What wood to use for painted cabinets

[JohnW]

My son just bought a new house (fixer-upper) and I will be making him a pantry cabinet to match his existing cabs which are face frame with simple frame and panel doors. They are painted and I've only done cherry cabs. Also will be making some case and trim pieces to match, which again, are painted. I'm thinking poplar for the solid wood parts and possibly sandy ply for the box construction.

Anyone have an opinion on what type of wood and plywood to use?

 

[JimD]

Depends some on what the other cabinets look like but Sandeply is not as smooth as poplar, or maple, or cherry. Painting cherry should be a sin but plain maple, maybe. Baltic birch isn't cheap but it would paint nicely and is good to work with. Norm used to use "medium density overlay" which was made for painted signs. Looked like softwood plywood but the outside was paper firmly glued to the wood. It would paint very well.

So I would look for MDO or Baltic birch but fall back to maple from a big box store before I used Sandeply.

 

[chris_goris]

Hands down the best wood for painted cabinetry is soft maple. Its hard, but not too hard, is extremely stable and can be sanded glass smooth. Poplar hardness varies ALOT and will not always sand smooth. I just finished my kitchen in soft maple painted and used 3/4 maple perfinished inside and painted the outsides.

 

[scsmith42]

Poplar is usually a good, economical choice.


Scott

 

[JackLeg]

​Alder works well.

 

[Berta]

Poplar and Baltic Birch ply is my choice.

 

[golfdad]

Agrees with popular or soft maple. Sand ply looks like it was belt sanded with 30 grit...not for a nice painted cabinet

 

[red]

Poplar or soft maple, both will work well for painting. For the case I would use 3/4" birch plywood prefinished one side and paint the outside to match. Sounds like a fun project. I just did my walk in pantry using soft maple and prefinished maple plywood.

Red