Veneered drawer fronts

[Ronn W]

I would like to veneer my desk drawers so that the grain appears continuous from drawer to drawer (grain would be vertical) - 4 drawers tall.  My largest drawer is 12" tall.  I was going to make the drawer fronts of hard maple and then veneer both sides.  Here's the question........  Will the  expansion/contraction of the maple rip the veneer apart?  I would think that, since the venner is glued to every square inch of the maple that the stress in the veneer would be evenly distributed and the drawer front would act more like plywood.  But I am not sure.

Other alternatives???? 

Use MDF? - ugly dovetails

Use MDF or Baltic Birch plywd with a 1" maple border? The side borders would be end grain to look like the drawer is solid and so the dovetails look right.

Appreciate all our comments.

[Chestnut]

As long as the grain direction in the veneer is the same as that in the substrate behind there should be minimal issue. It's likely that there will be some variance in expansion and contraction but it won't be enough to cause troubles.

If the veneer was to be applied perpendicular to the grain of the substrate issues would probably arise.

A balanced veneer in the first situation would check all the proper boxes but you could get away with veneering just one side. I've done this with shop made veneer in my Walnut Dresser Build as well as my closet storage build. The sides of the drawers and the dovetails will be enough to hold the front of the drawer flat, although it's unlikely that a thin veneer would be strong enough to cup a small drawer front. The benefit to veneering just the front would be to allow you to veneer the drawer fronts after the drawers are constructed and assembled allowing a lot more control over grain continuity. To back this up reading both Nakashima and Maloof they both stated that if veneer is applied parallel to the grain it's not necessary to veneer both sides. Nakashima referenced it with a strong distaste for veneer, Maloof approached veneer as another tool to achieve a goal.

[Ronn W]

Depending on which veneer that I use:  1) The veneer grain will be vertical (perpendicular ot the substrate grain) and I would veneer both sides or 2) the veneer will be a burl and I am not sure if I would veneer the inside face of the drawer.

[Mick S]

Another option would be to edge band a plywood core, then veneer over the faces. This has the added benefit of no expansion or contraction if the drawers are to be inset.

I did that on these desk drawers.

[Ronn W]

Very nice work, Mick