Anybody watch NYW this weekend?

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Oh, Brad, we await your enlightened education about what Norm and the rest of us are doing wrong!

Also, on the show, if I recall correctly, these cabinets are not too fancy; particularly where the finish is concerned. Also, no inset doors or drawers, no panel glue-ups, and no beading or other time consuming details. Just your run-of-the-mill cabinets.
[/QUOTE]

Uhhh, actually you stand corrected. The cabinets have inset doors and drawer fronts. Additionally the face frames are beaded on the inset. The drawers have high end, concealed, self-closing slides. These cabinets will last 100+ years.

[Bill Arnold]

... The cabinets have inset doors and drawer fronts. Additionally the face frames are beaded on the inset. The drawers have high end, concealed, self-closing slides. These cabinets will last 100+ years.

Actually, Norm shows examples of inset and overlay doors and drawers. He also shows flat panel and raised panels in doors as well as matching the drawer profile to the raised panels. In addition to those options, he shows six different joinery methods for the face frame.

[Mort Stevens]

Norm is reported to have some health issues

I don't believe this. Norm was on last weeks premiere of This Old House that was taped about 2 months ago. He looked, walked and talked just fine. Personally I think he has grown tired of NYW and probably wanted to spend more time with his new wife and boat.

[paul cottingham]

The home he built them for is pretty nice, and the finished product looked great, and fit with the home nicely. The island he builds is awesome. I don't see the problem.

[Orion Henderson]

Cabinets are built differently than furniture. Prefinshed ply is more or less an industry standard. Cabinet shops hate unfinished ply-it costs much more for them to finish and prefinished gives you a very consistent finish. Not what you would use on a Mahogany secretary; but appropriate for the application. Norm built practical, buildable, beautiful cabinets. When you have to build 10, 20, or 100 more or less identical cases you approach it differently. I hope Mr. Abram is doing well.

[Nathan Callender]

I downloaded his article he wrote about the project on FWW and gave it a read. The tips are really outstanding, and he picked construction techniques befitting the design specs. It's hard to make a case against any of the construction techniques since, as he built them, those will likely last much longer than the people who own the home, and the pictures of the final installation look much better than most of today's kitchens.

BTW, I used to think kitchen cabinetry was intricately complicated. Yes, there are a bunch of things to learn, and you have to work to reasonable tolerances, but the concepts are nowhere near as crazy as most people make them out to be. But, until you give it a shot, you don't know.

[David DeCristoforo]

Three Basic Rules for Survival:
1) Don't tug on Superman's cape
2) Don't spit into the wind
3) Don't drive on the wrong side of the road
4) Never criticize Norm Abrams or Grizzly!

[Francis Robinson]

I do know that Norm and I share a serious health affliction. It's called "aging"...
-
Why is that hand holding the nail shaking? And why are they making this stuff so heavy these days? Let's think about what is hurting... No, wait, let's just think about what doesn't.

[Gary Muto]

3 rules since #4 is a subset of #1?? I see you "cleaned up rule #2 as well.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In a couple of interviews over the last couple of years Norm has been quoted saying he hoped to retire by age 60. He will be 60 next year IIRC.

The OP pretty well set the tone with following comment: But to advocate this basic process for kitchen cabinets going into a home really made me wince.

My point was if someone has a good logical reason for using a certain method or material, then who has the right to be critical? Norm usually explains his reasons for using a specific method and/or material in his projects.

[Wilbur Pan]

Three Basic Rules for Survival:
1) Don't tug on Superman's cape
2) Don't spit into the wind
3) Don't drive on the wrong side of the road
4) Never criticize Norm Abrams or Grizzly!

What happened to not pulling the Lone Ranger's mask?

As to the longevity of kitchen cabinets, I'm envisioning an episode of This Old House 25 years from now, as they start their 54th season, and are walking through a kitchen being gutted for a rehab. The hologram of Kevin O'Connor points out that the old cabinets were put together with pocket screws, and Jane Silva, granddaughter of Tom Silva and the general contractor for the project, rolls her eyes and says, "Pocket screws? That's sooooo early 2000's!"

[Mitchell Andrus]

I

But to advocate this basic process for kitchen cabinets going into a home really made me wince.

He's done a few high-end examples, but.... In some parts of the country that's all they can afford... plywood, poplar, paint.
.

[Sean Nagle]

He's done a few high-end examples, but.... In some parts of the country that's all they can afford... plywood, poplar, paint.
.

In your opinion, what constitutes "high end" kitchen cabinetry?

[John Gregory]

I think we are still waiting for Brad to explain what made him wince. And how he would do it differently. Maybe he has a better idea. I would like to hear from him since we plan to do a new kitchen in the next year.

[Sean Nagle]

It sounded as if Mitchell stepped up to be Brad's surrogate