Which Plywood is Best for Cupboards?

Plywood is one of the most popular building products of the modern age. It’s strong, lightweight, easy to cut, and lasts a long time. For both residential and commercial construction work, plywood is always a preferred material.

Using plywood for cupboards is a great way to achieve a smooth, sturdy finish. Choosing the right type is important if you want the structure to last. 

Thicker plywood is better for wardrobes and hardy cabinet shelves, while waterproof plywood is best for cupboards in kitchens or bathrooms.

Keep reading to learn which plywood is best for cupboards. 

What Type of Plywood is Best for Cabinets?

Choosing the best type of plywood for cabinets and cupboards depends on where they will reside, how you want them to look, and what finish you want to apply. For example, the best plywood for bathroom cabinets will be different compared with bedrooms or living areas. 

In general, it’s best to use Marine Grade plywood of category A or B with a thickness of ½ inch (or 2mm). This type of plywood is strong, durable, moisture-resistant, and has a smooth finish suitable for sanding, painting, and staining. 

It’s best used for bathroom, kitchen, garage, basement, or utility room cabinets, including wall hanging cabinets. This is because it has a high resistance to moisture and humidity without warping or bending.

However, if you plan to build cabinets for bedrooms, hallways, living areas, or lofts, Cabinet Grade plywood is just as suitable and is often available for a lower price than Marine Grade. 

Because these areas are not naturally humid, they don’t require the moisture-resistance of Marine Grade. Categories of A, AA, B, or C are best for these types of cabinet construction. 

Grades range from A-D, with A being the highest quality, so A or AA will give the smoothest finish and best appearance overall. 

Best Plywood for Cabinets & Cupboards: A Summary

	Kitchens, Bathrooms, Garages, Utility Rooms	Bedrooms, Living Areas
Type	Marine Grade	Cabinet Grade
Grade	Grade A or B	Grade AA, A, B, or C
Weight	If hanging cupboards, depends on wall capacityIf freestanding, any weight	If hanging cupboards, depends on wall capacityIf freestanding, any weight
Thickness	½ thickness for doors and sides¼ thickness for drawer bases	½ thickness doors and sides¼ thickness for drawer bases
Size	Depends on cabinet size	Depends on cabinet size

Plywood Grades: A Summary

To determine the quality of plywood (in terms of appearance, strength, and moisture resistance), the American Plywood Association (APA) produced set grades. 

All plywood sheets must be classified by one of the four grades from A-D. Higher grades (A-BC) are more expensive than lower grades (C-DD).

Plywood comes in a variety of types, but fits overall into two main categories: softwood and hardwood. Softwood has two grades, one for the front face and another for the back. 

Therefore, some plywood sheets have two grades (like AB or BB). The first letter refers to the grade of the front face of the plywood, and the second letter applies to the back. 

Hardwood only comes in one grade, so it has one grade (like B or D) for the whole sheet on all sides.

Grade A Plywood

Grade A is the highest quality type of plywood available. It’s best used for cupboard doors, exterior parts of wardrobes, and furniture.

The appearance is smooth, with minimal knotholes and no imperfections. This makes it stronger, sleeker, and more moisture-resistant. It’s also easy to paint, as minimal sanding is needed before finishing grade A plywood. 

Because of its high quality, grade A plywood is the most expensive. 

Grade B Plywood

One level down from grade A plywood is grade B, which is high-quality, strong, and smooth, but has some defects, grain patterns, and imperfections. 

This type of plywood may need some sanding, filling, and touching up before it can be finished with paint, stain, varnish, or lacquer. 

Grade B plywood is excellent for projects where a natural wood effect is required, or when the overall appearance of the plywood is not important. 

Grade C Plywood

Grade C plywood is strong but contains visible knotholes, splits, discoloration, and defects. The knots are darker in appearance (a dark brown against the light color of the rest of the panel). 

The sheets are relatively smooth and can be sanded, but it’s difficult to cover the knotholes with wood stain. For this reason, grade C plywood is best used for construction purposes, strengthening projects, subfloors, or unseen parts of furniture/cabinets. 

Grade D Plywood

Grade D is the cheapest type of plywood available. It has large knotholes and defects covering the entire sheet and has heavy discoloration. 

Because of the defects, it isn’t as strong or moisture-resistant compared with the other grades. Grade D plywood is best used for projects where minimal impact resistance is needed and there is little to no humidity. 

It’s also best for projects where the appearance of the plywood is unimportant, like shed floors or garage workbenches.

What is the Best Thickness Plywood for Cabinets?

With cabinet building, different thicknesses can be used for different parts. 

While the same plywood thickness can be used for the entire cabinet, thinner sheets are cheaper and more suitable for different parts, so it’s best to save money and purchase different thicknesses for the different areas. 

There are five main parts of a cabinet: the doors, sides, interior shelves, drawer bases, and drawer faces. Overall, a thickness of ½ inch is suitable for plywood cabinets. 

However, this thickness is best used for the doors, sides, and drawer faces. For interior shelves and drawer bases, a thickness of ¼ inch is more suitable and easier to work with. 

Just remember that the thinner the wood, the less weight it can hold. Use ½ inch or ¾ inch thickness of plywood for interior cabinet shelves to improve weight capacity. 

Should I Use 1 2 or 3 4 Inch Plywood for Cabinets?

Choosing the best thickness of plywood cabinets depends on how strong and sturdy you want them to be. 

When building a cabinet with a high weight capacity (for example, kitchen cabinets holding tins), the thicker the plywood used for the sides and interior shelves, the better. If a regular capacity is needed (for example, for a bedside cabinet or chest of drawers), the thickness required will be lower. 

Overall, a ½ inch plywood thickness is suitable for cabinets. This type of plywood should be used for the construction of cabinet doors, sides, drawer faces, and interior shelves. 

Thinner plywood (of ¼ inch) can be used for drawer bases, provided the weight capacity required is low. A thickness of ¾ inch plywood can be used for cabinet building to improve the weight capacity. This will also make the cupboard look sturdier. 

Remember, the thicker the plywood used, the larger the cutting tool blade you’ll need. 

What is the Best Plywood for Cupboard Doors?

Grade A-BC plywood is best for cabinet doors. Because cupboard doors are the most visible areas, it’s important to choose high-quality plywood with minimal knot holes and defects. 

This ensures a smooth finish that can be easily painted, stained, varnished, or lacquered, without the visible discoloration of the knotholes coming through. 

If building cupboards in kitchens or bathrooms, use Marine Grade plywood. For all other areas with low humidity, Cabinet Grade plywood can be used. Cupboard doors should be the same thickness as the sides. Choose either ½ inch or ¾ inch thickness for a strong, sturdy door