Melamine vs Plywood Closet?

[Andrew Wayland]

On top of all of my other unfinished projects around the house, I’ve been tasked with building a closet-organization “system” for one of our bedrooms (we’re expecting our first soon... and the gifts are starting to pile in).

I’ve make some cabinets out of plywood before; but I’m tempted to try Melamine this time around, given that it’s already “finished”. I certainly think plywood has a far nicer look to it, but I’m in a time crunch to get it done quickly.

I’m curious what opinions you all would have? I was thinking of going with some adjustable pegs for shelving, and then maybe some boxes at the bottom to accommodate those fancy-square storage baskets?

[roger wiegand]

Pre-finished maple plywood. You can either edge band it if you're in a hurry, or, better, cut 3/4 x 1/4 strips to tack on the edges. Pre-finish the strips three sides, then glue them on tacking them in place with a pin nailer while the glue sets. I just hate everything about working with particle board.

I've ordered the ply online from Home Depot, much more often I go to Boulter Plywood in Medford for it. Pricy, but really nice material. They will deliver for a reasonable fee.

[Ron Selzer]

I've used melamine in the past, 1980-2000, and been happy with the results. Iron on edge banding or carefully paint all exposed edges. A little bit of caulk at all intersections and nice easy peazy cleaning. Also very heavy. Have been looking at the prefinished plywood's available now and keep thinking I will try some just have not had a reason to yet.
Go with which ever one Momma wants and "git er done".
Unhappy Momma with new baby on the way is not good!!
good luck
Ron

[Brian Tymchak]

This may come off as being cynical or being a grouch, but I'm of the opinion that there are times when buy wins out over build. If you are considering melamine, and are under time constraints ( Congratulations! btw) I would recommend visiting your nearest Ikea.

There is extra work involved in getting a clean cut on 2-sided melamine, the cut edges are like knife blades, you need a melamine/plywood blade if don't already have it. Since melamine is particle board, you need special fasteners or construction adhesive in dadoes to hold the cases together. The edge banding is prone to chipping when you trim it. So lots of extra precaution needed to build with melamine.

If you truly have time to build, I like the idea of using prefinished maple ply.

[glenn bradley]

I agree that unless your customization requirements are extreme, there are many ready made products for fitting out a closet in a particle board product. For the time and effort spent, something that is just functional doesn't make sense for me. In the shop, my needs are pretty customized and I do my own ply or other material fixtures. A closet can definitely be just as custom when it comes to requirements but, 'quick and dirty' says 'go commercial' to me.

[Stan Calow]

We had two custom walk-in closets put in by a carpenter using melamine. The finish is nice and clean (if you want white), but it chips on the edges (many were left just from the on-site cutting) and it lacks detail. That is, it looks like the common cheap knockdown cabinetry. You cant really rout profiles on melamine. If I was doing it again I too would go pre-fab.

[Andrew Wayland]

Pre-finished maple plywood. You can either edge band it if you're in a hurry, or, better, cut 3/4 x 1/4 strips to tack on the edges. Pre-finish the strips three sides, then glue them on tacking them in place with a pin nailer while the glue sets. I just hate everything about working with particle board.

I've ordered the ply online from Home Depot, much more often I go to Boulter Plywood in Medford for it. Pricy, but really nice material. They will deliver for a reasonable fee.

I’ve used Boulter several times for my Basement Bar project. Great material as you have mentioned: just not the easiest place to pull up to and grab material being in the city... I’ve also used Downes and Read in stoughton (a little easier to get to... seems like a nice selection of hardwoods and some plywood stock also.

This may come off as being cynical or being a grouch, but I'm of the opinion that there are times when buy wins out over build. If you are considering melamine, and are under time constraints ( Congratulations! btw) I would recommend visiting your nearest Ikea.

There is extra work involved in getting a clean cut on 2-sided melamine, the cut edges are like knife blades, you need a melamine/plywood blade if don't already have it. Since melamine is particle board, you need special fasteners or construction adhesive in dadoes to hold the cases together. The edge banding is prone to chipping when you trim it. So lots of extra precaution needed to build with melamine.

