Building Kitchen Cabinets

John Paquay's "Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" and Jim Toplin's "Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets".

The following is from an old post of mine.

"I personally like John's basic kitchen cabinet construction method, which focuses on hardwood face frames, routed to accept the cabinet sides and floors. IME, once you build one cabinet using John's method, the light goes on and no cabinet is then too tough. John still posts here occasionally and the last time I looked his booklet could be ordered at:

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John's little book is geared to the construction of the basic wall and base cabinet, Toplin's book is a fairly good reference for different types of cabinet construction, drawers and, in particular, installation.

If I had to do with just one, and had never built a kitchen cabinet before, I would go with John's self-published booklet... but both of them together will give you what you need, and the confidence, to get the job done.

Strictly my .02 based on my hands on experience of what you are anticipating"

If you have any question about this undertaking , just fire away.

Reply to
Swingman
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I have decided to bite the bullet and attempt to build my kitchen cabinets myself. The wife isn't so happy about the idea because she thinks I don't know enough to actually make them and have them look anything near good.

She has a small point in that I do not have a lot of experience but the doggone things look so simple to build. Maybe I am underestimating the complexity of them or overestimating my abilities but they are nothing but a box with a door.

Well, maybe that WAS a little on the oversimplification side.

In aby event, I seem to recall a recommendation for a book that is short and sweet and only sold online. I saw it in a thread here a couple months ago when I was pushing around the idea of simply refacing the exisiting cabinets and go the bug to actaully build them once I read the website.

Can anybody remember the site I am talking about?

Thanks

Reply to
Ray Kinzler

Good for you Ray! Don't worry it's a challenge you can handle. How do I know? Well because I knew very little about woodworking and I was able to do it! I took a woodworking class to get the basics and I currently have all my base cabinets built, including a lazy Suzan, which I think is pretty cool. And they have inset doors, with may tell me are harder to build.

They Are basically a box with a door. But I urge you to think them out a bit. there are a lot of nice custom things you can do with them. There are several books out there, I got some off Amazon. You can even just make the box and order the doors pre made, but I'm enjoying making them myself.

Good luck.

Ben

Reply to
Ben

This is my first post to this newsgroup so I hope I'm on the right track with my information here. I dont know the website, but I have a book called ' Making Kitchen Cabinets ' by Paul Levine which is very good - full of practical stuff and hints with good illustrations and pictures. It is published by The Taunton Press of the USA. International Standard Book Number 0-918804-94-9 and Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 87-51674. My copy is the 1988 edition and I brought it in a bookshop here in Australia about a year ago, but being a fairly 'old ' book now, perhaps its only available through the web.

Hope this helps, Dean.

"Ray Kinzler"

Reply to
Dean

Ray building Kitchen cabinets is easier tham making a cardboard box, it is one of the biggest whoring of woodowrking that there is. Simple fundamentles

24" deep boxes, 36" high floor to worktop if you have a 1-1/2" top

Be carefull in your inside corners, upper cabs 12" deep 30" high is the standard but do not be afraid to go to 32 and 36 or higher if your ceilings allow, give's the wife a lot more storage room for the 50% of crap that women keep that they use once a year. (I should talk my wife is always giving me hell because i do cook and buy or have bought most everything out there)

It all in the fronts good doors throw up a nice crown mldg on the top and a mldg on the bottom edge of the upper cabinets and make a door for your end panels,

You will end up with look that will have her apologizing for doubting you for a long time Go For It Good Luck, George

Reply to
George M. Kazaka

Reply to
Bob Bowles

Swingman,

As Lucy van Pelt used to say in the old "Peanuts" comincs: "THAT'S IT!!!!!"

John Paquay's manual is exactly what I was referring to. However, the material mentioned by others looked very good as well. I guess I was just looking for the old cut-to-the-chase sort of manual and this is it. Nothing fancy.

Thanks also to the others who responded and gave a few hints (like watch out for the inside corners). It was sort of a good feeling to be told that building kitchen cabinets is easier than making a cardboard box. It certainly seemed that way to me but if all you guys think the same thing, it makes me feel a lot better.

