Shaker Cabinet Doors Panel- MDF or Plywood

[ATXStorm]

Looking for advice on building kitchen shaker style cabinet door.  Do you prefer the panel to be MDF or plywood?  I plan to paint with SW W&W, then SW Pro Classic and then SW Kem Aqua.  Shaker frames will made out of 3/4 maple wood T&G with the panel being 1/4.  Your experience and thoughts are much appreciated.

 

[tjbnwi]

Use MDF, less prep work to get to the paint stage.

Space Balls or Panalign are your friend.

Tom

 

[waho6o9]

I like MDO for durability, but from your selection I'd take plywood as I prefer not

to work with MDF,

 

[mleny77]

Do you need space balls with with MDF or Plywood?  I've always heard that they don't expand like a solid wood panel will.

 

[ATXStorm]

My guess is Tom's recommendation for space balls would be so the door does not rattle, does not have to a perfect fit and you don't have to use glue.  I will need to check if I can get MDO locally.

Thank you for the replies.

Storm

 

[tjbnwi]

I'm not a fan of MDF either, in this situation it's better for finish than plywood.

MDO is very hard to get in 1/4" (at least around here it is).

The Space Balss are to prevent rattling. I'm so use to cutting the panel for SB's they'd be loose if I didn't use them.

Tom

 

[Brian Livingstone]

Hi,

I just refaced a kitchen, sixteen new doors, shaker style.  I  used hard maple for the stiles and rails, with a MDF panel.  I used 1/2 inch MDF.  The doors turned out nice, and not too expensive.  I dominoed the rails and stiles together, clamped them together, then with my 1400 cut a 1/4 inch slot on the inside of the doors.  I then used a shaker router bit and took about a 1/4 inch off the panel, so they would slide into the groove.  Worked like a charm.  Here is a photo of the kitchen.  I rolled two coats of SW primer, one coat of SW Pre Cat WB epoxy and sprayed the final coat.  I didn't use space balls.

Brian