Replies

1. 
   mrbird90 | Feb 11, 2009 03:14am | #1

   I occassionally make drawers for a local cabinet shop and they almost always specify 5/8" thick sides, 1/4" bottoms. The sides are soft maple and the bottoms birch plywood. The 5/8" sides are so the screws used to fasten the slides do not bulge the wood on the inside of the drawer. With 1/2" sides this is a possibility if the screws are a little long.

1. 
   montec24 | Feb 11, 2009 03:31pm | #3

   Thanks, I think I will go with the 5/8 Maple. Do you know what they finished it with by any chance?

   Dana

1. 
   mrbird90 | Feb 11, 2009 04:53pm | #5

   The local cabinet company sprays their drawers with a couple  coats of laquer. I usually finish mine with a water base polyurethane as it dries quickly and I can put on two coats in one day.

   Edited 2/11/2009 8:56 am ET by mrbird90

1. 
   Frank Vucolo | Feb 11, 2009 07:03pm | #6

   Lacquer is good too. It dries without a lingering odor.

   I'm not set up to spray, but if I only have a few drawers, I've used the lacquer available in a spray can. Works great, saves time, dries fast and leaves a better finish than the water-based poly. It's just not as practical when you have a whole kitchen's worth of drawers.

    

   Frank

2. 
   Frank Vucolo | Feb 11, 2009 05:47am | #2

   Dana

   For kitchen cabinets, I like the idea of 1/2 or 5/8 solid sides from either poplar or maple. I think it makes for a more refined finished product. The plywood just doesn't look like a proper drawer to me. For the labor you put in and the material you use overall, the cost to move up to solid sides, for a one-off job for yourself just isn't that big a deal.

   If you use the self-closing or slow-close undermount drawer glides, the 5/8 sides with 1/2 plywood bottom is a good idea. I find that those glides require a beefier drawer as the mechanisms have some umph behind them. If you go with glides that do not have a self-close mechanism, 1/2 sides and 1/4 plywood bottom is fine.

   When finishing the drawer boxes, I would recommend you consider a water-based poly. If you use an oil or oil/varnish product, the odor will be with you for a long long time in those drawers.

   Good luck with the project.

   Frank

1. 
   montec24 | Feb 11, 2009 03:33pm | #4

   Thanks, yeah I am using self closing glides and think 58 is the way to go.  Water based poly sounds right as well. I was hoping ot get away without finishing the inside but this is better.

   Dana

2. 
   WillGeorge | Feb 13, 2009 03:13pm | #14

   The plywood just doesn't look like a proper drawer to me.

   And then again many factory 'High End' grade cabinets use the 'multi ply' plywood.

   And Poplar is a wonderful wood! Never given the respect it truly deserves.. OK, so it dents and does not stain that easy. My opinion of Maple also! But then again, I am just me thinking.

1. 
   Frank Vucolo | Feb 13, 2009 07:14pm | #15

   And then again many factory 'High End' grade cabinets use the 'multi ply' plywood.

   Will,

   I think you hit on it there. High end factory cabinets still have to be mass produced with drawer parts being cut out by the thousands on automated equipment.

   When a craftsman is making drawers for a one-off kitchen I think he or she should aspire to something higher. The target should be something better - someting with more character - than a high end factory kitchen.

   The result of a custom kitchen planned and made by a craftsman should exceed that of a collection of SKUs shipped in boxes to the jobsite.

   Maple and Poplar are fine for kitchen drawers. And if you use the primary wood for the front pin board (cherry, mahogany, walnut, etc.) it really pops nicely when dovetailed. It also makes for a good look when you apply the drawer front. When assembled, the eye connects the pin board and the drawer front and "approximates" a rabbited half-blind DT.

   My favorite drawer side wood is quarter sawn sycamore. But that's a little overboard for kitchen cabinets and reserved for furniture.

   Mario Rodriguez has an excellent article in the current Popular Woodworking. While it focuses on drawers for fine furniture, the idea is that the quality and detail put into the drawer should match the quality and detail of the piece it belongs to. (I paraphrase, of course.) I think that's a wise approach.

