Chet Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 My next project is a re-do of our kitchen. I built the cabinets back some 20 years ago and they were built to last but they do need to be freshened up. When I built them I used red oak because at the time all to cool kids around here had red oak cabinets. My plan is to sand then pore fill and sand again. after this I am going to paint them wit GF milk paint and top coat that with GF High Performance. I am going to build all new doors and drawers and this brings me to my question for the group. I was thinking of using Maple for this because it will still be a durable wood but I won't have to do a pore fill on the maple, just prime and paint. What do you think? I know it is a sacrilege to paint nice wood but the goal is to brighten up the space and I am not building new cabinets so paint is the plan. 1 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 31 minutes ago, Chet said: My next project is a re-do of our kitchen. I built the cabinets back some 20 years ago and they were built to last but they do need to be freshened up. When I built them I used red oak because at the time all to cool kids around here had red oak cabinets. My plan is to sand then pore fill and sand again. after this I am going to paint them wit GF milk paint and top coat that with GF High Performance. I am going to build all new doors and drawers and this brings me to my question for the group. I was thinking of using Maple for this because it will still be a durable wood but I won't have to do a pore fill on the maple, just prime and paint. What do you think? I know it is a sacrilege to paint nice wood but the goal is to brighten up the space and I am not building new cabinets so paint is the plan. Nothing wrong with using the maple! However, I would do some price comparison in your area to see if there's another species with similar Janka and workability that might save you a few bucks. Since it will be painted, the species looks just don't matter. Another consideration would be to leave the drawer boxes unpainted and only painting the drawer fronts. This is what I did with the house in Washington and it turned out nice! If you go this route, then species of choice is wide open.. Material to match that dining table springs to mind for me.. No wrong answers either way, just personal preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 The drawer boxes are not going to be painted. I wasn't thinking of using hardwood money on the boxes, I was just going to picking up a sheet of birch ply for the boxes. 1 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 40 minutes ago, Chet said: The drawer boxes are not going to be painted. I wasn't thinking of using hardwood money on the boxes, I was just going to picking up a sheet of birch ply for the boxes. Ah, ok.. That makes sense.. I'd still look at all your hardwood options for the drawer fronts.. Maple is great but, might not be the least expensive option considering you're painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 When we did painted projects back at the cabinet shop we started using poplar and found it to be a little to fuzzy. Ended up using maple after the first few projects. Would switch between hard and soft maple. I’d much rather work with soft maple, just machines a lot easier than hard. Did use birch on a few as well. Just depended on price and what was available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmize Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I like soft maple so much better an is fairly tough stuff. I think the drawer boxes would look great if you did curly cherry all hand cut dovetailed together? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 1 hour ago, Jamie said: When we did painted projects back at the cabinet shop we started using poplar Yea, I know poplar takes paint pretty well but it just wouldn't be as durable as I would like for the kitchen. If it was just me and Kathy that would be one thing but we have four grand kids. ? 33 minutes ago, Tmize said: think the drawer boxes would look great if you did curly cherry all hand cut dovetailed together T, you are probably looking at the one woodwork that just isn't intrigued by dovetails, I don't know what it is, they've just never been on my list. ? I think part of it is that 99.9999% of the time the drawer is closed and you don't see them and most non-woodworkers don't know what they are. Nothing against anyone else that enjoys them, just me. 2 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 57 minutes ago, Chet said: T, you are probably looking at the one woodwork that just isn't intrigued by dovetails, I don't know what it is, they've just never been on my list. ? I think part of it is that 99.9999% of the time the drawer is closed and you don't see them and most non-woodworkers don't know what they are. Nothing against anyone else that enjoys them, just me. Sacrilege! ? To each their own.. No such things as a wrong answer here.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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