Best sheet material for painted cabinets

[CaptainSawdust]

Good morning all.

About to start my 3rd kitchen, this time for the most demanding client ever... the girlfriend!

Have previously built out of WBP but always had issues with voids and edging (yes I should have bought better Ply).

I have recently watched the Peter Millard series on YouTube where he built cabinets from MRMDF and have made a few small pieces using it since. Have also broke the bank and purchased the Festool LR32 system to make these having learnt the hard way last time.

MRMDF and indeed regular MDF seem to take paint far better than standard ply and dont have voids but is a lot messier & nastier to work with, and isn't as strong.

Has anyone else built kitchen cabinets out of MRMDF and critically, would you do it again?

Thanks
James

 

[DBT85]

For kitchen cabs I would use birch ply and mrmdf for the doors. For normal built in furniture I'd be happy with mrmdf. Kitchen stuff gets more abuse I think.

I think MFC is also popular even with bespoke stuff?

Should add of course that I've not actually built a kitchen cab. The closest I've made myself was the utility room cabinet which is just hardwood ply which was fine to work with. Fairly sure all the units we got from DIY kitchens were MFC though.

 

[CaptainSawdust]

Thanks for your thoughts. Birch Ply would be my go to... it's just cost.

 

[Spectric]

You will find some great looking kitchens if you do a search on the forums and very sound advice from people who make kitchens for a living, doctor Bob and Cabinet man come to mind and the knowledge can really help in not making the mistakes you might have otherwise. There is a real wealth of info on everything from materials to fixing it together around here so plenty to keep you busy.

 

[Spectric]

I like Birch ply as it has a nice flat finish and does not make all that horrible dust you get from MDF, it is more expensive but the way I look at it is that if a job will take ten hours then it will take ten hours using decent material or cheaper stuff within reason so it's better to use the time to get the better outcome.

 

[monster]

I have just used MFC to make my kitchen carcasses and think its a sensible choice for kitchen cabinets as its the surface fit pre-finshed, is hard wearing, is very flat and stable, is perfect for wiping down and you don't need to paint or finish it in any way. If you buy a good quality MFC such as that made by Egger it is a quality product. You also have a near infinite amount of choice of finish - both in texture and colour or pattern etc. I visited a lot of 'high end' kitchen showrooms to get ideas before I made my kitchen and most of them used MFC for the interior surfaces, deeming it to be the best option.

The only issue with Egger boards for a small DIY guy like me is they come in such large sizes 10' x 5' essentially and are very heavy, I can handle 8' x 4' boards, but Egger boards are a step to far for me! - There are however companies around that will sell you the boards cut exactly to the dimensions on your cut list using CNC machinery that ensures everything arrives to you exactly the right size and nice and square. They also offer edge banding as well, although I went a face frame route so did not need that option. This is what I did and I bought from a company called Cutwrights and the over the phone advice and the overall service was great and really helped me get started on the project. If you have a look at my recent kitchen build thread on here you can see some of the pics of the Egger board I used.

This is the link to Cutwrights:
https://www.cutwrights.com/new/home