Stopped by a custom cabinet shop in Dayton last week and noticed something interesting

I was visiting a small shop outside Dayton that does mostly high-end kitchen cabinets, and I saw they were using pre-finished plywood for all their box construction instead of the raw stuff I usually get. They said it saved them almost 30% in finishing time and reduced dust complaints from the homeowner. Has anyone else switched to pre-finished and found it worth the extra cost?

3 comments

3 Comments

umar591mo ago

oh totally, my buddy rick runs a lil cabinet shop over in covington and he switched to pre-finished ply a couple years back for his built-ins. he had this one job where the homeowner was super picky about dust, like would complain if he even sanded in the garage with the door open. rick said it cut his finishing time in half on that job alone because he could just assemble and move on, no waiting for stain to dry or dealing with tacky edges. he even said the pre-finished stuff held up better when he accidentally dripped glue on it during assembly, just wiped right off without messing up the surface. i think he's been using that eco-friendly maple ply from a supplier near cincinnati ever since, says it costs a bit more but the peace of mind is worth it.

joel_butler1mo ago

Always thought pre-finished stuff was just for lazy guys who didn't care about quality. Had a buddy talk me into trying it for a pantry shelving job and yeah, I was wrong. Assembly went way faster, no waiting around for coats to dry, and the finish looked better than anything I could have sprayed in my garage. The glue wipe-off thing is real too, saved my ass more than once. I still think it depends on the job, but for basic stuff it's hard to beat.

williamm821mo ago

Honestly my buddy mark runs a crew that does kitchen remodels and he had the same exact experience with that glue drip thing. He said he almost had a heart attack when he dropped a bead of construction adhesive on a pre-finished panel but it literally just wiped off like nothing. And yeah joel_butler is spot on about the dust thing too, mark's guys don't even bother masking off rooms anymore when they're working with that stuff.