I also liked the ideas about the lazy susans and the advice to think things out. I am going to take some real time to brainstorm to see what I can come up with but I am basically limited in what I can do. The kitchen is a rectangle and there is not enough room for an island in the middle (unless the wife wants to get rid of the kitchen table and eat in the dining room). I see spots where I can hang some additional cabinets like on the wall above the microwave, above the fridge, and above the sink (maybe). Other than that, I am more-or-less going to mimic what is already in place as far as dimensions are concerned. The only big thing I could maybe do is knock out a wall but (a) it is a load-bearing wall and I do not have enough experience messing with that sort of stuff although a 2x12 spanning across the opening should hold it and (b) that would actually take away from the space that I have because that is where the kitchen sink is currently.

I am getting WAY ahead of myself. I need to get a manual and a few hundred pieces of paper and draw something.

Thanks a lot!!

Reply to
Ray Kinzler
[...]

Be careful not to obstruct the cooling vents of the microwave and the airflow behinde the fridge, just remember that the microwave produces as much "unwanted" heat which has to be blown away as it produces heat in the food, and that the fridges efficiency drops to nothing if the backside has no cooling airflow.

Reply to
Juergen Hannappel

George, what did you mean by "be careful in your inside corners"?

dave

George M. Kazaka wrote:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

It's impractical to respond to all messages but I needed to reposnd to you, Geroge, because you hit the nail on the head! My wife has so much, well, CRAP, that one of the big reasons I want to put in new cabinets is to increase storage. She pile those top shelves full...and then call me at work some morning whining that she can't find something and she thinks it's in the back corner on the top shelf. And it's too high for her to reach. And she's NOT going to reach for it. I will need to get it as soon as I get home and that will ruin blah, blah, blah.

I get yelled at because I cook, too. And I buy a lot of stuff. She just doesn't understand that cooking is like woodworking: the right tool for the right job makes life easier and the experience more enjoyable. If it were up to her, I would still be using the butterknife she and her mother used as a screwdriver.

But I don't care...I like your idea. I actuall have enough room between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling to put either an additional shelf inside the cabinet or even install an additional door, maybe even, and have separate cabinets above the cabinet. Sort of gives me a reason to try and make doors with glass in them, even.

I will say that I am thinking about cheating a little and ordering the doors and drawer fronts. I am ambitious but I don't have oodles of time at this point. Plus it seems to me that those pieces are the hardest ones.

Reply to
Ray Kinzler

Got a BORG close by? Measure your space and get them design one for you using their software and one of their showroom models that you/SWMBO like. They do it for free here.

All you need is one design to get the idea of what they are up to. That will help you with your own planning.

Break a leg ...

Reply to
Swingman

Ray, I'm on your side. I started a similar project from zero (I mean zero tools and zero capital) So I'd like to exchange experiences about the experiences in facing such a project. You can reach me at snipped-for-privacy@matusa.com.mx Good luck! Faustino

Reply to
Faustino Dina

I get the feeling this isn't a popular book, but I bought it years ago and it got me through my first "real" woodworking project.

"Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" by Jere Cary

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Ray, I'm doing the same thing, using the same basic existing layout that I have allready. For $7.95 take a look at the Cabinetmaking Seminar at

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. Very basic stuff. You will need more books, but this is a good start. Good Luck

Reply to
klaat

I found "Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" by Danny Proulx to be a pretty good book..

Reply to
Rodger Podlogar

Juergen,

I am just planning on the 'normal' distance between the countertop and the bottom of the upper cabinets to place my microwave. Is that not enough space?

Also, I never really thunk aboutit but how much space DOES there need to be between the bottom of the cabinets and the top of the fridge?

Reply to
Ray Kinzler

Holy cow. I actually DID think of this. I thought it might be 'cheating' though. Part of me is scared to do that because they will simply suck SWMBO in and make her think she wants that junk. She is a tough sell in the first place.

And since she is such a tough sell, I was wondering if I should maybe start with something that the entire world doesn't see but she will. Another room that needs spruced up is the master bathroom. I could start out by making a vanity, a medicine chest, and a cabinet above the toilet. That may be a good starting point for this project.

