# Cabinet wood species advice



## Rpfarm25 (Apr 17, 2012)

Hey everyone new here but very excited to have joined. I have a very outdated kitchen that is in need of some updating. It's a smaller size which fueled my motivation to want to make my own cabinets. I have a lot of experience in construction and carpentry and power tools as I build new homes as well as renovate and all that good stuff. But I am new to the world of woodworking and stuff like that. 

My question is what species of wood is good to go with. I want something cheap obviously but I want to stain the wood a dark brown. Im just not sure what will be strong enough and look great. Was thinking of making it out of plywood and then putting on veneer edgebanding. But can I get a veneer that will take a stain to matchcrye rest of my cabinets. I'm sure I sound like a noob here but I have to start somewhere and want to make my first( practice set) for my garage and then do kitchen ones. Thanks in advance for steering me in the right direction.


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## jlord (Nov 16, 2009)

Do you want face frames or frameless?


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## Rpfarm25 (Apr 17, 2012)

Planning to go frameless


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

You can get the banding in real wood most of it comes with glue on the back side and it's put on with a hot iron..and yes it will take the stain to match the plywood you select.

edgebanding | eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Oak-E...880?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c649259d8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4spVN_2JvU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGYBJQUxE7Y
==


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## jlord (Nov 16, 2009)

You have Oak, Maple, Cherry, Birch etc. If you buy from Home Depot or a Lowe's type of store you will probably be limited to Oak, & Birch. Not top quality but ok for shop cabinets. You could find a decent batch there, but I buy cabinet materials from a hardwoods supplier. They will carry a large selection of materials in different grades of quality. You can also find prefinished maple for the boxes then just edge band to match your doors. 

I would not stain the inside just apply a clearcoat if you do not use the prefinished stuff. I only stain the insides if the cabinet is open or has glass doors unless requested otherwise. It's hard to find things inside of dark cabinets. Just stain everything that shows when the doors are closed. For the doors stain the whole door front & back. 

For the hardwood for the doors I like to start with 4/4 (hardwood supplier). It is usually closer to 13/16" so by the time you assemble & sand & finish you are close to 3/4". Using 3/4" s4s material from Home Depot you will probably end up thinner than 3/4".

You can pick up some inexpensive DVD's from Somerfeld tools that will show you how to build your cabinet & doors.

Marc Sommerfeld's New Expanded DVD Collection


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## Rpfarm25 (Apr 17, 2012)

Oh right on that's awesome thank you. Any idea what species?


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## Rpfarm25 (Apr 17, 2012)

Whoops posted that one a little late very informative thank you!!


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## jlord (Nov 16, 2009)

Rpfarm25 said:


> Oh right on that's awesome thank you. Any idea what species?


Depends on your budget & quality of product you want. For stain grade I like Cherry or Maple. I build mostly face frame cabinets, but for the boxes I like Maple with a clear coat. For the drawer boxes I prefer Hard Maple. If an applied front is used (as in an overlay style). If there is no applied front used the front drawer part will match the species of the doors & the other 3 parts will be hard maple. Some people want the box made from same material as the doors like oak for an example but it still just gets a clearcoat. Get some of the Cabinetmaking Dvd's & things will be much clearer. I think Sommerfeld even has a deal for a bundle of Dvd's 10 for $39.90.

http://www.sommerfeldtools.com/Instructional-DVDs/products/4/2/0


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## grandpagrizzly (Sep 13, 2011)

I just replaced all my kitchen cabinets and we used Alder. It is nice to work with and takes stain very well. You can even get faced ply with alder facing. 
GG


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