Almost skipped the pre-finished plywood, glad I didn't

I've always been skeptical of pre-finished cabinet grade plywood. Figured it was a gimmick for people who couldn't finish properly. But I took on a kitchen job over in Trenton last month where the client wanted a really dark walnut look, and I just didn't trust my spray setup to get that even on site. So I ordered a few sheets of the pre-finished stuff from my supplier, paid about $120 extra per sheet. I gotta say, the edges still need work, but the face is honestly better than what I get with my usual lacquer. The finish is tough too, I dropped a clamp on it and nothing. I'm not converted for everything, but for dark colors, it saves me a full day. Has anyone else had better results with pre-finished than they expected, or is it still just a shortcut for production shops?

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wendy_sanchez1mo ago

Man, come on. A dropped clamp proves nothing about how a finish holds up over YEARS of grease and hot pans and kids banging cabinet doors. That factory finish is thin, and the second you need to touch up a scratch or sand out a run, good luck matching it. You also locked yourself into that exact color, so if the client changes their mind down the road, you're ripping out whole boxes instead of just respraying. And $120 a sheet? For a full kitchen that's real money you could've put toward a better spray gun and a few hours of practice. Sounds less like a better finish and more like you paid to skip a problem you could've solved.

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