What wood can I use to make a cabinet for a wall oven?

Question

My elderly relative needs to switch to a wall oven. She doesn't have the funds for a kitchen renovation, so we thought we could build her a cabinet to hold the wall oven and hire an electrician to wire for it. However, given that plywood is made using glue, is that actually a safe wood to use? If not, what would you suggest? Doesn't have to be fancy as it will just be painted white. We're still hoping to find a readymade scratch n dent wall oven cabinet, but so far, prices are too high.

Making something like this using premade drawers harvested from something else.

http://www.knoxrailsalvage.com/images/jcpovencabinet.jpg

Answer 1

Make the carcass (box) from 1/2" birch plywood, and the face frame from poplar.  Both will take paint very well.  Leave plenty of room inside for air to circulate.  The oven will have vents above to dissipate heat, but the more air that can move the better.  Be sure to install it level.  Good luck.

Answer 2

Plywood is fine.  Glue is irrelevant, although your question shows you care about safety.  Most cabinets these days are constructed using MDF (medium density fiberboard), furniture board, plywood or a combination of the 3.

Try to use 1/2" or 5/8" plywood for quality of structure.  Wall ovens these days are "getting wider"  Be sure you have the specifications for the new wall oven BEFORE you start to build to ensure your exterior cabinet dimension will accommodate the oven itself once the cut-out has been made for it and retain adequate support.  

Most major appliance manufacturers have websites that include specifications,  You are looking for the cut-out dimensions requirement portion.  These documents are typically a .pdf file that can be found in the Product documentation and are usually a single page of a larger installation manual.

Happy building!

Answer 3

Using plywood should not be a problem for your oven cabinet.  The oven itself should be well insulated to retain the heat from the manufacturer.  I think that you should still leave 2 or more inches of air space on all sides as a safety.  Perhaps a vent above and below would help dissipate any extra heat.