Posted: 8/12/2012 10:00:40 AM EDT
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I am not a master cabinet maker, by any means, but I can make pretty nice plywood boxes and doors for cabinets. (Drawers are a little more difficult for me, though.) Why don't more people build in place their own kitchen cabinets, instead of screw inplace store bought ones? Am I missing something? The ready-made cabinets I see are really crumby and while the custom made are somewhat better, they cost an arm and leg. But will they still be sturdy and nice looking 20 years from now? |
Quality cabinetry will last a lifetime. A quick test is to pull out the drawers to check the joinery. If they have bothered to dove-tail the drawers, then the rest of the construction is probably good as well. Not always, but it is the first thing I check. When building your own, I would also recommend biscuit joints over nails.   |
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Dovetails look nice and are important to hold together. But new cheap drawers have the ball bearing gliders, so, cheap cabinet makers skip dovetails. I won't, especially, since I will make my own center drawer slides. I haven't decided on or designed the doors yet, so I don't know how I will need to join wide panels. |
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Quoted:
I am not a master cabinet maker, by any means, but I can make pretty nice plywood boxes and doors for cabinets. (Drawers are a little more difficult for me, though.) Why don't more people build in place their own kitchen cabinets, instead of screw inplace store bought ones? Am I missing something? The ready-made cabinets I see are really crumby and while the custom made are somewhat better, they cost an arm and leg. But will they still be sturdy and nice looking 20 years from now? I refuse to buy furniture or cabinets made out of particle board and/or MDF. More people don't build their own cabinets as they don't realize how easy they are to make. 
No biscuits used. All tonge and groove joinery. Only mechanical fasteners are the pocket screws on the face frames and the screws holding the cabinets to the walls. No need for biscuits on the raised panels. Long grain to long grain glue joints don't need them. |
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I am not a master cabinet maker, by any means, but I can make pretty nice plywood boxes and doors for cabinets. (Drawers are a little more difficult for me, though.) Why don't more people build in place their own kitchen cabinets, instead of screw inplace store bought ones? Am I missing something? The ready-made cabinets I see are really crumby and while the custom made are somewhat better, they cost an arm and leg. But will they still be sturdy and nice looking 20 years from now? I refuse to buy furniture or cabinets made out of particle board and/or MDF. More people don't build their own cabinets as they don't realize how easy they are to make. http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g326/Covertness/DSCF1254.jpg http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g326/Covertness/DSCF1253.jpg No biscuits used. All tonge and groove joinery. Only mechanical fasteners are the pocket screws on the face frames and the screws holding the cabinets to the walls. No need for biscuits on the raised panels. Long grain to long grain glue joints don't need them. That is some great work..Few questions on height and spacing..What is the proper spacing between top of counter and bottom of upper cabinet. We are getting ready for a remodel and a new kitchen is in the works, im not sure I would want to build my own from scratch but we are maybe going to buy the unfinished cabinets. |
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That is some great work..Few questions on height and spacing..What is the proper spacing between top of counter and bottom of upper cabinet. We are getting ready for a remodel and a new kitchen is in the works, im not sure I would want to build my own from scratch but we are maybe going to buy the unfinished cabinets.
If I remember correctly, 18" is standard but mine are 20 1/4". |
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I have made cabinets a few times, but haven't done my current kitchen, yet. What you have to think about is unstocking your kitchen, tearing it down, replacing it, and restocking. A custom stone top can add considerable time too. If you build your own cabinets, this may add you to the divorce forum of the arfcom. Plan accordingly. My plan is to do one side at a time, lowers first, then uppers. After that I will order doors. In my case, 22 of them. I do have all the bits and a nice Portercable router to do all the raised panels, but I would never take the time to do that many, or have my kitchen torn apart that long. On a previous job, a cabinet shop made me 15 raised panel unfinished oak doors in 3 days, and it wasn't much more than my cost of wood was going to be. It is definately worth shopping around and considering all your options, along with the project time frame. |
| I'm going to do our kitchen cabinets in the fall. I'll do one section at a time to minimize the removal/installation hassles. I haven't decided yet whether I'll make the doors or purchase them. I'll have to wait for the other half to pick the doors she wants and take it from there. |
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I am not a master cabinet maker, by any means, but I can make pretty nice plywood boxes and doors for cabinets. (Drawers are a little more difficult for me, though.) Why don't more people build in place their own kitchen cabinets, instead of screw inplace store bought ones? Am I missing something? The ready-made cabinets I see are really crumby and while the custom made are somewhat better, they cost an arm and leg. But will they still be sturdy and nice looking 20 years from now? I refuse to buy furniture or cabinets made out of particle board and/or MDF. More people don't build their own cabinets as they don't realize how easy they are to make. http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g326/Covertness/DSCF1254.jpg http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g326/Covertness/DSCF1253.jpg No biscuits used. All tonge and groove joinery. Only mechanical fasteners are the pocket screws on the face frames and the screws holding the cabinets to the walls. No need for biscuits on the raised panels. Long grain to long grain glue joints don't need them. They are easy for YOU because you know how to do it! Anything that you are good at seems easy. For those of us that have no experience with building cabinets, it's almost magic!! 