   Frank

    

1. 
   Shoemaker1 | Feb 14, 2009 02:40am | #16

   If you use plywood use a 1/4 inch edgeband and break the edge. If the drawer is painted use something that will not linger, I use good old shellac for unpainted work. If I have to spray laquer I do it outside with a can.I have seen 1/4 inch melmine drawer bottoms sag under the weight of knives and forks. Baltic birch ply is great. If it is heavy load I glue a couple strips across the bottom for insurance.If you have not got to far yet, those new undermount slides are just the cat's meow. Clean look and short of a piston fit they just are classic.

1. 
   montec24 | Feb 14, 2009 06:36am | #17

   Thanks everyone, the drawers are built with 5/8"" maple sides and 1/2" maple plywood bottoms.  While I was hoping got get away without having to finish the drawers they are going in my own kitchen and I would be pretty upset if I did not like the look everytime I open them.  Are you talking about the Blum undermounts? They are quite pricey! I went  with the new Rockler ones, they are sidemount and self closing and while not as quiet or smooth as the Blums they should do just fine for about half the cost. I'm working on the fronts and drawers now and should have them all installed and ready to finish Monday or Tuesday.

   Thaks again

   Dana

2. 
   Frank Vucolo | Feb 14, 2009 07:30am | #18

   Dana,

   Glad it worked out. They sound great.

   How about some pictures when you're done?

3. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Feb 11, 2009 07:20pm | #7

   Prefinished drawer sides are a big time-saver.    But don't use dovetails on plywood.    In my experience, they chip out too much.  Instead, use a lock-rabbet joint.   It is sturdy enough (in plywood).  The joinery doesn't penetrate the visible faces of the material, so chip-out isn't an issue.   And it is fast to make -- you can do it entirely on a tablesaw.

   And while I'm recommending stuff, use 1/4" melamine for the drawer bottoms.   It is tough.  The edges are covered, so you don't need to fiddle with them.   And it is really 1/4" thick, not 5.2 mm,  so it  fits the groove in the prefinished sides.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 2/11/2009 11:22 am ET by Jamie_Buxton

1. 
   observer | Feb 11, 2009 09:34pm | #8

   I disagree on using 1/4" drawer bottoms of any material in a kitchen. It is very flimsy and flexible and makes the kitchen seem cheap.I build a lot of custom kitchen cabinets and always use 1/2" in either melamine or pre-finished ply. For melamine, the price difference is negligible and the edges are easily rabbeted to fit any size dado on the sides or the existing dado can be enlarged to match the bottom material. The ply costs more, but doesn't amount to a significant increase in the total materials cost for a kitchen.

1. 
   montec24 | Feb 12, 2009 12:56am | #9

   Thanks all! The sides are 5/8" maple, I started them today and will use water based poly to finish. The bottom is 1/2" but I havent decided if I will use pre finished or finish with the sides. I think I am leaning towards unfinished maple ply and poly.

   Thanks

   Dana

2. 
   Frank Vucolo | Feb 12, 2009 08:23am | #10

   I disagree on using 1/4" drawer bottoms of any material in a kitchen. It is very flimsy and flexible and makes the kitchen seem cheap.

   I gotta disagree with you there observer. I think it is the melamine and plywood sides that makes a drawer flimsy. A 1/4 inch plywood bottom, finished and well fitted, is plenty strong for all but very large pot drawers.

    

    

2. 
   oldusty | Feb 12, 2009 06:19pm | #11

   Jamie ,

          The concern I have with using prefinished drawer box materials or any other cabinet box parts is what glue do you use on the prefinished products ?

          dusty

1. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Feb 12, 2009 07:20pm | #12

   I don't attempt to put a glue line on the prefinished surfaces.   At the corners of the drawer box I use a lock rabbet joint.   The joint's glue faces are inside the plywood, where there is no finish.   The prefinished drawer bottom fits in dadoes in the drawer sides, and so is captured mechanically.

4. 
   JeffHeath | Feb 12, 2009 10:48pm | #13

   Sides 1/2" soft maple.

   Bottoms  3/8" baltic birch or apple ply.

   This is what I always use.

   Plywood drawer sides look tacky as hell.  If it's going in your kitchen, you're not saving anything over the long run, so do it right.

   Jeff

5. 
   user-7543263 | Sep 28, 2019 08:26am | #19

   For kitchen cabinets, I like the idea of 5/8 solid sides.