In the cabinets I had, I used melamine that had a birch veneer on it. It looked very nice, I wouldn't hesitate to get the melamine with the maple colour, especially to save $2,000.

melamine, if exposed to water will absorb and crumble. this could be a big problem for a sink cabinet. i'm doing all wood in the kitchen (painted maple) and melamine closets with wood drawer/door fronts.

our cabinetmaker doesn't recommend melamine for areas that will be exposed to water. just something to consider. good luck!

Ditto on kates comment above. Water will ruin it, if exposed.

Cheers,

Get 3/4" birch. I used prefinished 3/4" birch. The boxes are rock solid.

Also see if they can build the lowers with full ply tops so that you will not need an underlayment for the counters. Just install directly on the cabs.

What is the melamine applied to? Particle board? MDF? Melamine is the veneer, not the entire material.
How thick is it? I walked out of a cabinet shop, because the cabinet maker, couldn't or wouldn't tell me what his boxes were made of beyond "melamine"

As important as the materials is the cabinet makers workmanship.

I'm removing face frame cabinets with 5/8" plywood boxes. Replacing them with 3/4" high grade MDF with white melamine veneer interiors. The workmanship on my unfinished new cabs is 1000 times better than the plywood 2 year old cabs I'm removing. I will still line my sink cabinet with something, either a piece of vinyl floor, or floor runner, but I've always done that in every sink cabinet I've ever had.

Ask him what his cabinets sit on? Legs, plywood bases, or something else?

Water damage is something to worry about somewhat. If my kitchen floods, and I get water above the cabinet legs, I've got bigger issues than damaged cabinets. If it's a plumbing mishap, I'll likely be having floor and wall damage as well. We have all new plumbing fittings under the sink, and I already check for water regularly.

Some people get a plywood sink base, and plywood sides on the exposed ends.

It really comes down to what you feel comfortable with.

Sorry my post should have said MDF, not melamine. Cabinet grade MDF shouldn't degrade with a bit of water on it, your cabinets will have paint on them to protect. If you have a flood, different matter.

I so appreciate the members on this board. You have once again given me great information and posed some thoughtful and important questions to take back to the cabinet maker for clarification on this. You will either save me some big $$, or make me feel better for spending it. I send you all a huge thank you for your help.

I'm off to the city today to visit the granite yards. :)

Melamine is the cover material, what will the substrate be? Melamine won't crumble if it is exposed to water it is a type of high pressure laminate that water will pool on top of. Usually melamine is fused to a furniture grade particleboard (ANSI M-S or M-3 rated) when used in cabinetry. If you are concerened about the sink base you can always order the sink base out of plywood however one of The KD's here has mentioned that in a situation with extreme water exposure she didn't think plywood would be of any great benefit (plywood is still porous and does de-laminate if exposed to water and my guess is the polyurethane coating on plywood interiors is probably less water resistant than melamine).

To be clear you are really choosing between plywood construction with a polyurethane coated interior or particleboard (maybe MDF but I doubt it) construction with a melamine infused interior. Two of the pro KD's have both indicated they don't advocate ply upgrades as they feel for the end user the money would be better applied to functional or layout upgrades rather than an element that doesn't generally impact on the function or enjoyment of the kitchen. Most manufactures offer the exact same warranty for particleboard construction as they do for plywood.

I think melamine makes an excellent cabinet interior (it is easy to clean and durable. From experience I know poorly made cabinets of a low grade particleboard often are remarkably durable.

I am attaching a link to Cabico's gallery because they include the construction of the cabinets in their information Go through it - there are a lot of beautiful high end kitchens with particleboard construction it isn't something that you should associate with the quality of your new kitchen it is really a matter of personal preference. If you need to make some savings this an excellent place to do it with virtually no impact on the finished kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: cabico gallery

caryscott said essentially the same thing as the KD who represents the cabinets we're getting (Glenwood). She said it was an excellent place to save money, and that many of the super high-end kitchens she does use the melamine/MDF boxes and splurge elsewhere. The drawers and doors are all solid wood.

Although I do prefer the look of the birch interiors, our budget dictates we use MDF so that's the route we're taking. Since many of the boxes will have drawers, and I only have a few uppers, I feel this is a good compromise.

On thing to ask, if you're concerned, is about off-gassing. The cheaper particleboard has a lot of formaldehyde in it and some people (me!) who are chemically sensitive can feel sick for months or years after installation. Of course this is also a problem with plywood, unless it is marine grade, so if you care, ask for low VOC materials. A lot of cabinetmakers (Glenwood among them) are now offering these less toxic alternatives.

As far as water damage goes, I can tell you from personal experience on boats that plywood gets just as ruined as MDF. We had Ikea cabs in our last kitchen, which I believe were MDF (low VOC, though!)and they held up beautifully, even under the sink where we did have a leak at one point.

Any plumbing leak/water issue that would damage furniture board constructed cabinets will also damage plywood constructed cabinets. Plywood delaminates in the presence of lots of water, whereas furniture board (NOT the same thing as partical board!) will swell. The melamine coating on furniture board actually renders it much more water resistant than does the clearcoating on the plywood. A bit of caulk in the seams of the cabinet will make for a pretty watertight assembly, and this is something easily done DIY if you have concerns about damage. As a bonus, the melamine is usually much smoother to the touch and easier to keep clean. High quality formaldehyde free furniture board is the preferred material of all high end Euro cabinetry and has been for many years. Americans are just brainwashed into the "plywood is better" mindset because it has the word "wood" in it! LOL! And there are many cabinet makers and sellers who will use the word "upgrade" to you to make you think you are getting something superior. You're not. Just different. Not superior. But it costs more, and it's not something you see like an upgraded paint color or something that will impact your life on a daily basis positively like a corner wood super susan would do. Put your money into those types of "upgrades".

Balic birch is one of the densest and strongest cabinet materials out there. It is aviation-quality. I think it's overkill for cabinet boxes. Actually a lighter plywood would be suitable.
MDF is one of the densest materials, but unless resin-impregnated, it has bad water resistance.
While you could make satisfactory shelves from BB, the same could not be said for MDF.
IMO,
Casey

LWO

I'm curious but I could not find a single source that indicated that furniture board is anything but a certain grade of particleboard (usually Ansi M-S, M-2 or M-3). Cabico calls it "particlebooard, Woodmode calls it "furniture-grade fine surface wood particleboard". The attached article says:

"There are four furniture grades of particleboard: M1, MS, M2, and M3"

Is what they are referring to different than furniture board? If so how? Or is this one of those things like how thermofoil is laminate in Kraftmaid speak (what's that about?).

As to the off gassing issue ANSI has strict standards for the manufacturing of particleboard including maximum Formaldehyde emmissions. Also the particleboard for cabinets is covered with melamine which is going to inhibit off gassing significantly.

My Mom has melamine impregnated shelves in her cabinets and they are fine if it is a concern the cabinet maker has the birch get him to make the shelves from that it is probably cheaper than the getting the boxes made from it. Unless you are storing your anvil collection (small ones) in your uppers they won't be deep enough to need anything more than 5\8 to 3\4 particleboard shelves. This is really a US thing I was told by a few local shops here (Ontario Canada) that they virtually never do ply upgrades.

Here is a link that might be useful: particleboard is furniture board