Cabinet Plywood Thickness?

[Mike 55]

Hi Guys,

I need to make some upper utility cabinets and a pantry type cabinet for a nook going out to my garage. It will store pantry items, excess cookware and general junk. The upper cabinets I intend to use french cleats to hols them up. The pantry cabinet will be 24 wide X 24" deep, the upper 18 wide X 15" deep X 42" high.

The price of plywood has gone crazy as we all know. So, Is it better to build from 3/4 or 1/2 plywood? The price difference is about $50 for Baltic birch ($169- 3/4" & $106 - 1/2") and $32 for birch ($92 -3/4) and $60 - 1/2". The inside I will clear coat and the frame will be painted. 

Thanks for the feedback.

Happy Holiday's. 

Mike

[Dumb_Polack]

Hi Guys,

I need to make some upper utility cabinets and a pantry type cabinet for a nook going out to my garage. It will store pantry items, excess cookware and general junk. The upper cabinets I intend to use french cleats to hols them up. The pantry cabinet will be 24 wide X 24" deep, the upper 18 wide X 15" deep X 42" high.

The price of plywood has gone crazy as we all know. So, Is it better to build from 3/4 or 1/2 plywood? The price difference is about $50 for Baltic birch ($169- 3/4" & $106 - 1/2") and $32 for birch ($92 -3/4) and $60 - 1/2". The inside I will clear coat and the frame will be painted. 

Thanks for the feedback.

Happy Holiday's. 

Mike

Hi Mike,

I've never heard of plywood in 1" thickness...usually 3/4" thick (or close to it) so I would think 3/4" is fine.  

Aren't all kitchen cabs made out of 3/4" mas thickness wood?

[Handplanesandmore]

Not common for diyers, but the thickest plys can be 1 1/4". Also many 3/4" plys I come across are slightly less than 3/4".

Simon

[museumguy]

We use 1" at work quite a bit. At the moment, we have 1" Baltic Birch. Also, we stock and sell 3 grades of 3/4" Birch. The cheap stuff, we usually use in the shop for countertops and painted pieces. The midgrade is seldom sold for some reason. Our customers that come in and request "cabinet grade" birch are sold the most expensive of the 3. The difference that I can see is a better face veneer and fewer voids in the core. Sometimes our supplier sells us Birch, sometimes Maple.

As for your original question, we also sell several lines of factory cabinets made with 1/2" plywood sides. As long as the construction methods are top notch, no issues.

[Mike 55]

Hi Mike,

I've never heard of plywood in 1" thickness...usually 3/4" thick (or close to it) so I would think 3/4" is fine.  

Aren't all kitchen cabs made out of 3/4" mas thickness wood?

Not sure where you read 1" plywood. My choices are 3/4" or 1/2". The plan is to glue and screw the cabinets together via pocket screws and via the sides.

[Handplanesandmore]

If budget was an important consideration, I'd use 1/2" and reinforce joinery where/if needed with corner strips. All of my fixed utility cabinets in the shop are made of 1/2" ply.

Most commercial kitchen cabinets sold here are made of materials somewhere between 1/2" and 3/4" in thickness.

[fredhargis]

Stock cabinets, (factory cabinets) are almost always 1/2" anymore...and I think for your application 1/2" would be fine; at least for the uppers. For the pantry I would use 3/4".

[castguy2003]

Not common for diyers, but the thickest plys can be 1 1/4". Also many 3/4" plys I come across are slightly less than 3/4".

Simon

FYI, When I was running the pattern shop we used to buy up to 2" thick pine plywood through specialty dealers. Wouldn't want to guess what a 4' x 8' sheet of that would cost now.

[Handplanesandmore]

2"!!!

Simon

[Terry W]

1/2 ply will be more than fine. Almost all stock cabinets are 1/2 ply anyway. Wall and floor cabinets are different than furniture. They get their rigidity by being mounted to the wall. Just make sure you build in some wide mounting strips and you'll be fine.