Kitchen cabinets - how to book?

[Rich Engelhardt]

What's a good reference book for how to build kitchen cabinets?

I'm putting together a materials list for a house we're making an offer on & it needs some work.

It's a rental so I'm not concerned with anything heirloom quality.
I would like to avoid the pressed wood junk the borg has if I can though.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Hands down the greatest kitchen cabinet how to book is Jim Tolpin's Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets In fact, I had over 100 woodworking books and a while back I got rid them all except for this one. It was a bible to me during by first build and I still use a reference for current projects.

[scott vroom]

Rich, I used these books as references when I first started building kitchen cabinets. Each author has his own style, I borrowed ideas from all.

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Kitch...+cabinets+book

http://www.amazon.com/Drawings-Profe...+cabinets+book

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Kitchen-...+cabinets+book

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Tradi...+cabinets+book

[Rich Engelhardt]

Thanks guys!
The Tolpin book is the one I recall other people mentioning.
I have it on order!

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

One of the things I came away from Tolpin's book was to use story sticks and poles rather than measuring with a tape. Then lay the entire kitchen out on the sticks. Then build the face frames first. And of course, building them without any measurements, just using the story sticks for reference. After the face frames are complete, the drawers and trays can be fabricated. And only then, build the carcasses. This really helps in small shops (like mine), if I hadn't read that, I would have done it in reverse order and been tripping and stumbling over the carcasses the whole build. It's probably an old cabinetmaker's trick but a real eye opener for me. There are tons of other helpful tips and jigs too. A cabinetmaker's bible.

[Phil Thien]

Jim, does Tolpin's book cover frameless kitchen cabinets?

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Phil, I'd have to check but I believe he does. But I would just build frameless cabinets the same way but without the face frames.

[John TenEyck]

+1 on Tolpin's book and, yes, it covers frameless construction, too. That's what I built for my kitchen and I found Tolpin's book invaluable in planning it, and in some of the construction processes he uses. I never did adapt exclusive use of a story stick, however; can't argue against it's practicality, it's just that I generated a spreadsheet for a cut list (this was pre SketchUp) and worked off that. One comment regardless of who's book you use, labeling and cutting common parts at the same time is key to efficiency and making sure everything fits properly.

Just thinking of all the sheet goods I moved building that kitchen makes my back ache. Good luck.

John

[Adam Tracy]

I have Bob Lang's book on kitchen cabinetry. He covers both face frame, and frameless construction techniques. He also weighs pros/cons for different materials, joinery, finishing styles, which I liked. E.g. drawer box construction from butt-joints to dovetails. I like his straight-forward writing style, and the drawings/photos were pretty clear for me to understand.

I don't have Tolpin's book, so I can't base a comparison.

Best,
Adam of Oakland, CA

[David Utterback]

I second Adam's comments on Bob Lang's book. It is comprehensive and discusses a range of options from metal fasteners to panel materials to drawer construction. His writing style is clear and non-judgmental. I have long been a fan of his work. Also, I do not have Jim Tolpin's to compare. Sounds like either would be okay.

David

[Mark W Pugh]

Don't forget the internet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt1wy_Ge3gI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apd_Hc5wr0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrx1J9vr3Rg

And many others. The books are a great start.

Tolpin's book, the one I have really doesn't go in to frameless cabinets in detail. I would recommend, like other's have said, "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker" by Bob Lang. He is big in to lists, which I found out you need, and he does have a chapter on frameless cabinets.

[Martin Wasner]

Drive up here and I'll put you to work for a week. I'll take it easy on you, it'll just be $25 an hour.

[Mark W Pugh]

Drive up here and I'll put you to work for a week. I'll take it easy on you, it'll just be $25 an hour.

You'll pay $25 an hour to let us work for you, I'll take that!!

[Martin Wasner]

You'll pay $25 an hour to let us work for you, I'll take that!!

Came out wrong I guess. Rich can pay me $25hr.

That's pretty cheap shop time

[Mike Schuch]

I would like to avoid the pressed wood junk the borg has if I can though.

If the only thing the house needs is kitchen cabinets then go for making your own. But if the whole house needs renovation I would recommend just putting the borg junk in. I have renovated several houses and it always takes longer than you expect. In my experience time spent on building cabinets is usually better spent on other renovation projects. The house I live in has cabinets that I have custom made. My rental has cheap borg cabinets and they are holding up quite well. The time you have to invest in making cabinets you might as well make nice cabinets not cheap rental house cabinets.