Cabinets in older home -- Pine Plywood ?

[ssmith1627]

I live in a 40+ year old rancher that my wife grew up in. We have these knotty pine cabinets in the kitchen -- pretty old now but still in good condition. And regardless of that, by order of the mother-in-law, I'm not allowed to touch them.....haha.

But just looking at the edges of the doors and the cabinet boxes themselves, you can see layers like you would in the edge of plywood. I know what I see in the stores today and what I'm using on my workbench, like Oak plywood, but haven't seen anything with pine like this. I've seen maple, cherry, birch, etc. Is this something that was available 40 years ago ?

Just peaked my interest and curiousity when I noticed it. Before getting into all this, I never would have even paid attention to it.

Steve

[vaking]

I believe that oak, birch, cherry etc plywoods have only top layer of veneer of specific species. If you buy not a cabinet grade ply, but something cheaper like sanderply, you will have pine surfaced plywood. If you fill in voids and sand it well - it will probably look like knotty pine. Kitchen cabinets in my kitchen were made of that and painted until I ripped them out and replaced them with expensive kitchen cabinets from HD (Kraftmaid brand, wood framed doors with glazed finish, dovetailed wooden drawers and pull-out shelves combined with cheap particle-board cabinets). Few years later my wife is saying that painted plywood was wearing better than glazed finish - it is cracking and chipping. Something tells me that soon she will start nagging me to paint those glazed doors over. Listen to your mother-in-law. I had to remove the cabinets because they were built-in and disfunctional, otherwise they would still be there.

[mschrank]

but haven't seen anything with pine like this. I've seen maple, cherry, birch, etc. Is this something that was available 40 years ago ?

Steve

I can purchase pine veneered plywood locally...not sure what the core is. It's not common, but you should be able to special order it if you need to make something to match your existing cabinets.

[JimD]

I would use boards rather than special order pine plywood. They are not quite as straight but softwood cuts easily and joints pretty well. Stuff with knots is pretty cheap too.

Jim

[cwsmith]

When we bought this home, some 27 years ago, the first thing we had to do was replace everything in the kitchen. They were homemade cabinets of plywood w/ linoleum tops. Countertops were only like 18 inches, no doors (curtains) and no drawers at all.

We went to the local building company and bought dark pine looking cabinets. They turned out to be plywood with a pine veneer! I was surprised as pine is so cheap, I figured who would make a veneer of it? In any case, they've held up fairly well and are still quite serviceable.

We're putting the house on the market soon and the Realtor wants us to paint them off-white or something very light. Even though they are cheap cabinets, I am having difficulty with the idea of painting over stained wood. Seems a sacrilidge to me.

CWS