Advice on sheet material for small project

[duotwr]

Hi everyone

I'm just looking for a bit of advice. I want to make a toy kitchen for my daughter - got a fairly simple plan in mind since I'm kind of new to this. Not sure about what material to use (I'm building onto a small existing table). From what I've seen it looks like birch plywood might be best - but should I avoid external plywood given that it's for a piece of indoor play equipment? Any other materials I should be considering (which aren't too pricey)?

Finally if anybody has suggestions for suppliers in the Newcastle area I'd be grateful.

Thanks in advance

Keith

 

[r896neo]

use melamine faced chipboard, cheap easy to cut doesn't need painted and is easy to keep clean. It is pretty weak though and not great for any horizontal spans of 400mm or more without being supported.

B&Q sell it as Contiboard i think

 

[big-all]

plywood dosnt give you smooth edges when cut

if your daughter is older than 3 then look at mdf finnishes smooth glues easily but mustnt get too wet

 

[^woody^]

A nice 9-12mm Sapele or similar [internal] ply will do fine - and edges will sand fine too before painting or varnishing

Exterior ply may have knots or a lower grade (large grain) ply face

I don't think MDF will take fixings well - in context of the rough treatment this may get when she burns the cakes, or overboils the rice

Remember to chamfer all edges slightly and round off corners

 

[Deluks]

in context of the rough treatment this may get when she burns the cakes, or overboils the rice

If she's that bad a cook consider making her a sweet shop or wendyhouse instead.

 

[duotwr]

Hey - thanks for the advice. I'm slightly concerned about actually including any kind of sink in this as it might just tempt her to start trying to move water about - we'll see.

I've always been a bit suspicious of MDF (probably groundless, but based on how dusty it is to work with, and reliability of fixings) - I think I'll pursue the plywood advice in woody's message. Sounds like it'll finish OK, and I can just take the corners off before putting on some varnish or paint.

I'll check out local suppliers and see what I can find - thanks for taking the time to respond.

Keith