Thread: Large Storage Room Cabinets - Suggestions Appreciated

The price you have is quite good (given delivery is included), what grade it's it?

I've found that 16mm HMR white particle board is usually cheaper than plywood equivalent. Anywhere from $25 to $45 dollars per sheet... Depending on whether you are buying a pack vs per sheet. Pack size for 16mm is 30 sheets.

You could get it precut if you're concerned with cutting it yourself.

Just had a quick look online and the B store has a single sheet of 16mm (2400x1200) for $35.

***Edit - I forgot to mention that edging will be required with particleboard so factor that into costs/effort. This could potentially be done by the same people that cut the board, if you go down that route.***

I built my laundry storage unit, including the doors, out of BC grade ply which happened to have very nice faces. I had a look at various suppliers and one had a nice shipment. I covered all visible edges of the ply with Tas Oak strips.
The whole unit was painted.

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To make them out of ply you have a lot of finishing to do so i'm with Junkie on this one. It's a store room so unless its going to be the nicest room in the house i think the HMR Whiteboard is the go. If you get a Melamine blade for the table saw you will have minimal chip out but if you are real particular get the doors and drawer fronts professionally cut and edged.

16mm melamine HMR particle board should be cheaper than 17mm ply of pretty much any grade. I've gotten chip free cuts using a new 80 tooth cross cut blade. Generally you'll be able to get one side near perfect off a table saw with a good blade, so you can use that as your show face. Sanding down 13 sheets of ply isn't my idea of fun, especially C/D grade faces. I wouldn't worry about making the project more challenging. You've got several tall cabinets next to each other, getting them aligned in all 3 dimensions will be fun enough, unless your walls and floors are perfectly flat and at 90 deg to each other. Then you have to hang the doors and make sure the reveals are perfect, or as close to perfect as you can get before your blood pressure gets too high. Doors in hardwood wouldn't be a bad touch, you've got one cabinet side that can be seen, I'd probably put a hardwood fascia over that.

Tasmanian Oak/Victorian Ash is nice to work with, easily available, and decent cost wise. It will add a fair bit of work though, since you'll probably want a frame and floating panel hardwood door. Making a solid wood door with no frame is just asking for trouble (happy to be corrected on this one, but that's been my understanding, from the instructions of my betters). If the budget won't stretch to hardwood doors, maybe get a sheet or two of coloured HMR MDF for contrasting doors if you're worried about too much melamine whiteness.

Wow thanks heaps gents.

Quick trip to see 17mm standard quality ply sell out for mobile home cabinet carcus.
The seller was not sure about the rating nor whether to use for my large storage cabinets.
Nice guy and honest about his knowledge.

Spent the rest of the morning with a good friend from Ballarat. He just sold his third reno in 5 years.

He suggested Laminex / Formica. Which he tells me is quite affordable. And looked fine on the web pics.

Barry,

I just finished my Workshop Cabinets, they were just White Melamine for the cabinets and Formica Black panels for the panels, doors and drawer fronts.

Although i cheated and just got it CNC instead of cutting the material myself and built it on site

I cut most of my Melamine with the Festool plunge saw, i tape the cut and don't have any chipping with a fine blade.

Tas Oak edging is easy, as is Oak benches and making Tas Oak Handles, easy timber to work with and easy to finish

I hate Melamine board with a passion, but its reasonably cheap and it was perfect for the job.

I might be worth looking at a company in your region that supplies flat pack kitchens as they should be able to supply something to your needs.

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If you do go down the melamine route, it may be worth getting a quote to have it all pre-made and delivered as a flat pack. It obviously costs more than DIY, but you won't have to worry about handling sheets of board without a panel saw, edging it all by hand and dealing with waste.

We used to use MadeCo at work before we got a CNC and I can definitely recommend them.

Hi Barry

Five years ago I made an eighteen drewer unit for my worshop (practice) and then a 5 metre gallery kitchen - benches and overheads along both walls.

A few not so random comments:

Below waist height (or chest height?), drawers are much more accessible than shelves and store a lot mor - double?

In a relatively narrow storage room, do you need cupboard doors - perhaps they just get in the way.

