plywood or particle board?



* Posted by: Bill_Cabinetmaker (My Page) on Fri, May 28, 04 at 8:59

As a cabinetmaker we use plywood because that is what people perceive is the best quality. But here are some points to consider.

Plywood is less stable (it warps) then a man made core.

Plywood is dimensionally (thickness) all over the place, man made cores are not. 3/4" Plywood comes in from .71 to .76 thick. That’s almost 1/16th of an inch. Why should you care is the natural question? The thickness of the material effects construction. It can make the boxes go out of square. Out of square boxes make doors hard to align and drawers bind (in the worst case).

Man made material is a good use of our natural resources.

Melamine interiors are durable and easy to clean. Melamine is a low pressure laminate. Formica is a high pressure laminate. Low pressure laminate is very good for a cabinet interior.

Plywood will delaminate if it gets wet enough over time. Particle core or MDF will swell given the same amount of water.

Many plywood cores are now imported material, it can come from any number of places. The quality is not consistent. Cores used to be domestic poplar, many cores no longer are.

If I was redoing my kitchen today I would chose particle core boxes. If you want to upgrade get ¾" particle core sides. Spend the money you save on upgrades you will see and touch every day.
Carvings
Drawer boxes
Drawer glides
Decorative elements
Storage accessories
Appliances
Flooring
Lighting
The list goes on and on.

Save a tree and a buck, use man made cores.


* Posted by: groschuni on Sat, May 29, 04 at 22:03

Particleboard comes in different grades, just like plywood. Both materials are equally excellent for cabinetmaking. Both are very durable and will outlast your kitchen.

¾" thick 45lb industrial board with a thermofused white or natural hard rock maple melamine surface is typical in high-end cabinets. This is the specification you should look for. Many expensive European frameless cabinets are made with it, as well as Ikea cabinets.

Almost all particleboard used in cabinets is finished on both sides with melamine. If you do choose the melamine-surfaced industrial board, this is not some cheap particleboard like you find in home center cabinets, but rather a heavy, dense, high quality material that holds screws well, and is very dimensionally stable. Also, the melamine surface is very durable and easy to clean.

Furniture grade plywood is about 20% more expensive. It is lighter than industrial board and thus easier to install, so installers prefer it. However plywood is harder to control during manufacture and varies in thickness as much as 1/16" from one piece to the next. This makes it harder to get perfectly sized cabinets when using it.

I have both in my kitchen, which I assembled and installed myself so I am well aware of the differences. Our sink cabinet is melamine. I put a bead of caulk around the inside corner of the base to seal it and protect it in case of a leak, the same thing I would do if it were plywood to keep the plywood from delaminating. (Plywood delaminates when water erodes the glue that holds the sheets together and the water soaks into the wood and swells it.) In fact I did have a slow leak that soaked the bottom of the cabinet for about a week or two before I noticed what was happening. It cleaned up easily and there was absolutely no damage to the cabinet at all. A wood cabinet would have suffered surface damage at least unless unusual efforts had been made to protect the surface. The plywood shelves in our dish cabinet have some water damage from putting glasses in them that were wet on the bottom. I wish I had specified that the shelves should be melamine.

If you want plywood for the romance of it or because you like the look of it, get plywood, but don't kid yourself that it is really any better than industrial board. It's just more expensive because it is harder to manufacture. And remember that most of it will never be seen, since it will be hidden by drawers or stuff on the shelves.

By the way, MDF is Medium Density Fiberboard and it is made of very fine fibers, compared to particleboard, which is made from larger particles. MDF is primarily used for painted doors and such but typically is not used for cabinet cases due to the excessively heavy weight.

The idea that plywood is better is akin to the idea that titanium is better than stainless steel for a sink. Both materials are excellent and will last a lifetime. Good luck. :-)

Posted: Sat - May 29, 2004 at 08:13 PM      

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