Kitchen Cabinets, Plywood box Ok?

[B Chas]

Been here almost 10 years, never thought of the AGF as a non guitar resource.

I'm remodeling my kitchen, for cabinets, are solid wood shells a must or are plywood good enough. I may be crazy, after looking high and low, Home Depot has the best selection.

[Fogducker]

Kitchen cabinets, as you're finding out, can run from $1500 thru about $15000 for the EXACT same layout (The sizes and details are pretty much the same). Pay attention to hinges, the doors (Probably the area that you want solid wood), shelves, the hardware inside and the finishes. Home Depot is a good store/source and they give a veteran's discount too!

Fog

[DenverSteve]

"Good enough"... is up to, and has to be, you. For me, it is not good enough. If you're remodeling your kitchen, I would get the best, solid wood, cabinets possible. The improved quality will help in the resale of your home.

[guitar george]

All I know is that they have to be built very strong because they hold many pounds of heavy plates and other dishes while hanging from the walls and ceiling without any supports from below. I've never seen any kitchen cabinets collapse. This always amazes me. How do they stay up?

[Jeff Scott]

You want plywood these days for a stronger box. AVOIND AT ALL COST - MDF, EVEN FOR FLOATING PANELS IF YOU GET FLOATING PANEL DOORS WITH STILES AND RAILS.

If you can, buy custom made cabinets from the Amish (you will most likely need a real contact point guy - a contractor who does business with the Amish., they are around the same price as Big Box store cabinets and are much higher quality and can be custom sized and you can have long runs of cabinets (none of this multiple, separate cabinets that get tacked together with filler strips BS. All the custom cabinets for our kitchen gut renovation cost us less than the store bought ones, and we got custom sizes, custom runs, and other special stuff.

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

"Good enough"... is up to, and has to be, you. For me, it is not good enough. If you're remodeling your kitchen, I would get the best, solid wood, cabinets possible. The improved quality will help in the resale of your home.

The solid woods are for the face frames, not the boxes, where you want plywood.

Originally Posted by guitar george

All I know is that they have to be built very strong because they hold many pounds of heavy plates and other dishes while hanging from the walls and ceiling without any supports from below. I've never seen any kitchen cabinets collapse. This always amazes me. How do they stay up?

Don't forget to adequately mount the cabinets to the walls! Long GRK cabinet screws into studs and ideally, added blocking between the studs to ensure an adequate number of the GRK screws going into them. Too many installers skimp on the quantity of screws to hang the cabinets with.

Don't forget that besides the weight of the cabinets themselves, you have to consider the weight of all the contents going into those cabinets!

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Fogducker

Home Depot is a good store/source...

Fog

They carry junk cabinets.

[Silurian]

As this is the AGF you"re probably going to get a lot of people extolling the virtues of solid wood over plywood.

[Ozzy the dog]

Ply is stronger and more stable in all directions across its' structure.

If it can't be seen use Ply if it can, use solid. Good solid hardwood is a beautiful thing - I don't like to waste that beauty by putting it in an out of sight structure.

[RP]

I would tend to agree with those who advocate plywood boxes with a nice veneer and solid doors, but it really depends on the price/quality point of the rest of the home. High-end solid cabinets are not going to appreciably increase the value of a starter home but a $5,000,000 custom home would merit the best cabinets possible...

[sportycliff]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

The solid woods are for the face frames, not the boxes, where you want plywood.


Don't forget to adequately mount the cabinets to the walls! Long GRK cabinet screws into studs and ideally, added blocking between the studs to ensure an adequate number of the GRK screws going into them. Too many installers skimp on the quantity of screws to hang the cabinets with.

Don't forget that besides the weight of the cabinets themselves, you have to consider the weight of all the contents going into those cabinets!

Excellent advice!

[KevWind]

As a retired carpenter and residential contractor/remodeler
Gotta join the chorus here and agree with Jeff Scott ,,,,,(no MDF) Plywood box, veneered on exposed ends with solid face and doors
And Yes I would also advise avoiding Home Depot and other, big box stores.

[B Chas]

I knew I could count on the AGF community. Good advise in a matter of hours.

"As this is the AGF you"re probably going to get a lot of people extolling the virtues of solid wood over plywood." I plan to check the tap tone of the door wood, lol.

"High-end solid cabinets are not going to appreciably increase the value of a starter home but a $5,000,000 custom home would merit the best cabinets possible..." Mine is somewhere in the middle. Thing is, the contractor's cabinet makers limit my selection, especially the door design, which has become an important element. We've visited small custom shops, bigger independent shops and now back to Home Depot where we got our initial ideas. They all knock each other, stuff's made in China, they use inferior materials and so on. I've gotten to the point that the look is more important than the build, although I'm concerned about durability. The advise here really is helpful.


Ozzy the dog & KevWind, your good advise is really appreciated.

I have an Ozzie the dog, he's a German Sheppard.

[alnico5]

A little off topic: I went into a furniture store to get some drawer glide hardware. I bemoaned to the manager about cheap particle board furniture that wouldn't hold together. He pointed to a chest of drawers and said "this one is made of cardboard."

[architype]

In the cabinet world, unlike the guitar world, a plywood box is considered solid wood, as opposed to medium density fiberboard, or MDF.
The plywood will be veneered with your wood of choice, (on exposed end panels). The only actual solid wood in cabinets these days are the face frames, doors and drawer fronts.

To get an actual solid wood carcass you will have to hire a custom cabinet shop, pay an extreme premium, and they will talk you out of it anyway. Plywood boxes are easier to fabricate, (all the shops and their equipment are set up to work with 4x8 sheet goods), and plywood is stronger and more stable.


Don't skimp on the drawer slides! Accuride is a good quality brand.