tortured over decision! plywood or mdf?!
calypsochick
14 years ago
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Fori
14 years agoRelated Discussions
melamine or plywood for interiors of cabinets??
Comments (16)I'd rather have solid wood furniture, but I'd rather have melamine kitchen cabinets. That's because the melamine is easy to clean and structurally sound enough for years and years of wear. (My old cabinets were about 25 years old, and they were holding up just fine.) I do understand why people buy plywood cabinets, because they do look nice. But for someone like me, whose budget is limited, melamine seems like a no-brainer. All the functionality (or nearly all, depending on your viewpoint) and reasonable looks at a decent price. I would not choose to give up anything else in my kitchen to get plywood cabinets. (Obviously, your priorities may be different, and your budget may be larger.:) Calypsochick, in the U.S., plywood is usually considered to be better quality. In Europe, as I understand it, virtually all cabinets are made from particle board, so it's not considered an inferior material. Even in the U.S., there are tons of cabinets made from particle board that hold up just fine. Most cabinets sold at big box stores are particle board; most cabinet manufacturers, including higher-end cabinets like Wood-Mode, make particle board cabinets. All of the slick, high-end modern kitchens (at least, I think all), are particle board. Virtually all of the closet systems, garage systems, and laundry room cabinets are made of particle board. Manufacturers use construction methods suited to particle board, such as Confirmat fasteners. I don't think you have to be concerned with your cabinets, no matter what you choose. Say the worst happens, and a particle board shelf sags a bit. Well, I'd just flip it over....See MoreFried Brain... decision wavering. Ultracraft or Barker opinions?
Comments (36)I had my decision made to go with Shiloh Hickory cabinets in beaded inset and Richmond door. The cost for my large amount of cabinets was reasonible. I must now change wood as I spent 2 hours at a granite yard today and could only find almost black granites that look ok with the hickory cabinet door. I have to start over with another wood . I am disappointed. I will probably go with Maple now as I took a few maple doors with me and found a granite that look absolutely beautiful with the Maple The maple stain is gunstock and the granite was Alaskan White. I feel like the granite with probably be out of my price range when they give me the final figures. I do think it pays to shop around. I went to Reisterstown Lumber and found their prices to be competitive on Medallion and Swartz to be competitive on Shiloh. J&S lumber in Landisville is good for Showplace. I do think that lumber yards and independent shops do better with design help and pricing. Don't overspend and take your time shopping around. Give the cabinet places a chance to make things work well for you. I have had poor design help form some and very good from others. Some gave me a bunch of small cabinets which cost more than one large cabinet. Some accessories are no more expensive when purchased with the cabinets. Molding costs as much as taller cabinets. Drawers are sometimes less expensive than pull out trays. Not all designers try to work these things out. i have had to ask for drawers instead of pull outs for pantry cabinets and they priced out 30% less. I want a corner sink cabinet and the cost for one line was more than twice of another, so I had the designer use a diagonal sink from and return fillers and the cost was less. Reading this board has definitely helped with knowing what will help bring costs down and what is worth paying for to have a more functional space....See MoreHelp! Ugly plywood cabinets! Part II, Finally!
Comments (59)Note that wood filler will crack over time as the wood moves if you are intending to use it to fill cracks between wood pieces. You'll need to use caulk to avoid that and caulk can not be shaped and molded like the woodfiller. I had the plywood style cabinets you have, but in much much better shape and was just going to do a replace the doors and hardware and re-configure a bit because I saw in person how the added wood to the doors looked after a few years in my friends home (looked nice when just done and they did spend a lot of detail work on it). However since my boxes were built in large pieces I couldn't reconfigure and ended up completely replacing the boxes too.. This was my old house. In my current house we have plywood built cabinets that all looks nice on the surface, but are cheaply built IMHO. We've fixed slides twice, the doors are a bit warped, drawer boxes need some help soon. I also installed some IKEA cabinets in our dining room which holds all my daughters toys. They get as much use as our kitchen cabinets and have held up so much better as well, plus they have been handled by little people who are not careful. They are low VOC and has the nice bells and whistles of full extension soft close drawer glides and soft close doors. I really want to switch my kitchen cabinets to IKEA, but for me to do that I need to come up with a better layout to satisfy the other issues with my kitchen. Unfortunately for you it doesn't look like cabinet grade plywood was used on your cabinets due to the roughness which is another huge difference between yours and irmaly's starting point. If you insist on keeping the boxes vs. getting the nice bells and whistles you could with IKEA cabinets, then at least save yourself the frustration and get some new doors/drawer fronts and also some new drawer boxes. In my old house I used Scherr's to replace the doors in my 2 bathrooms and for a master vanity I built and used all wood in poplar - a cheaper paintgrade wood if you want to avoid the MDF. However having MDF as the center panel in a door makes the door more stable and less prone to wood changes with humidity. I agree with most though that starting from scratch would be worth it vs. the amount of time you'll spend on what you have and then how long it will last after that. You'd also have a better starting point with new cabinets and re-configuring the space. Sure you can do what you want and end up with it looking a whole lot better- but you said you were short on time and working with what you have is going to take a long time to make it look pristine. That is a lot of filling and sanding needed. Never mind how you plan to fix the edges so it looks good. That line would bother me to see the line between the applied wood and then the ratty edge underneath that will need a lot of work to made look good again. Sure you wouldn't see it when closed and looking straight at them, but when open or from the top or side it will be hard not to notice. Also are your existing doors the right overlap to be able to change to concealed hinges?...See MoreNo need to upgrade kitchen cabinet boxes from MDF to plywood, right?
Comments (23)"Yes, plywood holds screws better than MDF, HDF, and particle board (which require special screws.) Ordinary screws work in plywood." Technically screws may hold better in plywood however the potential difference is not likely of any consequence in this application. Also, when mounting cabinets to the wall the screws used do not typically have threads up to the head of the screw, the shank is free of threads for at least 1". So in this case there are no threads in the plywood, just in the supporting stud. The only thing preventing the cabinet from falling down is the force it would take to pull the head of the screw through the plywood or particle board, no threads are involved. You make it sound as if the screws for particle board are out of the ordinary "Special Screws", they are no more special than any other screw, deck screws, drywall screws, wood screws, subflooring screws. Available every where and cost the same as just about any other common type of screw....See Morecalypsochick
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