Kitchen cabinet door material ??
The longest height of our kitchen cabinet is 92 inch(ref panel). I decided to use plywood. Our carpenter called me that material must be MDF becuase plywood might worp. Is that true? which material is the best for kitchen cabinet? I think MDF looks bit cheaper, solid wood is over my budget. So plywood was…
The longest height of our kitchen cabinet is 92 inch(ref panel). I decided to use plywood. Our carpenter called me that material must be MDF becuase plywood might worp. Is that true? which material is the best for kitchen cabinet? I think MDF looks bit cheaper, solid wood is over my budget. So plywood was the best choice for me. Please let me share with your thoughts/experiences!!!
Thanks
Thank you for your thoughts! plywood with frame,,,,.
Is there any “good looking” MDF? How about solid wood?
Solid wood will worp? And solid one is durable against water? Thanks
As someone who has spent a long time researching this on woodweb – yes, a slab of just plywood that is 92 inches long, as a door, will warp. It is layers of real wood stuck together. It is kind of bendy at that length (go to home depot and have a look at the sheets of plywood there. They are bendy). Also, as a door, it doesn’t really have any supports (like it would if it were attached on all sides).
One option is to have a ‘frame’ of hardwood and then a floating plywood internal panel. This is the kind of thing you see in traditional cabinetry – for a reason. In the olden days, they only had real wood. This expanded and contracted – you couldn’t make a whole door with one slab of wood, because the wood would expand and contract so much. So they made a frame out of 4 pieces of narrow wood (the narrower the better since it expands / contracts less) then put in a floating panel in the middle, which was free to expand and contract.
Anyhow, if you don’t want that look, then go with MDF. But mixing this with a wet area means you will need to replace as soon as the veneer starts to come off and exposes the core.
Plywood comes in many different grades (Chinese being the lowest grade and euro-ply or apple-ply being the better grades) This is due to the species used for the core material and not the top sheet. Plywood is generally not a good choice for any door face as it is not a “flat” material, but it is an excellent choice for most casework.
MDF is a “flat” material that also comes in different grades. Medex is a type of MDF that has a very high water resistance (in fact it can be submersed in water for extended periods of time without “popping”.) It is an excellent choice for bathroom cabinetry. Really though it is the finish that must have the water resistance. Lacquers that are easy to acquire and spray, generally have a low water resistance.
BTW- a hardwood edge treatment is preferable to a taped edge.
Yes, what do you plan to do with the edges? Plywood will be fine if it’s “floated” in a frame. MDF will be fine too. BUT, MDF, IF YOU CONSTANTLY SPLASH WATER ON IT, will start to deteriorate rather quickly.
Plywood ain’t the best for kitchens or bathrooms (at least the visible bits) because these are wet areas… and water and layers don’t mix too well.
But if you’re talking plywood for panels surrounded by a wood frame, then I don’t see a problem. Actually no problem with MDF either really.