I finally looked up the real cost of using only solid wood for drawer boxes.

I was reading a trade magazine from 2019 and it said a shop using 1/2" maple for all their drawer boxes was spending over $11,000 a year just on that material. I always thought plywood was a cheap shortcut, but the math on waste and weight is hard to ignore. For a standard kitchen job, the weight difference alone can be 60 pounds. Has anyone else made the switch and been happy with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_miller241mo ago

My old boss at Miller Cabinets was a total purist, he insisted on solid maple for every drawer box. I remember him showing me the monthly lumber invoice once, and the drawer stock line was always insane. The switch to Baltic birch ply felt like a betrayal to him, but the shop saved a ton on material and our installers stopped complaining about their backs. You really don't notice the difference once the drawer is in and full of stuff.

grace_white1mo ago

That line about installers not complaining about their backs is so real. But what about the actual build process? Was it a huge pain to retrain everyone on working with plywood instead of solid stock, like with joinery or sanding? I'd worry about the shop guys fighting the change even if the numbers made sense.

sandrat2420d ago

The first time we swapped to ply for drawer boxes at the shop I worked at, old school Mike threatened to quit on the spot. He was our best finisher too, but after two weeks of fighting with his dado set and realizing the plywood joints actually held up better without all the seasonal movement, he came around. @julia_miller24 nailed it about birch ply being way more stable. We did have to buy new blades and dial in the machine settings for the glue ups, but honestly the sanding was easier since the plywood faces were already smooth. The guys grumbled at first over the lack of solid wood feel, but once they saw how fast they could crank out a set of kitchen boxes without wrestling with cupped boards, they were sold.