Visited a custom shop in Portland that flipped my opinion on prefinished plywood

I stopped by Hartmann Cabinets in Portland last week and saw them using prefinished maple ply with no edgebanding on inset doors. It looked way cleaner than I expected for production stuff and the guy told me they save about 20% on finishing time. Has anyone else tried skipping edgebanding on prefinished panels for a more modern look?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy82422d ago

Oh I saw @the_susan mention that too but honestly not sure it's that deep. Prefinished ply edges are just raw MDF or veneer exposed no matter how clean your cut is. Maybe for a shelf in a laundry room it works but for kitchen cabinets in a house people actually live in? That seems like a recipe for moisture damage and peeling edges down the road. I've seen too many "modern" jobs where the exposed edges started looking rough after a year or two. Plus no edgebanding means any little dent or nick is just gonna show raw wood from day one. Just seems like skipping the edgebanding is saving 20% on finishing now but costing way more in headaches later when clients start complaining.

the_susan22d ago

Oh man, I tried that exact same thing on a kitchen job last year. Used prefinished birch ply with no edgebanding on some floating shelves and a built-in desk. The trick is you gotta really take your time with the cut quality. Use a sharp blade and take multiple passes if you need to. Helps to hit the raw edges with a light sanding and then a coat of clear shellac to seal them up.