DIY Kitchen Cupboard

bob.smithson · 2009-05-19T22:25:19+00:00

A while ago we had the boiler removed from the kitchen. It had beenwall mounted between two cupboards and hidden behind a door matchingthe cupboard doors. I think when we bought the kitchen (quite a whileago now), we bought a whole cupboard for the boiler space, but thefitter just used the side panels, which he attached to the adjacentcupboards and one of which he hung the door from.So now we've got an unused space that could be a useful cupboard. Ithought the easiest thing to do would be to buy a carcass fromsomewhere, fit that in the space, and hang the existing door on it.However, there are two problems. One is that the cupboards are quitetall and from what I have been able to find out so far seem to be anon standard size - about 864mm high. The other is that the gapbetween the two cupboards is 2 or 3 mm short of 60mm, so assuming a60mm cupboard really is 60mm, it's not going to fit. It *might* bepossible to shift one of the existing cupboards along as there is agap between it an the wall to allow for some pipes. It has a simplefillet piece of white covered chipboard to hide the gap. My hope wasthat there might be enough slack between the pipes and the cupboard tonudge it along a bit, and I could trim the fillet down by thecorresponding amount. But as I say I am thwarted with the cupboardheight anyway...So I wondered how difficult it would be to make a cabinet? Theexisting stuff is fairly bog standard quality as far as I can tell.It's white faced 15mm chipboard, originally flat packed. If itwouldn't be too hard, could someone give me a noddy guide to whatmaterials, fixings, joints etc I should use. I have fairly basictools. One thing that worries me from previous experience where itdidn't matter too much is that I know it's quite hard to get astraight line with a jig saw (for me anyway!) and also I would have tobe pretty accurate with lengths. Could I use a router for this? Idon't have one but might like to have the excuse to buy one ;-)All advice...

May 19, 2009 21 Replies

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Stuart Noble 17 years ago

If the B&D blade is tungsten tipped and in reasonable condition, it should be ok. You pay more for ease of use and accuracy of adjustment, but hardly important in this case. Sorry, you can't buy a new one :-)

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meow2222 17 years ago

Probably the biggest difference between cheap and nice circulars is the quality of cut. I've got one that produces a perfect edge with no packing, and another that does its best to make a mess. Putting hardboard, or any other scrap, on top of the piece being cut makes a big difference, it stops the blade tearing lumps off the laminated surface.

Can you get a nice new one? If you want. You'd get a nicer result relatively easily.

TCT blades last a very long time, but if your prospective machine has replacement blades at screwfix.com and toolstation.com then you're on pretty safe ground.

If the B&D is old enough to have untipped steel teeth, ugh, go and get a rexon/makita/etc, you'll be delighted.

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