Best PLY to use. Hi guys. Trying to decide the best 18mm PLY to use for building kitchen wall units. Do I need a hardwood ply or will any softwood ply be OK.
Sandy, use hardwood Far Eastern there are fewer voids in it and it's less likely to delaminate in a steamy atmosphere because the glue is better quality. Have you thought about using mdf? There are many different grades and the ends are easier to work than ply.
Hi vivaro man. Thanks for the reply. Hardwood Far Eastern? Is that the Chinese stuff others tell you to avoid? I could use MDF, used it before and I find the joints are either weak or they split unless you get the pilot hole and fixings exactly right. It's probably me not using the correct method/fixings.
Was looking at ply today funny enough. Looking at the price of it Marine ply is the best lol. Doesn't warrant spending that money for cupboards There is special screws out for MDF but that dust is rancid. I'd rather work with ply and for a kitchen any moisture in mdf and it soaks like a sponge. See what others say
Kitchen wall units are normally made from MFC or melamine faced chip board. Any type of ply used is going to show grain in the face and laminations on the edge. If you want to use ply then birch ply is the one to go for. MDF is fine if painted with eggshell but you do have to be careful with your construction methods to avoid spliting, try pinning the carcass together before piloting and screwing and if you can have a clamp across where the screw is going in to stop it splitting.
You can get faced board in chipboard, ply and MDF. Egger do a good range: http://www.egger.com/UK_en/decor/?N=4294967265+4294957212&recNumber=36 Using biscuits or dominos and routing out trenches to take back panels etc. all take the pressure off the screw fixing taking the strain so less chance of splitting issues.
It quite phenomenol the amount of variety egger has and yet plain mdf painted kitchens are all the rage now.
That's because they see the glossy ad's in the upmarket magazines for companies like Smallbone etc. and want to emulate that hand made look complete with hand painted finish (and brush marks to show its hand painted).
This company is doing my sisters kitchen at the moment.... http://hannawaykitchens.com/about-us/ They have 18 different kitchens in their design collection. Their showroom is out of this world.
A lot depends on the finish and whether you fit a face frame. You can get furniture grade ply which will has a finish that you can just varnish. If you want a wood finish you can either buy "faced" plywood or laminate the visible parts. I have made units out of WBP ply with face frames and used end panels to give the outside face a better finish. I painted the insides prior to assembly and then just touched up the inside. What you need to look for is the grades of the faces rather than orign thar much http://www.tradewood.co.uk/media/a8eb56d38238402db2511b517bdf0301glossary of terms.pdf Don't use MDF for kitchen cupboards, not the best for painting unless you are really careful
avoid anything that is vinyl wrapped - the edges are a real pain to cut unless your have the sharpest of tools
Most is BB grade,(plugged) which allows patches and other knots/imperfections,whereas B grade has one good face. I'm lucky, as I have Avon Ply down the road & they stock a very wide range of ply & other sheet material, including Valchromat.
As a plywood kitchen manufacturer, we'd suggest using birch plywood for kitchen cabinets. In fact, we've written an extensive blog post on the benefits of birch ply as well as the specification we would use. I've dropped a link below. I hope you find it useful. https://woodandwire.co.uk/plywood-kitchen/