If you truly have time to build, I like the idea of using prefinished maple ply.

I agree that unless your customization requirements are extreme, there are many ready made products for fitting out a closet in a particle board product. For the time and effort spent, something that is just functional doesn't make sense for me. In the shop, my needs are pretty customized and I do my own ply or other material fixtures. A closet can definitely be just as custom when it comes to requirements but, 'quick and dirty' says 'go commercial' to me.

I’ve explored the IKEA/HomeDepot closet organization options. They’re okay, but you’re stuck to the sizes that they provide. This will be a relatively simple build. The only real reason I’m considering melamine is the fact that it wont require much finishing: although I suppose I do have less forgiveness if I split the edges at all.

I suppose I could always go with rattle-can lacquer and be done in a day... Or just some wipe-on poly and be done in a couple days.

[Robert Engel]

We went through the same process. End of the day, we decided its a closet and we don't plan on selling anytime soon, so we "cheesed out" & went with the HD product. Yeah, pretty lightweight, but the cardboard backs can be replaced with 1/4 panels. The shelves are flimsy, but overall it serves its purpose.

I found some laminate that exactly matches to make drawers and fill in the toe kicks, which to date I've never done.

[Andrew Wayland]

We went through the same process. End of the day, we decided its a closet and we don't plan on selling anytime soon, so we "cheesed out" & went with the HD product. Yeah, pretty lightweight, but the cardboard backs can be replaced with 1/4 panels. The shelves are flimsy, but overall it serves its purpose.

I found some laminate that exactly matches to make drawers and fill in the toe kicks, which to date I've never done.

That’s what I like about those square baskets: no need to build a drawer and spend money on hardware for a closet.... Figured it’d be a nice way to store small toys too.

I think this would be wall mounted also: leaving a foot or two below to make vacuuming underneath easier.

[Jim Becker]

I actually based our master closet on some Ikea components that I made work together...two tall PAX white storage shelf units with a white 5' wide dresser that I turned into a built-in. Since we wanted white, this was the most expeditious way to do the closet at the time and other than the sliding baskets...which I'm soon to be replacing with closed drawers...it's been extremely functional for us. I'm not saying this to suggest using pre-built stuff is the best way; just that it's an option and one worthy of considering when you have a lot of your plate, like an expected child on the way.

[Brad Shipton]

The decision of melamine v plywood will come down to your equipment. If you are not setup very well to cut melamine you could end up with a ton of little chips that make your end product look amateurish. Personally, I would find a supplier of melamine parts other than Home Depot and use those. The companies I have looked at offer a lot of standardized parts and they can edge band in many different thicknesses or materials. This will allow you to still customize a bit better than a HD product and it should not be a lot more.

[David Stone (CT)]

If you do use melamine, an easy way to solve the chip out and nasty, sharp edge issues is to rout a 45 degree chamfer on all exposed edges. It actually makes for a very nice tactile surface.IMG_3212.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

Closets often have the hanger rod so far back that sliding the apparel causes more wear to them from the wall paint
than wearing them does. I like the Mel- amine, it's slick stuff.
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[John Hulett]

Years ago, I had good results using a Freud blade on my TS that was specifically made for melamine. Also, I found a local lumber yard that had an excellent selection of melamine that were in faux-woodgrain designs. I went with melamine because I had poor results with pre-finished ply and I had shelves in my plan that I felt would be a better surface for sliding clothes or what not around on, without any fear of snags. Maybe a meritless concern, but that was my thinking. My best tip if you go with the melamine is to make sure you take a few minutes to knock down the sharp edges; edge-banding wasn't enough. My first closet, I didn't take the time, and it was a nuisance until I remedied it.

[roger wiegand]

Boulter is a much easier trip since they moved a year or so ago. Now they have both actual parking and a nicely accessible door to back up to to pick up your stuff. As always they are happy to load it in the truck for you. The bad part is that they are no longer next door to that wonderful Mexican/Guatemalan restaurant in their Somerville location.