DIY kitchen cabinets?

[Howie]

My wife and I are looking into do-it-yourself (Pre-fab) kitchen cabinets that you install yourself. Any tips / advice / comments / suggestions?

Howie

[willshak]

On 11/28/2004 8:30 PM US(ET), Howie took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

My laundry room cabinets and pool house cabinets are all prefab from HD. The 12' x 16' pool house cabinets are the plain white Bianca style and installed on two walls. All base cabinets and two tall cabinets. The laundry room has the white vinyl clad raised panel doors and drawers. Base and Wall cabinets. All of the framing and shelves are composite material covered in a thin veneer of white, or in the case of a wood finish cabinet, a maple grain veneer inside and oak grain colored veneer or other color on the outside. They only 'real' wood are the doors and drawers of the natural wood cabinets. All you need are a philips head screwdriver, a tape measure (to square up the cabinet) and a small hammer to put them together (you don't really need the hammer. The lock cam bolts and the wooden dowels have to be lightly pounded into the holes and you can use almost anything instead of the hammer). They are all robotically machine drilled so all the holes are in the right positions. They look good and go together pretty easily. The directions are straight forward and it takes less than 15 minutes to put one together. Do not install doors, drawers, or shelves until you get the cabinet into place, leveled, plumb, and secured to the wall, because they are heavy enough without the added weight. You will need a helper to get the boxes into, and out of, a truck.

[Frank J Warner]

Look into Ikea, especially if you've got a store nearby. A recent Consumer Reports rated their prefab cabinets very good.

We considered them when we remodeled our kitchen last summer, but the nearest store was a four-hour round trip drive, and they don't deliver.

-Frank