Plywood of similar dimensions will always be stronger and stiffer than te chipboard under melamine. But melamins is more than adequately strong, Trade off is appearance, funstionality (wipe clean) and price.

18 mm melamine is only slightly dearer than dearer than 16 mm, but there is a lot more margin for an errant screw. HMR is same price as super-absorbant!

I got a local cabinet maker to supply, cut and edgeband melamine to my cutting list including carcases and drawer components for about $50 more than I could have bought the melamine sheets. An no stuff ups. And no breathing of melamine or resin fumes. Wish I had an altendorf saw.

Is step in the under bench cabinets really necessary?

How deep are your cabinets? Drawers 600 mm deep (550mm slides) are fine. Lower shelves deeper than 450 mm or overheads deeper than 300 mm can make access difficult. On you RHS cabinets, if you made them 600 mm deep for lower section, and then 450 mm deep for upper section then this step will make the room seem bigger visually and have minimal effect on the accessible storage.



Cheers

Graeme

Thanks again gents.

The original design was for minimal cost and ease of build.
Minimal use. Not exposed to moisture.

Pricing flat pack melamine with drawers is around $3000.

Not saying no. Just saying "yee-ouch!"

Could have doors all round with drawer internals.

We are considering sliding doors with drawer internals.

Not really happy with expensive heavy duty drawer slides we expect to use only a few times a year.
Of course it might be the dirt dust and saw dust in the shed that binds the slides.

Seriously considering just going with the rebates for drawer slides.
Or maybe hardwood slides.

Purchasing pre-drilled melamine single edged for all sides increases the price by less than $100.
I've worked with banding before. I'm happy to pay the extra for pre edged side.
Would not have an issue banding myself with fresh banding material and not years old glue deteriorated banding.

The pre-drilled sides coming in 595 for lowers and 445 widths for uppers.
Which I find quite acceptable.

The kick board is there keeping me from continually stubbing my toes.
And to remind me of the 60 x 60 cornice and 80 x30 baseboard
Using 2x4s for supporting the weight of the cupboards
but pulled back from the walls and high enough to work around the baseboard
allowing for wall to wall storage.

Will look for local cabinet maker to see if they would be interested in cutting and edging for me.

Check out IKEA kitchens, you might be surprised

yeah, trying to install their planner when you posted.
Much appreciated.


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Nah, too hard to work with.

Originally Posted by barrysumpter

Thanks again gents.

We are considering sliding doors with drawer internals.

Seriously considering just going with the rebates for drawer slides.
Or maybe hardwood slides.

Purchasing pre-drilled melamine single edged for all sides increases the price by less than $100.
I've worked with banding before. I'm happy to pay the extra for pre edged side.
Would not have an issue banding myself with fresh banding material and not years old glue deteriorated banding.

Will look for local cabinet maker to see if they would be interested in cutting and edging for me.

if you use the system 32 predrilled panels, then the simplest option is to follow Hettich's guide to panel sizing and use standard drawer runners and concealed hinges. Bottom mount self close drawer runners are cheap and reliable, under $5 a pair for 550mm in quantity from places like Elraco. They fit the 32mm hole pattern and are rated at 25-30kg a drawer. Blum pattern hinges are common, and only a few dollars each unless you get fancy with soft close. I think Bunnings even sell a kit from Prestige with a plastic template guide and 35mm forstner bit to drill the door mounting, the cabinet plates fit the 32mm holes.

The reason I say to follow Hettich system 32 is that the panels are balanced so there is no worries about left or right and it is frameless with overlay hinges for doors. It is simple with less chance for error.

If you buy predrilled panels they should have one edge banded, because the 32mm hole pattern must be 37mm from the front and back edge including edge banding. That will dictate the banding used because you want it to match. 1mm pvc or abs is recommended for cabinets and 2mm on doors.

I had forgotten about the bottom drawer runners.

The ball bearing side runners are crap.
Have to return 1 out of every 3.

Hettich system 32 is high tech and expecting a very high premium.
A quick look and would have no idea where to even start.

Thanks for the specs. Much appreciated.

System 32 is not a Hettich thing, it's the industry standard, so every hardware company on the planet uses it