Long plywood kitchen cabinets

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I find mdf fairly unsatisfactory as carcass material. it's heavy dusty and difficult to join. ok on say a door panel. I don't really like the effect when it's painted either. I'm taken with poplar ply as it's light. birch or maple faced is absolutely super. probably better than birch bb. it's much nicer finished( with wb)than mrmdf which tends to absorb and raise fibres.
 
What you have there if I'm not mistaken is moisture resistant mdf. I find it odd that its advertised vas exterior grade as it will absorb water, albeit not as quickly as standard. You can buy Tricoya mdf that I believe you can use externally without issue. But the cost is eye watering.

Using moisture resistant for interior applications like kitchens, bathrooms and any cabinet work is fine. Use extraction as much as you can, even if it's a Henry. Seal and decorate it well though.
Exterior MDF is very much a "thing", different to MR MDF. It's not as good as Tricoya, but better than MR.
 
Trend extractors are great. You won't be disappointed with one of these. I had a couple years ago. I didn't much like the Dewalt I had for a while, but they may have improved in 15 years. I'm on Festool ones atm but acctually prefer my 2010 midi to the M class one I bought this year.

Enjoy your new tools friend, and take care when using them.
Thanks, I'll definitely pull the trigger on the Trend! This is exactly the information I came here for.

If anything, I'm possibly a little bit over cautious around spinning metal. I've put off buying a tablesaw until now because kickback sounded so scary; but if I'm respectful of the tool then I think I can minimize the risk. It probably isn't any more dangerous than a router table.
 
I find mdf fairly unsatisfactory as carcass material. it's heavy dusty and difficult to join. ok on say a door panel. I don't really like the effect when it's painted either. I'm taken with poplar ply as it's light. birch or maple faced is absolutely super. probably better than birch bb. it's much nicer finished( with wb)than mrmdf which tends to absorb and raise fibres.
So, in frame and panel construction, it's fine, but as the overall structure, it's less satisfactory?

I am trying to decide if I'm going to go f&p on the bookcases. I do prefer the look, but cutting those mortice and tenon joints might be a bit of a pain.
 
I usually " fake" frame and panel using thin strips nailed on tbh.
 

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I usually " fake" frame and panel using thin strips nailed on tbh.
I was thinking of faking it too, the front stile is the only really important frame component as it's the only part visible from every angle.

I'd love to get a Domino but I don't think that'll fit the budget.
 
domino's are OK but clever design will allow you to conceal where it's screwed together. I do use domino's but don't use them all the time. screws n glue in birch ply give a very strong joint.
 
One option I'm considering is to use 12mm or 15mm sheets, making individual cabinets, screw them together in place and then face the 24 to 30mm edge. The screw heads holding the top batten, shelves and bottom will be on the inside where no-one will ever see, and the screws holding the two cabinets together can be hidden behind the hinge.

EDIT: @johnnyb after rereading your comment, I think this might be what you were suggesting?
 
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The first time I came across exterior MDF was 30 years ago when it was the main cladding material for the Orangery at the British Garden Exhibit in the 1992 Floriade. It was being hailed as the ultimate shop fitting material and known (to us at least) as Medite.
 
Hello. I would like to make my own kitchen cabinets. I want to minimise having the double vertical walls which are a consequence of the standard units and the spacers which are required where no unit will fit, effectively creating a made to measure kitchen.

I would like to use birch plywood for the units, or similar. I anticipate having the ply laminate "end grain" visible as a feature, rather than hiding it with inserts or tape. I might use melamine faced ply in places, particularly the inside bottom faces on which items rest. The doors might also be melamine or fenix ntm faced.

I am wondering if i can use 2400mm long sections to form the tops and bottoms of the units and then have the sides inserted between those, either in dados cut into the long pieces, or fixed by one of the other common methods, dowels or confirmat type screws. As I will not be creating feet for the cabinets by using full height walls I could use plastic legs to support the cabinets and attach them to the walls at the rear, but it is not out of the question to use wooden legs if these would be better.

Is there an obvious reason not to do it this way or is it a reasonable design choice?
Works fine.
20211026_090734.jpg
 
Track saw and pocket screws is the current plan tool wise. If I can avoid dados it seems like it makes my life much easier.

Have you made your kitchen @Spectric , I saw some of your deliberations in older threads.

I built ply cabinets for my kitchen. Dado works fine and is helpful for assembly as long as the ply remains flat and there is just a bit of room in the dadoes for glue. If the joint is tight in dry fit, you will be in for a battle at glue up and there will be lengths to deal with that can't easily be clamped together.

if you can design things so that parts are glued if you're intending to glue - in a couple of phases on a really large cabinet, getting partial glue ups square and tight to aid subsequent, you'll appreciate it.

at the time I made my kitchen, I'd worked 20 years before in a factory where despite using cheap sides and backs, everything was rabbet and dado on the box with frames applied (different than you're mentioning) so I did what I was familiar with but dadoed the internal parts, too, which made glue up harder, but the boxes are incredibly rigid now and won't sag. that also allowed use of less hard ply (cherry face, poplar lumber core) and less thick (1/2 inch).

too, most of the feedback I got was "that's an antiquated and overly difficult way to make kitchen cabinets. Get engineered materials and screws made for them.

it definitely would've been easier.

Another option that was done in the US and may still be done custom in some cases is building a frame with lumber as a skeleton for layout and then building anything nonstandard to it. the kitchen that I removed was a combination of birch ply, but all of the nonstandard areas made to get everything to fit over wide spans was clearly partially built in situ and not in full boxes.

Not having a second knowledgeable person present for glue up, though, was the only real big thing I'd change - as impractical as it may be commercially to build cabinets with strong glued dadoes and rebate edges - it is amateur impractical only if things are too tight and glue gets a grip almost right away.
 
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I built ply cabinets for my kitchen. Dado works fine and is helpful for assembly as long as the ply remains flat and there is just a bit of room in the dadoes for glue. If the joint is tight in dry fit, you will be in for a battle at glue up and there will be lengths to deal with that can't easily be clamped together.

if you can design things so that parts are glued if you're intending to glue - in a couple of phases on a really large cabinet, getting partial glue ups square and tight to aid subsequent, you'll appreciate it.

at the time I made my kitchen, I'd worked 20 years before in a factory where despite using cheap sides and backs, everything was rabbet and dado on the box with frames applied (different than you're mentioning) so I did what I was familiar with but dadoed the internal parts, too, which made glue up harder, but the boxes are incredibly rigid now and won't sag. that also allowed use of less hard ply (cherry face, poplar lumber core) and less thick (1/2 inch).

too, most of the feedback I got was "that's an antiquated and overly difficult way to make kitchen cabinets. Get engineered materials and screws made for them.

it definitely would've been easier.

Another option that was done in the US and may still be done custom in some cases is building a frame with lumber as a skeleton for layout and then building anything nonstandard to it. the kitchen that I removed was a combination of birch ply, but all of the nonstandard areas made to get everything to fit over wide spans was clearly partially built in situ and not in full boxes.

Not having a second knowledgeable person present for glue up, though, was the only real big thing I'd change - as impractical as it may be commercially to build cabinets with strong glued dadoes and rebate edges - it is amateur impractical only if things are too tight and glue gets a grip almost right away.
I used the extended open time glue from Titebond when laminating up the top for my Holtzapfel workbench, and I think I rushed more than I needed to.
 

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