Thread: How to build cabinetry without end-boards

Hi. Not actually a kitchen but placed here as it’s the same technology.

We want to replicate the wall cabinets and panels in the attached image in our TV room. It’s important to us to replicate its clean lines.

BBA931A0-B4EB-4B9C-B499-AAE598CE1699.jpg

Making the cabinets is easy enough - I’ve made hundreds - but in all cases they have been in the traditional Australian method of making melamine faced pineboard cabinetry.
Ie
1. Make ‘boxes’ of edged melamine board, each one being a cupboard or a bank of drawers or whatever.
2. Screw them to the wall and to each other as appropriate.
3. Make cupboard doors and drawer fronts of melamine faced mdf, route a profile, get them sprayed with poly. Fit.
4. Put sprayed end boards over any cabinet sides which are exposed to hide the pineboard, edging, screw or whatever.

It’s step 4 that is the problem. End boards would completely destroy the simplicity and elegance of this design. Look closely and you will see there are no end boards on the three exposed side panels.

So how do I do this.

My first thought is to do the 3 sides of any cabinet in pineboard (edged) and the fourth side (the exposed one) in contoured and poly-sprayed mdf. Given that the screws and edging must be hidden, I’d have to fix the mdf side with glue and interior corner blocks. This would work quite well and save on materials. However the delays in getting stuff cut to size and spray painted by my trusted local providers, and the back and forth, will make it a long job. Also, I’d be getting just a few boards sprayed at a time, as I don’t like to cut the doors/drawer fronts until the carcasses are finished and fixed because of any needed changes - and I usually want to get all spraying done in one hit.

So I just want to check to make sure that there aren’t other, simpler ways to do this that I’m overlooking?

Cheers
Arron