question about building a bathroom cabinet

[Andriy]

Hello

I am new to this forum and I would like to start by asking a question:

what would be the best material to use for a bathroom cabinet? Veneered MDF or veneered plywood? What special finish would I need to make it fully water resistant?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

cheers
Andriy

 

[Shultzy]

Andriy, don't think that any mdf is suitable for such a damp environment. You would be better to use pine or hardwood.

 

[spudgun69]

Hi,

I recently made one from sycamore which turned out great, finished it with some finishing oil and a coat of wax and so far so good. I'll see if I can sort out a photo out and post it.

Cheers

Pete

 

[Lee Brubaker]

Veneered plywood will work okay. Tape the edges of the case to match the veneer. The door/s stiles & rails should be solid wood of the same species used for the case unless you use a frameless mirror for the door.
The inside of the case can be painted with melamine.
I built my medicine cabinet about 6 years ago & used 3 glass mirrors for doors which when set properly give a 3 way view. Have not had any difficulty with moisture despite the bathroom lacking a window & relying entirely on a vent fan when showering.

Lee

 

[engineer one]

it also depends upon where you are fitting the cabinet.

in the past, i have made them out of painted 3/4 ply. not marine ply.
but they have generally been hanging on the wall.

green mdf would be ok if not standing on the floor, and you could paint that too. normal decorators gloss would do.

a lot depends upon the finish you want to show, wood or painted.

paul :wink:

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Andriy


Welcome to the forum. Good to have you onboard.

Cheers
Neil

 

[DomValente]

Made a floor to ceiling cabinet in veneered MDF about 10 years ago, it's finished with three coats of matt varnish. It's still there and looks fine.
Don't forget to veneer all edges.

Dom

 

[jasonB]

Was that you asking about green MDF on DIYNOT?

If it was not you then veneered MR (moisture resistant) MDF will be the best choice as veneered ply is generally only available off the shelf upto 12mm thick and usually is veneer/balancer so only one side will look good.

Veneered chipboard or wood grain MFC (melamine faced chipboard) will be another option as thats what 95% of ready made cabinets and flat pack fitted bathroom furniture is made from.

Finished with a melamine or water bourne acrylic laquer will be fine.

Jason

 

[inventor]

I made some MDF bathroom cabinets in 2001. I painted them with solvent-based dulux satinwood. The tough finishing job, as always with MDF, is getting the routed and sawn edges nice and smooth - I never achieved it. The cabinets lasted perfectly until this year. I made the handles part of the MDF front doors, rather than using separate hardware, and eventually the paint wore off, and the MDF then starts to fall apart as it gets damp. The cabinets are now sitting in the garage waiting to be repainted, with separate handles to be screwed on, and I then expect them to last at least another decade without attention.

BTW, my wife notes that liquid drain cleaner is excellent for removing satinwood paint and delaminating MDF

 

[woodbloke]

Made mine last year (floor standing) out of 18mm teak veneered marine ply, finished with 3 coats matt acrylic varnish - Rob

 

[ByronBlack]

Rob, sorry for hijacking the thread, but whereabouts did you get hold of the veneered marine ply? I've been trying for sometime to even find regular veneered ply (all my local suppliers seem to do veneer MDF only).

 

[woodbloke]

BB - my workshop and a Airpress vacuum bag, useful soul aren't I? :lol: - Rob

 

[engineer one]

come on rob, that's a GLOAT :lol:

paul :wink:

ps why not use mfc with iron on beading??

 

[woodbloke]

engineer one wrote:

come on rob, that's a GLOAT

Paul, if you insist......it's only a little gloat tho' Orchids are the silk ones from M&S, very effective, tried the proper things but.... - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

Veneered chipboard or wood grain MFC (melamine faced chipboard) will be another option as thats what 95% of ready made cabinets and flat pack fitted bathroom furniture is made from.

Made one for my daughter a year or so ago, using Contiplas. I covered all the exposed edges in Contiplas edging strip before glueing it up (with biscuits). So far it's held up to the environment OK (bathroom with no window but an extractor fan). I did it that way because she wanted one like it that B&Q sold but was the wrong shape to fit in the space available. Probably not the best material to use for a bathroom but cheap enough to replace if it does fall apart.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Scott]

BTW, my wife notes that liquid drain cleaner is excellent for removing satinwood paint and delaminating MDF

Household bleach eats through mdf pretty well too!

 

[ByronBlack]

Rob, that is a lovely looking cabinet! Would love to see any WIP photo's that you might have, really does look the part.

 

[woodbloke]

Rob, that is a lovely looking cabinet! Would love to see any WIP photo's that you might have, really does look the part.

BB - there's really nothing fancy about this project. I drew out the design and made an accurate cutting list for bits of ply without the lipping. I then cut all bits on the K419 to size, lipped them where needed with some 5mm teak solid and veneered in the AirPress. Jointing is entirely with biscuits, back is rebated into the carcase. The big cupboard has couple of conventional doors and the smaller one has a teak veneered ply panel - Rob

 

[Andriy]

Thanks so much for the replies and making me feel welcome to the forum. Loved the photos. One further question - for a better finish for the varnish would you use a brush or spray kit (I don't know exactly what these are called)?

Andriy

 

[newt]

Built a floor standing bathroom cabinet 2 years ago out of 18mm MDF. Painted dulux waterbased white primmer/undercoat 3 coats, dulux satinwood (trade so much better than normal stuff really) 2 coats all applied with small foam roller. All internal shelves and exposed edges underneath 3 coats of water based satin varnish. I have 2 grandchildren 2 and 4 years old that bath every night when they visit and turn the bathroom into war zone with water (great fun really) the cabinet is next to a sink and gets wet daily, to date it is the same as the day it was made.