Cabinet doors/drawer - baltic birch?

jeff easter wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm building cabinets for my kitchen and am having trouble figuring out
> what to use for the door/drawer face material. I like the idea of
> baltic birch with either paint or laminate on both the inside and
> outside. I would like the face to be a color with the edges wood.

You aren't going to like this answer, but if you're going through all
the time, trouble and expense to make your own kitchen cabinents, I
don't think you should use plywood doors and drawer fronts, especially
if they are unbanded. Or perhaps I'm reading it wrong. Even if you
paint the edges, I don't think it will look very good.

It's not that big of a deal to edgeband plywood with solid wood. Every
night before you go to bed, just glue up a few pieces (if that's all
you have clamps/time/space) for.

Our local farmer's market has a Surplus Building Supply store- run by
Habitat for Humanity. They have doors for 3-5$ each that cost 70$ at
other locations- cherry, oak, hickory. You might have to see which
ones they have coming in more often than not but you might be able to
pick up a near complete set, depending on how many you need, for a
song.

In Rochester there were about 6 of the type I use in my kitchen. Had I
known that when I built it...


jeff easter wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm building cabinets for my kitchen and am having trouble figuring out
> what to use for the door/drawer face material. I like the idea of
> baltic birch with either paint or laminate on both the inside and
> outside. I would like the face to be a color with the edges wood. I
> don't want to edgeband all the doors/drawer faces because I might route
> a detail into the edge and I don't have space/time for all the glue
> ups. Baltic birch, 13-ply, would provide an edge I find reasonable to
> sand and finish. I am worried that the door will warp. My experience is
> with Blum and Hetich hinges so that is what I would like to use. I
> don't want the faces to be a mess in a year because they all moved a
> bit more than the hinges could handle.
>
> What thoughts and recommendations do you folks have? Are there other
> plywoods that would be more stable with edges that look presentable? My
> local lumber yard seems pretty good (Allegheny Plywood).
>
> Thanks for your time!
> -Jeff

I would not do the doors at all. YOu can order almost any
door known to man for a fairly reasonable price from any
number of sources.

There are many shops set up to nothing but doors and do
it well and fast.

You can spend your time on the finish and end up with
a decent looking kitchen.

The style cabinet you describing was last built about
1961.

If you want cheap(frugal) order some of the very pretty
CNC done mdf doors.

http://www.mdfdoors.com/?gclid=CLu12ZqqvIYCFR0NGAodZwvRQA

http://www.wholesalecabinetdoors.com/

http://www.cabinetmart.com/cat-doors.html

and there are about a million more folks who do the same thing.



jeff easter wrote:

> Hi all,
> I'm building cabinets for my kitchen and am having trouble figuring out
> what to use for the door/drawer face material. I like the idea of
> baltic birch with either paint or laminate on both the inside and
> outside. I would like the face to be a color with the edges wood. I
> don't want to edgeband all the doors/drawer faces because I might route
> a detail into the edge and I don't have space/time for all the glue
> ups. Baltic birch, 13-ply, would provide an edge I find reasonable to
> sand and finish. I am worried that the door will warp. My experience is
> with Blum and Hetich hinges so that is what I would like to use. I
> don't want the faces to be a mess in a year because they all moved a
> bit more than the hinges could handle.
>
> What thoughts and recommendations do you folks have? Are there other
> plywoods that would be more stable with edges that look presentable? My
> local lumber yard seems pretty good (Allegheny Plywood).
>
> Thanks for your time!
> -Jeff
>

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:35:11 -0700, jeff easter wrote:

> Hi all,
> I'm building cabinets for my kitchen and am having trouble figuring out
> what to use for the door/drawer face material. I like the idea of
> baltic birch with either paint or laminate on both the inside and
> outside. I would like the face to be a color with the edges wood. I
> don't want to edgeband all the doors/drawer faces because I might route
> a detail into the edge and I don't have space/time for all the glue
> ups. Baltic birch, 13-ply, would provide an edge I find reasonable to
> sand and finish. I am worried that the door will warp. My experience is
> with Blum and Hetich hinges so that is what I would like to use. I
> don't want the faces to be a mess in a year because they all moved a
> bit more than the hinges could handle.
>
> What thoughts and recommendations do you folks have? Are there other
> plywoods that would be more stable with edges that look presentable? My
> local lumber yard seems pretty good (Allegheny Plywood).
>
> Thanks for your time!
> -Jeff

I've used baltic birch for some shop cabinet doors. It warped about 3/16
inch. Not enough to make me replace the doors (yet!) but enough that it
would seriously mess up a set of kitchen cabinets. Thank goodness they
were utility cabinets. I'd suggest another approach. Other posters have
had some good ideas.

D. G. Adams

"jeff easter" wrote...
> I like the idea of
> baltic birch with either paint or laminate on both the inside and
> outside. I would like the face to be a color with the edges wood.

IMO, baltic birch is not dimensionally stable, and will warp if used as
doors or laminate door substrate. It's often warped right off the truck.

Years ago, everybody carried lumber core. Funiture shops used it all the
time for tops and doors. Super stable, and was basically a 4x8 of
edge-glued boards with crossbanding & veneer on both sides. Made my saw
sled from oak lumber core and it's still going strong.

Go down to the yard and tell em you want lumber core, and you ain't leaving
till they order it for you. Plenty of mills still producing it.



--
Timothy Juvenal
www.tjwoodworking.com