# Birch Plywood Cabinet - Best Wood for Facing Material Is Best?



## MKandyman (Dec 29, 2011)

*Birch Plywood Cabinet - Best Wood for Facing Material?*

Hello - Long time lurker on this forum, finally had a good reason to post!

I am planning on building a new Kitchen pantry cabinet. I am making the carcass out of 3/4" birch plywood, but am unsure what type of wood to use for the facings, doors and top. I have a ready supply of select pine, but was wondering if white birch would be a better choice.
I am going to stain it a light to medium shade, but am worried about the different woods matching up.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
MKandyman


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## WHWoodworking (Nov 1, 2011)

Test stain some scraps of the ply and the pine that you have. Since pine is a softwood, it'll probably take the stain unevenly. Try Minwax Pre-Stain Conditioner. It helps even out blotches but also causes wood to not take as much stain so it might work out ok. I recently did a project using alder for the trim and birch ply for the backs. I had to put on one coat of a darker stain on the birch before applying the stain used on the alder and it turned out great. Just have to experiment. Good luck


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Experiment with samples with the stain on bare wood. Sand all the parts evenly...180x would be a suggestion. Keep track of what stains and procedures you tried, and keep the samples marked as to what was done to them.

You could try oil base stains and water based. Finish your samples with the topcoat you'll be using as that will further change the color and appearance. You can get very close. 











 







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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I believe that the first question is: are you going to try to match any other cabinetry in your kitchen? If so what is it made of and what is the color. A picture of the existing cabinetry might help.

In the subject of your thread you ask for the "best wood." Is that the best wood between the two that you have on hand? Or the best wood that someone would recommend.


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Is this a full kitchen set? If so, how many exposed sides will there be? Would it be feasible to purchase enough matching ply species to use on only the exposed sides?


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## MKandyman (Dec 29, 2011)

Thanks for the tips!

It is a standalone pantry cabinet, and I am not concerned about matching the current cabinets, as the pantry is in a different part of the kitchen.

I am willing to purchase the right wood if the what I have is not right. So I am after the best option available to me. However it sounds like I need to experiment no matter what type of wood I use, because even regular birch will likely take up stain differently than the plywood. 

What is typically done for plywood cabinets (aside from paint)?


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

MKandyman said:


> What is typically done for plywood cabinets (aside from paint)?


If I make a face frame, it's the species of the plywood. Same for the edge banding for frameless.I don't normally use a conditioner, and differences in the plywood and solid wood may exist and that can be considered "normal". If a closer match, I may "tone" them closer to the same shade with spraying a toner, which could be just stain or a glaze.










 







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