White Melamine Built-In Shelves/Cabinets

[Snap Marc]

I'm planning on building an entire wall of built-ins for my kid's room. I've never sourced .75" melamine, but saw it at my local Lowe's. Would you recommend getting it there, or at a specific lumber yard?

Also, I'd like to cover all of my cut edges. Is that iron-on stuff the best for that?

And - I noticed they sell pre-cut shelf depth pieces. I guess it's best to buy that stuff as weii, right?

Any suggestions on blades? Should I use my table saw, or a circ saw? Any melamine tips and tricks would be great. I'd love to know what the best drawer glides, etc. are for melamine. I plan on doing melamine carcasses with dado and rabbet joinery. Also pocket hole screws. Face frame will be attached with biscuits.

[stormdog74]

Personally, I don't like particle board. Have you thought about MDF? MDF takes paint very well and is easier to repair should there be damage - another benefit is that you wouldn't have to worry about the iron on stuff. It is not as cheap as particle board, but definitely cheaper than plywood.

If you buy 4x8 sheets of mdf you can cut it to the depth you want - again, you don't need to worry about edges if you paint it.

One drawback of mdf is that it is very heavy, so you would want to be careful with the width of your shelves.

I would use a table saw with a good fence. MDF is hard on blades though - I would go with at least 50 teeth. Maybe someone else can give you a specific blade that is good for mdf.

[atgcpaul]

I personally like melamine. The fact that it can come pre-cut to width and
predrilled for shelf holes is a huge bonus, not including the fact that you don't
need to paint it and the surface is really easy to clean. When I have a
melamine project in mind, I try to plan the dimensions so I can buy it precut
and predrilled. It's not a big deal to do the iron on edge.

I think it's just as heavy as MDF so large cabinets can be unweildy. I usually
reinforce the joints with drywall screws if they will be hidden from view.
Pocket screws also work well.

You do need a good blade with melamine. I have a Forrest WWII and even with
that I do get a little chip out. Definitely use a ZCTP. You can also hide chip
out behind face frames, too.


Paul

[RAV2]

Have you priced the offerings of the build it yourself closet organizers? You may want to start with a package that is close to your liking and then modify it with other updates.

I used an off-the-shelf center section and added wireshelving to mine. I had two 6' closets side by side. I made a center divider of white masonite-plywood-masonite (sandwich) with an aluminum channel to stabilize the length. Wife and I picked out the center sections we wanted and I added the shelves.

[dlminehart]

I've just spent some time building melamine shelving in a closet. Using the predrilled sides from Home Depot, I found that their entire batch had the holes misaligned, front to back, by about 1/8". Since the boards have melamine on both faces but only one edge, one of the boards needs to be inverted top to bottom, as well as back to front, relative to the other when installing. This makes the 1/8" discrepancy on each side total 1/4" across the shelves. So, backs would both sit on the shelf rests, but only one of the front ones would, with 1/4" wobble.

I checked all packs in 3 stores, all had the problem. So, take a framing square with you when you buy, and probably best to avoid Home Depot on these. Or, be prepared to buy the iron-on edging ($5 per roll) to settle for stable shelves that slope 1/8" front to back.

[Snap Marc]

I will go with the melamine over MDF. I hear what the pros are in using the MDF, but the cons outweigh them. I like melamine for it's wipability and no need for paint. A huge plus for a kid's playroom.

I can drill the shelf holes myself if need be. That's pretty easy with a simple jig and a plunge router.

Pocket hole (Kreg) screws are my friend. I'll use them whenever I can. I've no experience with the iron-on stuff, but it seems fairly easy, right?

So, with all that in mind, I'll be starting in a few weeks. I'm doing an entire wall of my kid's playroom. I will also incorporate two desks within the design. Our neighbors just dropped $5000 on a similar project. I'll probably have $750 in supplies at most. Granted theirs was completed in a weeked and mine will take 3 months if I'm lucky. Piece by piece I'll keep building. I love the modular aspect of this job. One piece at a time until the wall is full.

Pics to follow - look for them in 2009. He he he.

[cabinetman]

If you bought sheet stock of melamine and cut up your own, you would save money. The best blade for a 10" table saw would be an 80 tooth, 6 deg neg hook, and high ATB 25 deg grind. If you have a 60T, ATB, that is sharp, you could get away with that. Cutting melamine on the tablesaw, gives a clean cut on top, and any chipping would be on the bottom of the board. If you are using a hand held circular saw, the underside gets the clean cut, and any chipping happens on top.

As for front edging, if you are planning a wood face frame, you could do a wood edge on the shelves, and then you won't have any iron on to do. With a wood edging, the fronts would be more durable. As for drilling shelf clip holes, you can use pegboard as a pattern clamped to the panel. Using a sharp brad point drill bit and a drill, it goes pretty fast.

Just about any drawer slide will work with melamine, and you can find full extension slides reasonably priced online. If you get any chipout, those pieces can be arranged to be visibly obscured, like the underside of a shelf. For the back edges that may show, if the chipped edge is filed slightly to smooth out the irregularity, a white paint pen along the edge covers it well.
.

[pelligrini]

I used some 3/4 melamine from Lowes for a drill press stand recently, and for a top in another light cart project. It was going to be used for an outfeed table, but it's just way too heavy. The sheet I got had an MDF core. A 4x8 sheet is really heavy to handle. I ended up moving my sawhorses & sawboard to the material to get it down to a manageable size in order to get it into the shop.

