Kitchen Cabinet Opinions

[zdorsch]

I’m hopefully refacing our kitchen cabinets in the near future and am looking for opinions on a several options. My goal is to go with a more modern natural wood look.

I’m thinking of getting 3/4 prefinished birch plywood and edge banding for the doors and drawers (picture below with grain matching continuous through door and drawer). Any pointers on only finishing the edge banding or prefinished edge banding the way to go here? Same for the face frames—prefinished or me finishing? I do not have spray equipment. My biggest concern is durability.

I’m thinking of eliminating doors on the bottom cabinets and going with drawers. Most of the cabinets are now doors with drawers behind them. Below is what I’m dealing with now (drawers love to run into the cabinet doors).

The end cabinets have an end stile width of 2 1/4” while the interior stiles are 1”. I’m thinking of cutting down the outer face frame to 1” with a straight bearing bit in my router. Any other suggestions on how to eliminate this or should I’d just make the drawer larger to “hide” the difference?

I’ll need to make new drawers for the double cabinets and I plan to go slightly wider and use heavy duty side mount slides. One double door cabinet is 3’ and the other is 33 3/4”. Will 1/4 ply work for the drawer bottoms or should I bump up to 1/2? Below is one that I’ve already tested out the heavy duty slides that work much better than the cheap original slides.

Thank you for any suggestions!

 

[whitecrane8]

Are you aware that you can buy unfinished and prefinished door and drawer fronts? Many custom cabinet shops outsource this to specialty suppliers.

 

[zdorsch]

Are you aware that you can buy unfinished and prefinished door and drawer fronts? Many custom cabinet shops outsource this to specialty suppliers.

Thanks for the suggestion. When I priced them I was looking at $100+ per door (prefinished birch ply is $64 a sheet). I also couldn’t get the grain matching that I want.

 

[whitecrane8]

Yes, that is probably a fair price for quality kitchen cabinet doors

 

[tvrgeek]

My pots and pans I added a thin drawer for fry pans. So 4 drawers in the one height.
I refinished my fronts but in hindsight, that was a mistake. Should have just bought new doors.
Finish in Sherwin Williams emerald.

 

[bphaynes]

I just got a few raised panel doors (unfinished solid maple) custom made at Steve Wall for around $60 per door. I'm painting them myself for my built-ins I just finished. They also made dovetail drawer boxes. I would recommend thicker than 1/4 in especially since it's probably less than 1/4 unless you use BB. 3/8 in might be a good option. Also you might want to look into under mount slides like Blum. They are more expensive, but great quality and you don't see the slides. If the cabinets are for you, then of course do what you prefer, but for resale value I would think prefinished birch plywood drawer fronts would not be as preferable.

 

[Rwe2156]

True, you're not going to get the grain matching with factory doors. In fact I've seen some pretty awful ones.

If I were going plywood I would go with hardwood ply like cherry, maple etc. The last time I priced cherry ply it was like $175/sheet. Not cheap, but you can get a lot of parts out of one sheet.

I would think long and hard before using prefinished ply. It is ok for boxes and drawers, but I'm not sure about refacing with it.

If you can find 3/4 prefinished and if you can find perfectly flat sheets and if they have pristine surfaces. You need a super good blade fresh sharp blade and a good se up to avoid tear out. I use a double sided melamine blade. The finish will dull the blade quicker than wood.

I would also think about replacing those lower door/slide outs with drawer banks.

 

[whitecrane8]

If you are feeling extra fancy, you could use matched veneer sheets with a substrate. Then all the grain would match perfectly. Titebond and warm iron is an easy process

Anigre Quartered and Figured Realtec Veneer / Wall Covering

Anigre Quartered and Figured Realtec Veneer / Wall Covering in full and partial sheets. Beautiful textured appearance, ideal for accent walls. Free Shipping.

totalwoodstore.com

 

[JimD]

You may want to look up Scott Brown on youtube. He just did a kitchen for his house using plywood drawer fronts and doors. He did not edge band the plywood - another option if the plywood is good. He also matched the grain so it looks more like an interrupted sheet of plywood. He finished it, I think it was with one of the new wipe on finishes.

I think the drawer bottom is a function of how much weight goes in it. 10-20 lbs I think a 1/4 plywood bottom should be fine. More and I would use 1/2 (and have).

I would play around with making flat panel doors if I was you. Raised panel are a lot more work sanding the profile but flat panel using plywood for the panel are actually quite easy. I did a whole kitchen using a cope and stick bit for my router. That only gives you little stub tenons about 5/16 long but it worked even for raised panel oak doors nearly two feet wide. There is a learning curve but I think the flat panel doors would give you a more valuable kitchen for the same or less cost of what you are thinking of.

