Kitchen cabinets - Use wood laminate to make?

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Seasider48
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:11 am

I was wondering if anybody had used wood laminate planks to build kitchen cabinets? I am thinking of making built-in-place cabinets and using the prefinished solid wood/wood laminate planks for the doors and outside surfaces. Plywood and lumber would be used for the structure.

I was wondering how the planks are to work with? I was thinking of using the matching stair edge pieces as the outer edge for the doors - just a simple frame - possible mitered if I can find a miter saw cheap. The shelves of the cabinets on the inside would be that white melamine plank.

Also, do the planks clean easily or do they get stained when you spill something on them?

I'm thinking the cost would not be that bad - especially compared to buying cabinets - even from cabinets from Craigslist, etc. There always seem to be some of the planks for sale and even if I used more than one color - say one for the frame and another for the inset on the frame, it would still be (hopefully) pretty and durable.

Thanks!
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

The problem of using laminate for cabinets is it chips easily when cutting.
You will need a good to high quality table or chop say and a new/very sharp carbide tipped blade with a high number of teeth. Possibly 60-80 teeth not exactly sure of the number. I believe there is a specialty blade for cutting laminate.
The end results will depend a lot on the quality of tools used as with any project unless you are very highly proficient wood worker. In that case deficiencies in tools may be over come. I have been building furniture for 30 years and tend to shy away from laminate but have used it in some cases but made sure I had the proper tools on hand to achieve acceptable results.

If you build a solid wood face frame that overhangs all the cabinet front edges by 1/16 of an inch on all end units you may be able to hide most very small chipping or you could touch up chips with paint.

Go for it. What have you got to lose.

With planning you could also get your lumber store to make the majority of major cuts at a small cost leaving only the hidden areas for you to do. They seem to have quality equipment that cuts with a bare minimum of chipping.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Do your self a favor and look around. I found the "assemble yourself" cabinets. They are a better quality cabinet than the low end assembled cabinets at the big box stores and cost less. I did our entire kitchen for around $1200.

Laminate will be hard to work with between cutting & attaching it. Remember that it is not real wood.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

As Greg points out attaching laminate together is another major problem. You will need a good quality router and carbide bits to make dado's etc for gluing.

Probably best in hindsight to just avoid laminate.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
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DaveyB
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 5:12 am
Location: Peoria, AZ

Don't forget that places like HD and Lowes will rent power tools like miter saws, routers, etc for a reasonable fee - don't buy a cheap one, rent a quality one and return it quickly to keep the rent down! :)
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