Vent: Overheard a contractor say plywood "doesn't matter" for cabinet boxes

I was grabbing supplies at my local lumber yard in Denver and heard a young guy telling his partner that any old plywood works for case construction since it's "hidden anyway." He was talking about using standard sheathing instead of cabinet-grade plywood to save $15 a sheet. How do we get these newcomers to understand that a cabinet built with warped, void-filled plywood will fail in 3 or 4 years no matter how good the face frame looks?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_perry5d ago

Used to cheap out on plywood myself. Totally changed my mind after a callback.

kim.sandra3d ago

Callbacks. That word still gives me a little chill. You must have had one that really stuck with you to completely flip your whole approach like that. I can almost picture the moment you realized the cheap stuff wasn't worth the headache. Some lessons just have to be learned the hard way, I guess.