I liked that material better than some particle board type cores I've used.
The joints come out a lot cleaner. I think the MDF core glues better, but that's just my opinion.

Be careful of the edges. It can rip cuts in handflesh easily.

A narrow seam roller for wallpaper or similar tool works nicely for the iron on edging. A cheap iron might be in order too. Some folks get fussy when their good iron get's left out in the shop.

[JimK]

I did a closet project awhile back and was debating over whether or not to use Melamine. I wound up buying mine from Home Depot and everything turned out okay. Of course any imperfections were ultimately only going to be in a closet, but I was really happy with the way it turned out and would have been satsified if I had been working on a room wall. Everything in the closet below is Melamine except the drawer fronts and drawers (Poplar and Birch).

When making cuts I always did it in 2 passes which really helped reduce the chipping. The 1st would be about 1/4" deep and the next for the full cut. Pocket Holes helped me big time with the whole project (Picture 2). It looks messy in the hidden areas, but leaves a clean look everywhere else and worked great for me. I've been away from this site for awhile, someday soon I'll finally get around to posting these pics...

Anyway, I think the Melamine is definitely a viable option. One other tip: I have to thank EasyClosets.com because I used their site to design and visualize in 3D what my closet was going to look like. You might want to check it out because some of the dimension assumptions are the same. I kind of felt like I was using them, but hey it's free, and I'm giving them credit here... Good luck.

Jim K.

[Nilt]

I'm really new to woodworking, aside from hacking together junky shelves in the basement once or twice so I'm curious. What's the wood strip for that's screwed into the wall along the top of the cabinets? Is that some sort of level indicator or what?

[JimK]

I'm really new to woodworking, aside from hacking together junky shelves in the basement once or twice so I'm curious. What's the wood strip for that's screwed into the wall along the top of the cabinets? Is that some sort of level indicator or what?

The wood strip is there to help secure the units to the wall. Where possible, the top shelves are secured to studs using a pocket hole screw drilled through the melamine. Since this is only in limited places, the strip is mounted to the studs and runs tight along the top shelves, then the pocket hole screws were drilled down through the strip into the top. I don't want to hijack Marc's thread so I'll try to start a new one on this when I get a chance to post more pictures.

Jim K.

[JimD]

I built cabinets for my basement, both for the kitchette and the bathroom, using melamine from Lowe's. You can cut it with minimum chipping with a regular combination blade IF it's sharp, clean, and with a zero clearance plate (new one, the BT3100 wobbles a little on startup and shutdown and gradually widens the slot). I used the iron on tape with an old iron and it worked fine. Solid wood edging looks better, however and is more durable.

Woodworking glue doesn't stick to melamine. I found some special glue that did but had little strength. If you want it to stick, you have to remove the melamine at the joint. Dados or rabbets. I caulked the seam but that was an imperfect solution because the caulk seems to attract dirt. In kids furniture, I would skip the caulk (as long as it won't get wet).

Melamine is OK to work with but not nearly as nice as wood. The finished product is durable, however, and you don't have to finish it. I also use it for extension tables for the BT3100. With a coat of wax it is very slick.

I use a jig and plunge router for holes but will probably buy the clear plastic setup for a drill from Rocklers. My jig is pretty good but I think the alignment of the holes would be a little better for a jig that is probably made on a computer controled setup. It spaces the holes for the 32mm system which I do not currently use but it looks like it has advantages.

Jim

[Nilt]

The wood strip is there to help secure the units to the wall. Where possible, the top shelves are secured to studs using a pocket hole screw drilled through the melamine. Since this is only in limited places, the strip is mounted to the studs and runs tight along the top shelves, then the pocket hole screws were drilled down through the strip into the top. I don't want to hijack Marc's thread so I'll try to start a new one on this when I get a chance to post more pictures.

Jim K.

Very nice. Great way to make it more solid. Man, I love pocket screws.

[steve-norrell]

The wood strip is there to help secure the units to the wall. Where possible, the top shelves are secured to studs using a pocket hole screw drilled through the melamine. Since this is only in limited places, the strip is mounted to the studs and runs tight along the top shelves, then the pocket hole screws were drilled down through the strip into the top. I don't want to hijack Marc's thread so I'll try to start a new one on this when I get a chance to post more pictures.

Just one point of clarification for those of us who are not as experienced as others . . . .

The pocket screws are a good way to hold the cabinets against the wall, but are they enough to hold the heavy particle board cabinets up? The photo doesn't show if there are cleats inside the cabinets or if the cabinets are resting on the floor or on bases that aren't apparent in the photos. If they are, then the pocket screws are, indeed, a good way to hold the cabinets against the wall with the weight being borne by the floor or cleats.

Regards, Steve

[JimK]

Just one point of clarification for those of us who are not as experienced as others . . . .

The pocket screws are a good way to hold the cabinets against the wall, but are they enough to hold the heavy particle board cabinets up? The photo doesn't show if there are cleats inside the cabinets or if the cabinets are resting on the floor or on bases that aren't apparent in the photos. If they are, then the pocket screws are, indeed, a good way to hold the cabinets against the wall with the weight being borne by the floor or cleats.

Regards, Steve

All the weight is supported by a cleat which holds the units 12" above the floor leaving storage room underneath. For added support the fixed shelves are also screwed in to studs wherever possible with pocket holes drilled underneath and out of sight. It's been holding up very well now for just over 2 years. I wouldn't climb all over it, but it holds everything I need. I'm swamped with work this week, but I'll try to get some more pictures together to post by this weekend.

Thanks,

Jim K