Replies

1. 
   john_c2 | May 19, 2022 06:50pm | #1

   I've built 2 of those. One in curly cherry,and the other in regular cherry. It's a greatpiece, and very handy.

   If I were going to paint one, I'd use poplar. Or soft maple, if the price was better. But most of my painted stuff is poplar.

   It's not a ton more work to make 2 at once. Make one for paint and one from cherry. I'll bet money she likes the cherry better.

2. 
   _mj_ | May 19, 2022 07:50pm | #2

   Soft maple for the painted one. A pc like that has lots of dings coming.

3. 
   elmaduro | May 20, 2022 12:11am | #3

   If it’s going to be painted, I’d go with the poplar, maple, and MDF options.

4. 
   blake | May 20, 2022 06:21am | #4

   I've built one as well. From an over abundance of clear pine. It's holding up fine. Milk Paint and tung oil.

5. 
   jamenard | May 20, 2022 09:31am | #5

   In my experience, poplar is very soft and gets dinged and dented very easily. Soft maple is often comparable in price and a bit harder/better wearing. Both take paint well.

6. 
   lauriamc | May 20, 2022 11:06am | #6

   Excellent advice as always, thanks everyone!

7. 
   rob_ss | May 21, 2022 02:43am | #7

   Shaker style lends itself to MDF for the panels. Hard to beat for durability and paintability.
   Pine is not bad for the rest really, but I'd use the cheapest hardwood by preference.

1. 
   jamenard | May 21, 2022 12:56pm | #8

   Just need to be careful painting pine as the knots tend to telegraph/bleed through.