MDF or PLY

I am currently, in the slow process of rebuilding my kitchen, from start to finish, enjoying the challenge, but not the mess or slow process.

I have completed all of the cabinets with melamine and have come to the most important part of the kitchen, the doors. I was going to start with timber and build them, I want a clean modern look, so I have decided to purchase sheets veneer, possibly Tassy oak, they come in the thickness I need of 17mm.

My question is, what do you think would be the best to use, ie; mdf veneer or ply veneer, I am inclined to go towards Ply, thinking it will be better for a kitchen as in water proof, but then again, if the kitchen is made properly then water spalsh would not be an issue, hence the MDF, which is cheaper....

Which way to go?????

One other question, I remember seeing a hint on finishing gyprock, as in using a wet sponge, has anyone tried this, I am in the 'orrible' process at the moment, and to avoid the dust would be GREAT..

Ta muchly

gdf26562, Follow what the professionals do, most of the cupboard doors I have seen are made from MDF, If you are worried about water splash, then you are using to much water! :p

Using the wet sponge on plasterboard joints works a treat, have done it, and will do it on my next lot of plastering.

I too am doing the "new" kitchen thing, although I am re-modifying a second hand kitchen.

Kev

I had some plasterwork done at work recently - fire resistant board lining the inside and outside of a computer room. I asked them specifically to sponge the joints because of the amount of working equipment in there and the damage the dust could do. They advised against it pretty strongly saying the finish was not as good, but agreed in the end.

They were right - the sponged finish on the inside of the room is not as smooth as the sanded finish on the outside. Of course in this case it's a computer room, so who really cares? In a house I doubt very much I'd use it - though of course sponging seems a good way to do the worst of the work evening out the joints, with only a light sanding needed afterwards.

On the MDF vs ply debate my take would be it's probably the difference between it lasting 20 years or 40 years. I reckon MDF with veneer and solid wood edging would last as long as most people would want out of a kitchen anyway.

I just use a damp sponge to remove whatever i can and when it's dry just sand it a bit. It gave a good result for me.

In a past life in Canada, I worked in marketing for a fine millwork manufacturer. Millwork tends to be a term not used much in Australia, but the kind of stuff this company did was hotel lobbies, fine restaurants, etc. Invariably the owners for whom we did the timber interiors would cringe when they saw us installing beautiful timber panels of thinly veneered MDF. "I thought that I was getting solid timber!" they would protest.

My job was to prove that veneered MDF offered the best result they could get (for the money they were paying), even better that veneer over ply. We used a number of samples to make the case. Solid timber reflects all of the "flaws" created by nature, veneered ply invariably telescopes the flaws in the ply through to the veneered surface. MDF a perfectly flat and stable surface allowed us to produce the kind of flaw free surface that our customers wanted.

Go MDF!

There was an article in one of the recent woodwork mags and the author basically said that you cannot get a better substrate for veneer than MDF.

The hardest part (if you can call it hard) is the edge-banding.

Another alternative is to make frame and panel doors, using solid timber for the frame and veneered MDF for the panels. That way you don't have to edge-band. They will last forever ;)

BTW don't make the mistake of thinking all plywood is waterproof. Ordinary ply will fall apart if it gets wet too.

Sorry to hijack the topic, but where would you recommend buying veneered MDF from? I'm in Canberra but a general idea of the sort of places likely to carry it would be great.

Cheers,
John

Thanks guys, you have made up my mind, I am quite happy to go with MDF, and its cheaper too.

And a sponging I will go, saves me dusting, but I will finish off with a light sand just to make sure

Thanks again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jshaw

Sorry to hijack the topic, but where would you recommend buying veneered MDF from? I'm in Canberra but a general idea of the sort of places likely to carry it would be great.

Cheers,
John

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Try Brims. Don't know if they have a Canberra outlet, but they are pretty big so I'm sure they've sold into ACT before

Wet brushing is a great way to clean up cornice work also in those hard to reach corners. If dust is a problem after sanding above a hard floor spread some wet/damp sawdust on it before sweeping. BHG tip and works great. My parents used car paint over mdf doors for kitchen and it looked great. I know you are after a wood look but its another option. Dunno about cost as we did it in our own shop. Post some pictures of the end result.

Never used those before. Water shouldn't be problem for the doors unless you plan to spray clean you kitchen every so often. I've used HMR melamine and the're still standing strong after 16 years;), except for the bottom of the doors in front of the sink-looks like its been kicked all too often when doing the dishes. For the base (where the cabinets sit ontop of) I just used 2x4 oregons (painted black)-its withstood splashes from the years of mopping the kitchen floors. For the top (where the sink sits), I've painted two coats of clear polyutherene where there's exposed HMR chipboard, in case water seeps thru the edge of the sink and the back of the top adjacent to the wall. Beware of white emelamine edging, mine has turned a bit yellow with age.
Looks like I'll be rebuilding the kitchen (again) soon.

how good is this forum? :)

One thing on the excellent advice given - if you intend to "edge-band" .... fine, though an alternative could be to create a rebate along the four edges of the door panel and then wrap each one in solid ash - only needs to be 15mm or so and perhaps with a small quirk (step) to accent the join as opposed to trying to disguise it

Just a thought - but one I have seen effectively used in the past for the reason that the owner was concerned about the possible, eventual chipping out of the edge-banding - I can't find the pic at the moment, but the designer contrasted the Ash outers by staining them - they had fire engine red accents throughout the kitchen so fixed red anodized knobs - hard to describe, but the finished product looked great.

Mdf definitely as ply will almost certainly warp sooner or later.

edging
I recon solid timber is the go you should be able to get a nice flush finish on the edging without too much troulbe. I trim with a hand plane till very close then sand flush with a ROS when I prep the faces.

As for the plasterboard thing the random orbit sander with dust extraction. Best ever, clean fast & smooth. Use a domestic vac with a paper dust bad & open it up & flick the bag regular as the plaster will plug up the bag prety quick. 120gritt on the ros is all you need.

HMR chipboard is more stable than mdf or ply as a benchtop