 

[zdorsch]

If I were going plywood I would go with hardwood ply like cherry, maple etc. The last time I priced cherry ply it was like $175/sheet. Not cheap, but you can get a lot of parts out of one sheet.

I would think long and hard before using prefinished ply. It is ok for boxes and drawers, but I'm not sure about refacing with it.

If you can find 3/4 prefinished and if you can find perfectly flat sheets and if they have pristine surfaces. You need a super good blade fresh sharp blade and a good se up to avoid tear out. I use a double sided melamine blade. The finish will dull the blade quicker than wood.

I would also think about replacing those lower door/slide outs with drawer banks.

Thank you!

I’m not set on birch, it was more of what I can find local to me that is prefinished. I like something with a uniform grain that I plan to apply a water based finish if using unfinished ply. $175 a sheet (I need 7-8 sheets) is definitely better than $100+ per door.

I’ve had good luck with German made delta blade on plywood that someone on here mentioned a few years ago. However I’m open to suggestions!

The plan is definitely to get rid of the doors on the lower cabinets!

 

[zdorsch]

You may want to look up Scott Brown on youtube. He just did a kitchen for his house using plywood drawer fronts and doors. He did not edge band the plywood - another option if the plywood is good. He also matched the grain so it looks more like an interrupted sheet of plywood. He finished it, I think it was with one of the new wipe on finishes.

I think the drawer bottom is a function of how much weight goes in it. 10-20 lbs I think a 1/4 plywood bottom should be fine. More and I would use 1/2 (and have).

I would play around with making flat panel doors if I was you. Raised panel are a lot more work sanding the profile but flat panel using plywood for the panel are actually quite easy. I did a whole kitchen using a cope and stick bit for my router. That only gives you little stub tenons about 5/16 long but it worked even for raised panel oak doors nearly two feet wide. There is a learning curve but I think the flat panel doors would give you a more valuable kitchen for the same or less cost of what you are thinking of.

Thanks Jim! The Scott Brown kitchen is very much the look I’m going for with the cabinets. I wonder how the unfinished plywood edges will hold up near the sink and dishwasher?

I refaced my last house with basic panel/frame doors, so I’m familiar with making those (picture below) with table saw and router table. Those cabinets were definitely cheaper (maple frames were free and plywood was $3 for a 19”x108” piece) than what I’m planning now, but I really want more of a mid century look for my current house.

 

[whitecrane8]

Yes, remember the prefinished panels have a commercial clear coat formulation with UV cure. Not really something you can touch up later without very special finish and equipment

 

[junquecol]

Because you will have to finish your face frames, why not finish your panels? Instead of plywood, I recommend MDF core veneer, edge banded with heat set edge banding. For the clear coat, I recommend using Varathane Diamond Gloss Floor finish. In working days, built a bunch of cabinets for local YMCA's using this finish. Finish sheets prior to breakdown, using an edge painting pad as the applicator. No need to raise the grain with water before applying first coat of finish. Don't be tempted to use Park's floor finish, as it doesn't stand up to the test of time. DAMHIK! FYI, most likely you will need to order in the Varathane Diamond Floor Gloss. In my case, Amazon doesn't have good track record of being able to deliver the goods. They air shipped gallon cans from west coast to here. The one that finally made it to my door was inside a very soaked plastic bag, plus it was satin rather than gloss.

 

[zdorsch]

Because you will have to finish your face frames, why not finish your panels? Instead of plywood, I recommend MDF core veneer, edge banded with heat set edge banding. For the clear coat, I recommend using Varathane Diamond Gloss Floor finish. In working days, built a bunch of cabinets for local YMCA's using this finish. Finish sheets prior to breakdown, using an edge painting pad as the applicator. No need to raise the grain with water before applying first coat of finish. Don't be tempted to use Park's floor finish, as it doesn't stand up to the test of time. DAMHIK! FYI, most likely you will need to order in the Varathane Diamond Floor Gloss. In my case, Amazon doesn't have good track record of being able to deliver the goods. They air shipped gallon cans from west coast to here. The one that finally made it to my door was inside a very soaked plastic bag, plus it was satin rather than gloss.

Thanks Bruce!

How does the MDF hold up in a kitchen environment? The panels in my current kitchen cabinets are MDF core and have “bubbles” slightly from chipping and water intrusion at the raised panel edge.

When’s the last time you used the varathane diamond floor gloss? I’ve looked on the US varathane and rustoleum sites and neither lists “diamond” in their description, although the Canadian site still seems to carry it. I’m wondering if Amazon actually has the Diamond floor finish or if it’s something else now?

 

[Warped Woodwerks]

My personal preference.. MDF (almost anything)... yuck!

I'd say 1/2" bottoms, just in case, at a minimum. Obviously, if the drawer is only going to hold tea bags, plastics bags, etc., I'd go 1/4".