Looking for a book on buildeing Kitchen cabinets

[Tim]

Any favorites out there?

[J T]

Sun, Feb 13, 2005, 1:13pm (EST-1) [e-mail] (Tim) asks: Any favorites out there?

Check your local library. And, used bookstores. To see which one "you" like.

JOAT Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.

- David Fasold

[Unquestionably Confused]

I thought "Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" by Jere Cary, Taunton Press (Fine Woodworking) c. 1983, was pretty decent.

While it's pretty much a primer, it's fairly comprehensive with regard to planning, sizing and a lot of the little things that one might tend to overlook until...

Don't know if it's still in print or not. It sold for $11.95 and had an ISBN of 0-918804-15-9

[J T]

Sun, Feb 13, 2005, 7:50pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (Unquestionably=A0Confused) says: I thought "Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" by Jere Cary, Taunton Press (Fine Woodworking) c. 1983, was pretty decent. While it's pretty much a primer, it's fairly comprehensive with regard to planning, sizing and a lot of the little things that one might tend to overlook until... Don't know if it's still in print or not. It sold for $11.95 and had an ISBN of 0-918804-15-9

I'm just a firm believer in actually looking at a book before I buy it. I've found if I don't do it that way, I'm usually disappointed (unless it's something like one of the Discworld books), That's why I seldom recommend any specific book(s), even ones I really like.

JOAT Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.

- David Fasold

[Andy Dingley]

Unfashionable, but that's still my favourite too. Great section on how to use story sticks to measure up a "real" kitchen.

Jim Tolpin has a similar book too, which is the one usually recommended.

[Mark & Juanita]

Danny Proulx's Books on cabinet making have some interesting features. "Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" and "Building Cabinet Doors and Drawers"

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety Army General Richard Cody +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[<NOSPAMtdevery]

Thanks for your suggestions. Now off to the book store to browse these books, and find one that "I" like.

[e-mail] (J T) wrote:

[RJDurkee]

A couple of years ago I was looking for a good kitchen cabinet book and looked at many. None of them are very good, including Tolpins. They leave out many of the little things you need to know. At the Detroit Woodworking show last December, Marc Adams put on a seminar on building cabinets which I thought was very good. He has a video that would probably be a good place to start. Here's the URL:

is true in most woodworking projects, the most important part of the project is detailed, accurate drawing. Also, in the case of kitchen cabinets, there are certain standards which must be followed.

Rich

[Bob G.]

Heck just look at an old kitchen cabinet and notice how it "Put together"........ honestly they are a pretty easy thing to make...no rocket science .... DESIGN on the other hand is my problem...

Bob Griffiths

[dalemartindesigns]

[<NOSPAMtdevery]

Great suggestons,so I ordered two books

Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets - Jim Tolpin Building Kitchen Cabinets - Udo Schmidt

I can sift through these two books for idea's on Face frame cabniets. I am a full time hardwoodflooring installer-refinisher, Lots of scrape flooring And My brother makes flooring. Cheap wood, just have to add on his large order.

So I was thinking on ordering Qtr White Oak for the door panels and Rift for the frames. But first a sample for Wife

Tim wrote:

[busbus]

I asked that same question a year or so ago. I got much the same answers as you are getting--good books all. I picked most of them up at the local library.

But, as an infrequent weekend warrior, they all seemed sort of a half-step beyond me. Oh, I could figure out what was being said alright but I needed to read the text again and again to get it thru my thick noggin.

Then somebody pointed me toward a little bitty of a book called "Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinetry" by John Paquay. It was the BEST $9.00 I have ever spent in my life--well, in woodworking anyway.

This book cuts through all the rhetoric and tells you how to just simply build the cabinets. It made sense of all the other books but I didn't NEED any other book. This one is all you need. Of course, this book doesn't go into huge amounts of detail about kitchen design, etc. nor does it have purty color pictures.

In order to get all the bells and whistles, you will need to go for one of the other suggested books. To simply cut to the chase, John's book is outstanding. All that and he answered a lot of nagging little questions I had, too, via e-mail! One heck of a nice guy and a grea book.

ray

[Upscale]

When I built my mother's kitchen cabinets some 15 years ago, I bought and used a book called Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" by Jere Cary. I knew it was the right book when I called in a plumber to connect the sink to the drain and faucets and he told me that it was easy to install because it had been built properly.

[Wyatt]

I bought Tolpins book after looking through several at Borders. I also bought Paquay's book as well. As a hobbyist building cabs for the first time, I felt better about the methods in Tolpin's book. Pocket screws for the face frames, biscuits and screws with butt joints for carcasses, adjustable feet for ease of installation and leveling.

Tolpin includes a lot of information about setting up work areas, jigs, laying out the design, story sticks, etc.

Considering the time and money that you are going to put into this project, I would recommend this book. Even if you don't ultimately use all of his methods, a tip or hint here or there will be well worth the $25.

[busbus]

I agree that Toplins book is good. I should have probably purchased it as well instead of simply taking it out of the library whenever I needed it...just a cheap b*sta*rd I guess...

Things like jigs and design layout along with some of the good hints like you mentioned.

I think what I was trying to say was that, for me, John's book sort of tied up a lot of loose ends for me. In the end, however, I probably used a hybrid of suggestions from everything I read.

[Sean]