Building Cabinets Out Of Plywood

Plywood or a solid wood panel for the door panels.

Building cabinets out of plywood.

In the interest of cost i m building my shop doors out of plywood with a decorative pine frame over them for strength and rigidity. This will give you two 3 feet wide cabinets on the ends and a 2 foot wide cabinet in the middle. Frameless cabinet construction favors a cabinet box that uses a thicker stiffer plywood to make up for the lack. As the trend toward european style frameless cabinets continues to grow many cabinet builders are discovering that the composite plywood they ve been using to build framed cabinets isn t quite doing the job as well as it should.

The doors i will be building the doors next week for the cabinets here s the plan. Birch purebond plywood full sheets are best but 2 8 2 4 or 4 4 sheets would work as well. Unless you have unlimited free time consider building your cabinets but buying your doors. Birch purebond plywood full sheets are best but 2 8 sheets would work as well.

The 3 4 plywood case eliminates panel jointing planing and glue ups. Begin with the right cabinet dimensions. Face frames cover plywood edges. To frame out the cabinets secure 8 foot 2x4s perpendicular at 36 across and 60 across.

Cabinet doors can be ordered in a variety of styles and in increments as small as 1 16 in. What you will need to build your own diy kitchen cabinets. Instead of installing upper cabinets you could simply run a long shelf across the tops of the upright cabinets. Plywood makes great shelves because it s very sturdy and stable.

The upper cabinets provide deep enclosed storage space and tie the upright cabinets together so they can t twist away from the wall. Solid wood of choice for the face frame door frame and drawer. Build the upper cabinets with the same techniques and materials used for the uprights. Plywood for the side panels bottoms and any other structural piece that won t be seen.

Overlaps on the sides let you fine tune the cabinet width during installation. Plywood won t shrink and expand like regular solid wood making it ideal for not only the cabinet carcass itself but the shelving within. Hickory 2 4 purebond plywood panels. The sample base and wall cabinets shown below have these features to make building them as simple as possible.

You ll find many door makers online search for buy cabinet doors. These doors won t win style points but will keep out the dust and clean up the overall look of the shop. Material lists for cabinets can vary from cabinet to cabinet depending on size and style but for a generic list you will need the following. Cut plywood to make the doors to fit these openings.