Basic cabinet selection.

[Seayfam]

AC ply
But that's just me.

[Dreamscape]

Cabinet grade has more ply's than the traditional with less or no voids inside. You will pay a few bucks more, but it's stronger. I would choose A/C over B/C, it's exterior grade and has a better surface face.

[libby]

Ok, I'll try to get this straight, cody says to look for "lumber core" plywood, he says it has no veneers to be used as filler but is actual wood that is edge glued with a veneer covering, the thickness of the veneer covering, also known as the 'wear layer' determines the level of quality of that particular sheet, what he does in most cases is to build up actual panels of solid wood, instead of plywood for some of his higher priced work, he has a machine that drills a pair of holes about an inch apart every few inches along the edge of the boards and he uses spiral wound dowels not straight fluted dowels along with edge glueing to form the panels, he says that you guys would understand the process, kind of old school. Also that dovetailing the drawers makes them grow stronger as time goes by.

[belfert]

One of the things about store bought cabinets is they almost always have a panel on each side of every cabinet.  This can add up to a lot of extra weight.  Custom cabinets can be built as a whole row of cabinets with only a single panel seperating the cabinets.

My house has store bought cabinets and my parent's house has custom built cabinets.  Most folks wouldn't know the difference by looking, but I can tell the difference in my house.  Not that my cabinets are not really nice, they are.  The builder choose some of the most expensive store bought cabinets out there.  He normally uses custom cabinets, but did not to save money on my house.  (Mine is the least expensive house the builder ever did.)

[Ericbsc]

Look for a local company that supplies to the cabinetmakers. They will carry the plywood you need. Where lowes charges $65.00 for a sheet of 3/4" cabinet grade oak, they should be around 45. Cabinet grade plywood is a totally different animal from ac/bc. It is presanded smooth. Run a cloth across the other and see how much fuzz is left on it. I prefer the prefinished version. It available finished on or both sides. It is finished with vu cured precat. You can pour laquer thinner on it and it will not affect the finish. If you do not put raised panels on the ends of your cabinets, you will need to put either 1/4", or3/4" raw plywood or solid on the ends. then just run the face frame a little longer to cover. The cabinet plywoods are veneered not to warp in a free standing state. Leave a pc. of bc/ac in the sun for a few hours and you will see what happens. Hope this helps.

[luvrbus]

Like Cody I go for the dowels and dovetail old school I know ,I have the dowel jig works on the same principal as the Kreg that was copied from the dowel jig for screws I just don't like the screws on the face just my way I think they are ugly when you open the doors lol I even tried to hide mine with dowels   


good luck

[Ericbsc]

I have all dovetail drawers in my bus also. I think it is the best joint system. The Pocket screw system is my choice for assembly of face frame. As for attaching face frames to boxes, I like dowels, or pocket screws from the back side. Makes the face much cleaner.

[Dave5Cs]

I would tell my wife what size cabinets I needed, and she would hit Craigslist and find some that someone want to get taken out or were on the sidewalk that were at least that size and close to the right color and had to be oak and solid arch doors. I would go pick them up, cut them to fit, glue and Kreg them if needed and sand them down. re-stain to match and put them in. Made table to match and put baby lock on some so they won't come open when moving.

Ones in the bedroom I custom made the boxes with furniture grade oak 3/4" ply and found door to cut to fit. Clear laquered all in satin finish and put in SS grab handles.
Tile (Leftover from jobs) countertops. Done Cost 80.00, 2 pieces of Plywood.

Dave

[FloridaCliff]

Dave,

Way to "Think outside the BOX", so to speak.

Great Idea!

Cliff