I like doing things myself but I don't have the equipment or the skills to build good looking cabinets. I've always installed pre-made ones. But, I only buy cabinets that have plywood...I also HATE MDF/pressed wood for the structure of a cabinet. |
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Having done this and helped friends build from scratch may I offer a suggestion or two.
Get you graph paper and layout the upper cabinet dimensions then build the boxes and then tear out and install. Next layout and build the base cabs and repeat. Backless boxes on a eurocleat are easy to position and install uppers and require less finish work. Next set up and build all you drawers at one time. the two options are solid front or screw on front. The screw on can be contracted along with the doors to save time. You must first plan for everything including adding plugs and undercounter lighting. you must decide on hinge type and hardware and do not deviate for any reason. If you are confident you can shim all the base cabinets perfectly and you live in an area that has very little soil shifting consider a DIY concrete top. For this option additional support must be added to the bases in the form of reinforcing in the filler strip areas or beefing up the lowers. Protect the raw wood finish at all costs once the cabs are complete hire a pro to come in and spray the finish althoigh this seems backwards as compared to prefinishing in the shop it will eliminate install dings. Prefab finish cabs have a lot harder finish on them that is readily doable by a DIYer. |
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A question for Covertness. How did you make the raised panel doors? Your cabinets look beautiful, very nice job. Did you have a thread on the cabinet construction? I've been wanting to re-do my kitchen cabinets so any help you can offer would be appreciated. Matching cope and cove bits for my router table to do the frames and a 3" raised panel cutting bit. Excellent videos can be found at www.sommerfeldtools.com as well as all the tools you'll need. |
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Thanks for the link Covertness, it will be helpful when I need more tools and instructions. I have a Bench Dog router table with a 3 hp. Porter Cable router that I have been playing around with more and more. I made some exterior shutters for my home using the router table and they turned out pretty nice. I painted them so if I made a mistake I could fix it prior to painting. I have been buying my tooling from Woodcraft since there is a store close by. I really want to try my hand at making raised panel doors.
What type of wood did you use for the door construction? |
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Thanks for the link Covertness, it will be helpful when I need more tools and instructions. I have a Bench Dog router table with a 3 hp. Porter Cable router that I have been playing around with more and more. I made some exterior shutters for my home using the router table and they turned out pretty nice. I painted them so if I made a mistake I could fix it prior to painting. I have been buying my tooling from Woodcraft since there is a store close by. I really want to try my hand at making raised panel doors. What type of wood did you use for the door construction? Cabinets are all cherry except for the drawer boxes and inside lower cabinet sliding shelves which I made from maple. I too have a Woodcraft store just up the road from me. Good stuff there. Your PC router will handle a 3" raised panel bit just fine. Same router I have in my router table. 
If you buy the DVD set from Sommerfeld you'll see how easy cabinet making can be. ETA, you might like this thread Covert's woodshop thread |
| Thanks! That's a great thread, I've already picked up some good ideas from your pictures of your woodworking shop. I especially like your saw blade storage box. Simple, easy to make and keeps the blades out of harms way. Again thanks for the info Covertness, or are you really Norm Abrams? |
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I am not a master cabinet maker, by any means, but I can make pretty nice plywood boxes and doors for cabinets. (Drawers are a little more difficult for me, though.) Why don't more people build in place their own kitchen cabinets, instead of screw inplace store bought ones? Am I missing something? The ready-made cabinets I see are really crumby and while the custom made are somewhat better, they cost an arm and leg. But will they still be sturdy and nice looking 20 years from now? I refuse to buy furniture or cabinets made out of particle board and/or MDF. More people don't build their own cabinets as they don't realize how easy they are to make. http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g326/Covertness/DSCF1254.jpg http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g326/Covertness/DSCF1253.jpg No biscuits used. All tonge and groove joinery. Only mechanical fasteners are the pocket screws on the face frames and the screws holding the cabinets to the walls. No need for biscuits on the raised panels. Long grain to long grain glue joints don't need them. Wow, that kitchen is almost identical to mine! Though mine are crappy MDF units. I plan on re-doing it in the near future. |
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Lot's of nice craftsmanship in this thread
I just wanted to throw out another option for the DIY folks. Make the carcass and order the doors. When my company needs custom cabinets quick we build the boxes and order the doors I get primed mdf doors for as little as $15 and wood raised panels that are truly stain ready anywhere from 30 for a small door to 50 plus for larger doors For those who haven't made them before doors take a lot of skill and patience to build. |