Lowes cabinets as stand?

[aquamanpc24]

why not build the frame and insert cabinets in. that way you get the look of the cabinets you probably wanted and structure support you need

 

[TheAquatect]

It would hold fine. But I would pass on using them for 2 reasons. First, particle board/mdf is not forgiving when it comes to water. It will swell and when it does, it will begin to lose its structural integrity. Second is the room. If you are using multiple cabinets screwed together there won't be much continuous room with each cabinet being divided.

 

[wakerider017]

It would hold fine. But I would pass on using them for 2 reasons. First, particle board/mdf is not forgiving when it comes to water. It will swell and when it does, it will begin to lose its structural integrity. Second is the room. If you are using multiple cabinets screwed together there won't be much continuous room with each cabinet being divided.

Two very valid points!

You could spend the extra money and get cabinets made out of plywood.

 

[garydan]

Back to the cabinets; I lean on my kitchen island all the time. I'm not a small guy. The thing does not wrack or creak, or pop.

A plywood cabinet is perfectly fine, you don't need to do 2x4 construction, and you certainly don't need to be an engineer to build a reasonable stand that will hold. But, those kitchen cabinets were done by an engineer to just barely hold for use in a kitchen, not to hold a fish tank. They did engineering to find out the absolute minimum amount of material necessary, and to minimize costs. I've done three kitchen remodels. If you give your average lowes cabinets a good tug on the front, the entire face frame will pull off. It's held together with (minimum) glue, a few wire staples, and some plastic in the corners for support. If you look at your average 3/4" plywood cabinet, you don't need plastic corners for support, do you? The face frame is nailed or screwed on, right? That is NOT how the lowes/home depot cabinets are assembled. I wish i had recorded a video now of the demolition of our kitchen, which had that style cabinet. When i pulled them out, i would take them to the front yard and drop them on the corner. They'd fall apart into 5 flat pieces every time, made it super easy to stack them up in the dumpster.

They're fine for daily use in a kitchen, when the're screwed together in a row or screwed to a wall, and has a counter on it. They aren't engineered to be free standing, and they aren't engineered to hold something like a fish tank for a long time. It would hold, but it's a bit too close to "just barely holding" for my liking.

 

[wakerider017]

:fish2:

A plywood cabinet is perfectly fine, you don't need to do 2x4 construction, and you certainly don't need to be an engineer to build a reasonable stand that will hold. But, those kitchen cabinets were done by an engineer to just barely hold for use in a kitchen, not to hold a fish tank. They did engineering to find out the absolute minimum amount of material necessary, and to minimize costs. I've done three kitchen remodels. If you give your average lowes cabinets a good tug on the front, the entire face frame will pull off. It's held together with (minimum) glue, a few wire staples, and some plastic in the corners for support. If you look at your average 3/4" plywood cabinet, you don't need plastic corners for support, do you? The face frame is nailed or screwed on, right? That is NOT how the lowes/home depot cabinets are assembled. I wish i had recorded a video now of the demolition of our kitchen, which had that style cabinet. When i pulled them out, i would take them to the front yard and drop them on the corner. They'd fall apart into 5 flat pieces every time, made it super easy to stack them up in the dumpster.

They're fine for daily use in a kitchen, when the're screwed together in a row or screwed to a wall, and has a counter on it. They aren't engineered to be free standing, and they aren't engineered to hold something like a fish tank for a long time. It would hold, but it's a bit too close to "just barely holding" for my liking.

Arch aqueduct. Extremely strong structure.

Individual pieces can be lifted out vertically with little force. 1 missing piece equals a failing structure.

See what I'm saying?

Sure you might be able to rip something up easy by applying forces it was not designed to withstand.

However the downward compressive force created by an aquarium over a large sq footage is exactly the type of force that the cabinets were designed to withstand.

The cabinets should be properly installed with a top..

 

[garydan]

:fish2:

Arch aqueduct. Extremely strong structure.

Individual pieces can be lifted out vertically with little force. 1 missing piece equals a failing structure.

See what I'm saying?

Sure you might be able to rip something up easy by applying forces it was not designed to withstand.

However the downward compressive force created by an aquarium over a large sq footage is exactly the type of force that the cabinets were designed to withstand.

The cabinets should be properly installed with a top..

You're right, an arch aquaduct is extremely strong at supporting downward weight, but i wouldn't put one in an earthquake zone or in a situation where a large barge could run into the side of it, lose one stone and the whole thing fails...

If one of these cabinets was mounted in such a way that it's secured against sideways forces, against walls or multiple other cabinets, then no problem. If you try to use it free standing or insuficciently supported, i predict that a simple kick to the side (or a kid running into it with a tricycle) would cause some of the glue to crack, a few of the staples to pull, and then catastrophic failure.

 

[spollock818]

Ill put something out there. even though the cabinets MAY, and I say may hold up, its for how long. With that much dead weight, whats going to happen if an earthquake hits and maybe, just maybe, there was some weak joint from water. Because none of us ever spill water on out stands? As said before, MDF is not forgiving to H202.

 

[gunlocators]

If it was all plywood I would would feel safe but MDF NO Just my .02

 

[hllywd]

It would hold fine. But I would pass on using them for 2 reasons. First, particle board/mdf is not forgiving when it comes to water. It will swell and when it does, it will begin to lose its structural integrity. Second is the room. If you are using multiple cabinets screwed together there won't be much continuous room with each cabinet being divided.

Space is the problem using cabinets like this. Not really enough support for a tank with one large open one. With multiples there is. That's the trade off.

 

[hllywd]

Yes, many on here overbuild. My physics prof had a saying. "Anyone can build a bridge that holds, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that just barely holds."

If you're building, and you're not an engineer, you're much better off overbuilding than trying to build something that just barely holds and ends up failing.

For the lowes cabinet, i'd bet it'd support a 20 gallon tank no sweat. I'd never use it though, because living in an EQ zone, i don't have any faith that the stapled plastic corners could support any kind of torsion. It's the kind of situation where a kid runs into the side of the stand with a tricycle and the whole thing comes crashing down.

The plastic corners are not meant to resist torsion in and of themselves. They are to hold the countertop in place. If they were a big worry, they could be easily beefed up with 3/4" plywood.
When I built my cabinets, I didn't even use corner braces. The carcasses are built of Formica coated particle board, face frames are solid wood, and they support a couple thousand pounds of concrete counters with tile. The main difference in the boxes is that I used full thickness material for the back. Lowes cabinets do not.

 

[ravi197699]

i would built something with 2x4's i built my stand with 4x4 and 2x4's and i have my120gal sitting on it and its not going to win when it comes to pretty looking stands but i tell you its built like a tank and when i was done i was not able to lift it and move its was heavy and strong and i climp on it and everything and no movement at all .

 

[wakerider017]

If you are in a zone that experiences earthquakes or rugrats on tricycles you need to deal with that appropriately.

 

[hllywd]

i would built something with 2x4's i built my stand with 4x4 and 2x4's and i have my120gal sitting on it and its not going to win when it comes to pretty looking stands but i tell you its built like a tank and when i was done i was not able to lift it and move its was heavy and strong and i climp on it and everything and no movement at all .

Wasteful, impractical, and unnecessary.