Maybe this would be better at FWW but I’ll ask here. I planned on building oak cabinets for my kitchen remodel but my wife has decided she would like white cabinets.(yick). What wood should I use to make them?
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If you're painting, the grain of oak will show through (which may be good or may be bad, depending on your preference). Depending on your construction style you may want to consider birch veneer plywood.
The grain of oak showing through a white stain or paint can be very attractive. Sounds like a good compromise to me.
Use the oak but bleach all the color out of it. Two part peroxide bleach will do this. You'll need at least two coats or applications. Then finish with a water based lacquer. Don't use a solvent finish of any sort.
I'm worried it will look like a 70's kitchen painted white. I thought about birch veneer for the boxes and possibly frames but how would that work with the doors?
A good designer is not constrained by materials nor finishes. If you don't want your cabinets to look like something out of the 70's then model them on another period. To me, the idea of red oak cabinets takes me back to the early to mid 1980's when it seems like every other thing I made for clients was of red oak. But I'm positive, since I have a good knowledge of design, I could build a beautiful and contemporary set of cabinets out of red oak.
Simply knowing the mechanics of building cabinets will not give you a fabulous kitchen. And hanging onto clichés will inhibit you.
Let me rephrase it
What would be the most cost efficient wood to use? I don't see the need to use oak if I am painting them white. Maybe the best wood to use would be more MORE expensive than oak, I don't know. I recently remodeled a kitchen with MDF doors. I didn't feel that the quality was the best but, again, my experience is limited. I like panel doors but I don't want paint cracks between the panels and frames with the change in seasons. I'll admit that I am no designer. I just look in magazines to find what I like and try to copy that.
Off the top of my head....smooth finish, shaker doors,overlay. Probably some drawers in the base cabs, a couple of glass doors up top,and a pantry cabinet.
Keep in mind that you can probably buy pre-built doors (and matching drawer fronts) cheaper than you can build them. Various qualities, from Wally World level to pretty finely finished.
MDO
If you want no grain to show: Medium Density Overlay plywood would be my choice for kitchen or bath cabinets, that will be painted. It is one of the most moisture resitant sheet materials available, and is designed to be painted.
My choice for face frames and doors would be maple or another fine grained wood. They show virtually no grain when sealed, sanded and painted.
Cabinet material question
If you don't want to see the grain and you want white cabinet doors and face frames I'd go with poplar. It mills really well, sands well and paints well. It's a lot cheaper than just about anythig else. I use an enamel underbody from Benjamin Moore, sand with 220 and top coat (2 coats) with their Impervo. I sand the first top coat with 320. The boxes, including the backs, I make from 3/4" maple ply from Paxton Lumber that comes clear coated on both sides. The clear coating is proprietary and I've never wanted to paint it but I understand that it is an oil based finish that is put through an oven and that it spray paints well.