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Despite paying for an All Plywood Construction upgrade, my Kraftmaid cabinets arrived with backs consisting of MDF with a birch veneer. KM calls this "hybrid plywood". Is that actually acceptable as plywood construction?
The same material (nominally 3/16" thick) was used for the backs of my base Super Susan -- despite specs calling for base backs to be of 3/8" plywood.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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No, that's a ripoff if sold as all plywood. MDF is basically sawdust mixed with wax and resin, pressed under pressure and heat. It breaks, absorbs water, and is cheap. Plywood is layers of actual wood glued together with alternating grain direction for strength and is a lot more expensive.
I looked thru the American Plywood Assoc. website and they do not recognize "hybrid plywood" as a product. In my opinion, it's just a cheap way for Krapmaid to milk customers for money. It's still MDF and if it gets wet, will come apart and swell. That still makes it cheap Krap. I would find it totally unacceptable and they could have their Krap cabinets back.
No, it's not about thickness, it's about content. It costs about 15% more to buy "all plywood construction" cabinets (defined as "plywood with birch veneer interior), but the "upgrade" material actually consists of 2 "plies" -- MDF, and a very thin birch veneer.
Without the upgrade, cabinet backs are constructed of MDF with a birch veneer interior.
When Kraftmaid was asked directly for the specific type and grade of plywood (i.e., oak A-D) their technical folks simply replied, "hybrid plywood".
I know that MDF can come with a veneer; my question is, does that qualify it to be called "plywood"?
In addition to that, the base cabinet specs call for all backs (with or without an upgrade) to be constructed of 3/8" thick plywood for stability to hold the weight of the countertop. The Lazy Susan base came with the backs (which mount against the wall, not the diagonal across the corner) made of 3/16" thick "hybrid plywood", which is not rigid. All thicknesses are nominal, of course, so the 3/16" stuff is really just a hair over 1/8".
Like I stated, The American Plywood Assoc. does not recognize "hybrid plywood" as a product. So the direct answer to your question is NO, it is not plywood in any sense of the word. You can go to the APA website and search yourself. It will come up with nothing. Calling it ply- WOOD is an extreme stretch. MDF is wood fibers that are basically glued together with resin and wax and then cooked under pressure. The fibers used are generally the sawdust and left over garbage from the lumber milling process. But so is paper and organic roofing felt. Neither belong in a cabinet structure as there is nothing structural about them.
15% difference is not much to pay for something much better. Remember the old adage 'you usually get what you pay for'.
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