Making Plywood Slab Cabinet Doors

This series offers a consistently inconsistent look to your design.

Making plywood slab cabinet doors.

Columbia s appalachian traditions line answers the need for the edge glued lumber or plank matched look perfectly. Make a no fuss case using your tablesaw. Here s a classic way to put together a strong good looking door without making any unsightly holes. Question i ve made some slab doors out of fir plywood for a small kitchen and i m concerned about the doors warping as some have started.

For cabinet doors a plywood face can give you a finished look regardless of the type of plywood you ve chosen to use for the box construction. Start by ripping two side pieces to the. Plywood core doors are dimensionally stable and even raw mdf will resist warping as long as the laminate or thermofoil covering remains intact. To make a simple slab door start by measuring the dimensions for your door.

Edge banding is of a matching wood species. While slab style cabinet doors can be built from plywood or melamine with the edges banded it is relatively simple to build slab doors from solid wood. For flatness and stability mdf core material is a better choice. A banded edge door may have a rough seam that may show through the paint stain when the door is finished.

It s a good idea to make your doors 1 8 in. Slab plywood doors slab plywood doors are real wood veneer over plywood with a banded edge. Solid hardwood too if properly sealed with stain or paint should not warp. Probably the most inexpensive and versatile style of a cabinet door is the slab.

If you want a woodgrain look use medium density fiberboard on a painted or covered surface. Sources for slab doors. Make a list of the parts of your diy shaker cabinet doors before you begin. They can be finished with paint stain followed by polyurethane or any other finish you deem appropriate.

Then cut the door out of a sheet of plywood or your chosen material with a circular or table saw. For a base cabinet less than 4 wide you can cut all the parts except the back and toekick from one 3 4 4 8 sheet of plywood or mdf. Warping plywood cabinet doors cabinetmakers agree that plywood is not suitable for making doors because of its tendency to warp.