last. I don't want to be embarrased when LOML tells people I built them.

  4. #4
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    reason i ask is almost everytime someone says i want the best a budget is never mentioned. cabinet materials, solid surface tops, sink fixtures and hardware can make a huge dent in a cabinet project.

    interiors of cabinets are an individual choice. even on mine im not going to buy the "best" materials. this area is not the most important to me. im a " within reason/sufficient" type of person.

    particle board,mdf,plywood,etc are all options. you can spend anywhere fron $20-$150 a sheet for the "best".

    im a melamine man for my interiors. makes me happy and thats what counts....jack

  5. #5
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    kevin, i'm not a pro cabinet guy, but i just built my parents a set and i'm about to start my cabinets as well, and i used 3/4 birch ply. when i got out of high school i worked framing houses for a while and saw that ALL the cabinets in this area were built with 3/4 birch, but looking around over the last year i've noticed everyone using 1/2 birch ply. hmmmmmmmmm prices go up and they use cheaper materals.........nuff said.

    i wouldn't knock any other materials anyone else uses at all. this is just my preference. jack is correct.......melamine is great for interiors!

    cya
    brad
    The Country Toad Workshop Rogersville, Al

  6. #6
    Good thread Kevin, Ihave this same project coming up. I can tell you though, for making your cabinet boxes our of MDF and partical board, you are better off using confirmant screws and the drill bit that goes with them. The Kreg will work great on plywood and plywood variants and hard and softwood but the screws are a hard mate for mdf and particle board. The confirmant screws are made especially for those products. I was told this when I built my shop cabinets and I am so glad I used them.

    Jack, would you use plywood in your business for the carcases or particleboard/mdf with melamine surface? If so how do you assemble the carcases? You can't buy melamine coated plywood can you? Sorry Kevin, hope I am not hijacking your thread but I think we are both after the same info.

    Corey

  7. #7
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    assembly of melamine carcasses can be tricky. i do not use conformat screws,etc for assembly. i do use a 1/4 crown staple gun with dados and melamine glue.

    you can with a little configuration, assemble a melamine cabinet without a "single" staple hole in any visable area. just gotta understand the construction.

    i do not waste money on speacial screws nor on pocket screws for facve to carcass assembly......jack

    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...id=21534&stc=1

  8. #8
    Were I work at we use 5/8 melamine. its cheap and easy to clean.
    ya its not as strong as plywood but it has to be finshed.(plywood tends to warp). we use low root screws and they dont cost lots.
    like what jack said there are ,many ways a cabnet can be put to gether to hide screws/staples ect. some ppl use screw some use staples,some use dowels

    it comes down to preference

  9. #9
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    I'm in the middle of a set of kitchen cabinets and the few pros I know say I'm overbuilding with 3/4 BB ply for the carcases, but I love the quality of the BB ply relative to melamine, particle board, et al, and recommend it. THe face frames, rails and stiles are poplar, but if I didn't already have a bunch of poplar lying around I probably would have used soft maple. MDF was/is too heavy for my tastes, too susceptible to water damage, and so on.

    I'm spray finishing the set of Shaker-style cabinets with white lacquer and recommend you consider Oxford Ultima Spray Lacquer from Target Coatings.

    If I weren't a hobbyist who does the occasional kitchen project thanks to word-of-mouth, I would probably select more economical procedures and materials. There are many ways to build good cabinets - go with what you're comfortable working with.

    BTW, I spray the upper cab panels before assembly because I use french cleats and a back panel that is dadoed in. If and when I can spray assembled cabinets with the back off I go that route. Obviously I don't enjoy spraying cabs that are already assembled with the back on and you might not either so I suggest a trial finsihing run before you assemble all of your cabinets.

    Steve

  10. #10
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    I would suggest you use these,makes life easier.

    http://www.cabinetparts.com/shop_200...565222f.071305

  11. #11
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    I guess it also depends on if the inside of your cabinets will be visible (glass doors). I prefer a plywood carcass. Lighter, easy to use, looks good. I've done quite a few with birch interiors and a different hardwood for the face frame.

    I am going to redo my kitchen in cherry, I bought cherry ply for the carcasses and I'll be attaching a solid piece of cherry to hide the plywood edging on any visible edges (bottoms of upper cabinets).

    It's like you said, when my wife shows the cabinets off I want to impress.

    -Alden

  12. #12
    Good thread topic.

    I'm a big fan of using a high quality melamine (Uniboard in particular). You can get them in a range of colours, textures and finishes. You save time since you don't have to do any finish work. They are easy to clean and maintain.

    As long as you join them properly (I tend to use confirmat screws which do require a special drill and driver bit) they are uber-strong. The only real issue that I see has to do with doing a face-frame construction. To make life easier, use biscuits only where a panel is going to be exposed.

    I would recommend going with a full-piece back to keep the carcass square which will add weight to each box, but will also make it a snap to get everything square. I build my cabs frameless, but I don't see any problem putting frames onto melamine, since you'll have the PB exposed along the front edges.

    I use Salice hinges, but I hear the Blums are good. I would go with the clip-on variant for sure.

    Have a good one.
    Be seeing you,

    Jerry [Road Warrior] /smc

  13. #13
    Kevin, something else to consider. You can get prefinished Birch and Maple plywood. It has a really tough finish on it. Just be a little considerate of the finish when cutting, not hard to do, and once the box is assembled inside is done. Also, it should only be a few bucks more than unfinished ply.

    I like the look of the Melamine interiors, but I don't like the durability of pb/mdf. If you ever have a plumbing problem, like a pipe breaking, you may have to tear out and rebuild. The pb and mdf are going to soak up the water like a sponge. Plywood will still be OK provided they don't soak for a week.

    Good luck with your project.

  14. #14
    I would only use Birch plywood for mine (unless I could afford Mahogany ply). I don't like Melamine at all and I especially despise any chip board material (for any application).

  15. #15
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    Real 3/4" plywood makes a good carcass.. Birch is fine ...even shop grade. should be a wood core like Veneer core. MDF core is fine for doors
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

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