Of course, I need to do it around me getting my Master's degree, activities the two kids partake in, and just, well, life. Luckily, the relatively high cost of remodeling a kitchen and a bathroom makes both of us slow down and really think about what we want.

Any thoughts as to practicing on the bathroom cabinetry before attempting to build the kitchen cabinets?

Reply to
Ray Kinzler

Normal distance is 16 - 18", on the higher side if you plan on having undercounter lighting ... that usually allows plenty of room for most countertop microwaves.

I leave about 4" ... just enough room for SWMBO room to stack her TV and coffee trays, and not enough room to put anything on top of the refrigerator that would block the cabinet doors. Check your refrigerator manufacturer's recommendation for clearance for your particular model.

Reply to
Swingman

The reason I suggest the BORG for ideas is that they sell kitchen cabinets sized to industry standard widths and it is a good place to see, touch and feel.

However, I guarantee that if you do a reasonable job on your own kitchen, when you walk back through the BORG after you're finished with yours, their cabinets will ALL look cheap, no matter how good they look now.

Since you are doing this for the first time, grab a copy of a cabinet company catalog like KraftMaid, etc. ... they generally have pages that show box sizes and shapes for different.situations and will give you some more ideas.

Tip: Since you remarked that you may buy the doors and drawer fronts, you will usually find it easier/cheaper to do the doors by dimensioning your cabinets to respect the standard widths, or multiples thereof:

The production kitchen cabinets you buy are generally sized in 3" increments as to width, i.e., 12", 15", 18", 21", 24", 27", etc.

Get a copy of John Paquay's book for your basic boxes ... forget all the others, except for ideas and installation tips.

Stand on the backs of those who have gone before you and you won't go wrong, despite any inexperience. By the time you make your second cabinet, you'll likely be "experienced" enough to do the entire job without further worry.

Reply to
Swingman

The Kraftmaid catalog is a really neat idea. We have walked through the kitchen area in our local stores and I have shaken my head for years at their ware.

I already ordered John Paquay's book--yesterday. Heck, I even had the pipe dream that it may be in the mail when I got home! I have also been out to his site and read a bunch of stuff several different times. I tried out his suggestions in the "How to achieve an incredible hand-rubbed oil finish." link and got an old cherry dresser to come out smoother than a piece of glass. I must touch part of that durn thing 10 times a day. It's just a shame that others don't appreciate that and I have no idea why. Everybody in my life looks at it, touches it, makes a face, and says, "Yeah. That is smooth, huh?" Yoi!!!

I think I am going to more-or-less limited, however, in how the kitchen will end up looking. I may be able to do some things like make the top and bottom cabinet openings on a 45-degree angle (if you know what I mean). I may be able to make the wall units either be somewhat higher or put smallish one above. There is opportunuity to put two new ones over the fridge, like I said. And the old dresser I was talking about is being used "temporarily" (for 14 years) as a microwave cart. It is great for storage but it is not deep enough. It fits the entire width of the wall between the entry way and the corner but there needs to be cabinets there. Also above it. I see the opportunity to add two small cabinets, two or three floor cabinets to replace the dresser, and two or three wall units above them. Other than that, I am guessing I can simply measure what I already have. My wife likes the combination of drawers and cabinets. I may see fit to add another set of drawers someplace when replacing the dresser.

All in all, the Kraftmaid catalog will come in real handy. As will a before and after visit to the Borg. A little cheating with their kitchen designers. And a LOT of time.

My guess is that there will be more than enough suggestions in the book I ordered as well as the others mentioned that I will know what to use on the inside. But I think I have another question. Should I use that, what's it called, melemaine or somehting like that? How does it hold screws? I would be afraid that it would be very easy to strip the hole. Would it maybe be a decent idea to use 3/4" plywood and cover the inside with something like white formica? Sort of make my own stuff but not use the stupid particle board? Maybe use MDF covered with formica? Maybe simply do a little more research before I start??

Reply to
Ray Kinzler

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