This is an article I saved from the web a couple of years ago (but now seems to have disappeared). An interesting read...
Particle board vs. Plywood: Advantages
and Disadvantages
Plywood Advantages
Plywood is stronger in torsion
(bending) and shearing.
In compression (supporting a load
that’s not bending the panel) they are much more evenly matched, though I’d
still give the nod to plywood.
Plywood also weighs a lot less and is
quite a bit more durable in scratching/gouging.
Sounds pretty good for plywood
doesn’t it? I mean, in terms of physical strength and durability it wins
pretty much across the board. So, why am I bothering to write this
article? Because all of the above
is pretty much irrelevant.
Particle board Advantages
Particle board/MDF is dimensionally
stable - it does not expand and contract as the humidity changes.
Can be precisely machined to fine
tolerances, meaning you can produce the same exact pieces with the same exact
physical characteristics every single time.
It’s a completely uniform material,
so you get exactly the same result from every sheet.
Plywood Disadvantages
Plywood is pretty random stuff.
The face plies generally look nice, but what’s inside them varies
greatly from sheet to sheet, even from the same lot.
The thicknesses are somewhat variable.
Voids (i.e. empty spaces inside center).
Wood fibers expand and contract with changing humidity of the air.
That fundamental variability makes it
less suited for ready-to-assemble cabinets which need to be the same every time
for a standard assembly process to work. If you like the look and added
space of frameless cabinets, the argument is moot because you really need the
precise tolerances and dimensional stability that particle board brings to the
table. Plywood makes a very awkward choice if you’re going to use
frameless cabinetry where everything has to line up exactly right. With a
face frame that sits on the front of the cabinets, the joints can be a bit less
exact, and the alignment isn’t as crucial., however the downside of face frame
cabinets is that you lose quite a bit of usable space, especially in drawers.
Particle board is Tough Where It
Counts
Opponents of particle board often
argue that it’s easily gouged or damaged by sharp instruments, but this is a
faulty argument. In the vast majority of kitchens, the cabinets will be
either underneath a counter, or hanging on a wall. You will almost
certainly have doors/drawer fronts on them. And in most cases any exposed sides
will be covered by cover panels. So where or how, exactly, are they going
to be hit or gouged?
What the cabinets WILL be subjected
to is the compression load from the countertop, not to mention a sink full of
water. For wall cabinets, the brackets that hold the cabinets to the
suspension rail are specifically designed to transfer the load as compression, the one area
where plywood and particle board aren’t all that different.
Particle board Isn’t Waterproof
Well, that’s true, but neither is
plywood when you get right down to it. The melamine surface of particle board
is waterproof – as long as the joints are sealed in a sink base, it should hold
up to minor water leaks just fine. For those who worry about major flooding,
ANY cabinets will be heavily damaged by major flooding, plywood or particle
board, the base units will need to be replaced once the flood is gone. Plywood swells
(albeit not as badly as particle board) and rots from long term
leakage. That said, if you have constant and/or frequent water leaks under
a sink, you need a better plumber not a different cabinet.
Plywood is Forever: The Sales Pitch
Companies that make traditional North
American kitchen cabinets very often try to sell an expensive upgrade to
plywood cabinet boxes (or carcasses as they are known in the cabinetmaking
trade). They extol the many fine virtues of plywood while minimizing the
vices and paint a dismal picture of the durability of particle board. But the
thickness of the plywood used is often 1/2” or less, and you have no way of
telling what kind of core lies underneath the pretty veneer plies on the top.
A 3/4” high-quality particle board is better for kitchen cabinets than
1/2” iffy quality plywood, hands down.
Good quality materials perform well
when designed and installed correctly. Are high end cabinet boxes made of
high quality plywood great, durable cabinets? Absolutely. Are high
end cabinet boxes made of high quality particle board great, durable cabinets?
Sure are. The trick is using the materials in the right way, and having
good quality control in the manufacturing.
Don’t Fall For the Hype
Diamonds aren’t really rare, and they
are lousy as an investment of any sort. Follow the links above or try to
SELL a diamond and see just how much it’s really worth if you don’t believe me.
Likewise, plywood has its downsides
and its virtues are largely rendered pointless by the ways in which it’s used
in most kitchen cabinet construction. Plywood just isn’t the holy grail of
cabinet construction that you’ve been led to believe. Plywood isn’t forever.
Q
