Building Kitchen Cabinets

[John TenEyck]

I built my own kitchen, all 27 cabinets; never again. It's just too many nights and weekends. It took me more than a year to do complete the whole job, which started with a tearout down to the studs, all new plumbing and wiring, on and on. The boxes "only" took a couple of months, but moving all that material, multiple times, was a pain, literally. You are talking a couple of tons of sheet goods.

If I build another kitchen I will buy IKEA boxes and make my own doors and drawer fronts. I'm a wood worker so I want to make what shows. IKEA cabinets are beautifully made and install like a dream. And they will look as good and last as long as most others - kitchens get torn out every 15 to 25 years anyway, so we're not talking about needing to last generations.

IKEA cabinets show up when you need them. You move them once. You assemble them and install them. They will be plumb and square if you follow the directions. You are done and can move on to more interesting stuff.

John

[kevin st john]

Robert those are very nice cabinets. I have more than enough room to build them and to store them. Then when it comes time to finish them, I am going to use my garage next summer for that.
Also, am going to have a track saw to cut down the sheets of 4x8 pre finished maple plywood.
And I am going to be a software program KCD to design the cabinets which will give me a cultist to work from.
For the drawers, drawer front, and doors I have a friend who built his own cabinets. So I am going to see if I can hire with him to do that work. He does very nice work and he is currently building my bathroom vanity.
Then for the install, I will most likely hire that part done because I have will have enough to do with completely gutting my kitchen and finishing that part.
I do realize that this will be a lot of work and it is going to take some time to complete. But, the cost to have my kitchen remodeled professionally is shocking, but people don't work for free either. So I made the choice to do everything that I can do, and hire out the rest.
Finally, I have all of you wounderful people to ask questions if I need to. I really appreciate the responses thus far.

[Andrew Hughes]

I was thinking the same as John,Buy the cabinet boxes from Ikea and make the doors and drawers.Thats will give you some bragging rights and some hard won experience.
I have bought doors from a business out here called Drees wood products.They do make a nice product but forget about grain matching.
Too me that's important.

[Sean Tracey]

I was thinking the same as John,Buy the cabinet boxes from Ikea and make the doors and drawers.Thats will give you some bragging rights and some hard won experience.
I have bought doors from a business out here called Drees wood products.They do make a nice product but forget about grain matching.
Too me that's important.

Thirded. If you are going to sub something out, the cabinet boxes would be the part for a woodworker to sub out. It would eliminate the vast majority of handling huge amounts of sheet goods. It would also cut down on assembly time for that part of the project and the room needed to get that part of the work done.

Then you build the part that will take the kitchen to a custom level with grain, veneer, style, craftsmanship.

[Erik Christensen]

Building your own cabinet cases makes sense if you want non-stock dimensions, have the skills & tooling and are willing to invest the time vs writing a check to a custom cabinet shop. Storage of assembled cases is a challenge - I resorted to a large on-site storage container to hold them all while the kitchen space was being re-done. If you are going to use pre-finished ply you skip the finishing process entirely especially if going euro-style frame-less. If you sub out drawers & doors you should be able to just build prefinished boxes for a typical kitchen in a few weeks full time. I did the entire kitchen myself after hours and it took over a year to complete.

[Victor Robinson]

+1 on IKEA boxes. The melamine is dead nuts flat and high quality. You can modify the boxes for custom sizes. It's already edge banded if you're going frameless.

I don't think the savings for DIY is that high when you compare the cost of the IKEA boxes to high quality prefin ply. Plus the effort of breaking down sheet goods and assembling boxes. It's tedious, requires lots of space, and you're not saving much cash.

As a woodworker, I'd prefer to spend my time on the details that will show and that cost the most to outsource. Fronts, finishing, good trim work, beaded face frames, custom details like toe kick drawers, spice pull outs, vent hood cover, etc. However, that's easy for me to say because I have a fully equipped shop and some more experience now.

[Chris Hachet]

So I have decided to try to build my own kitchen cabinets. So my question is how difficult can this be? I am going to purchase a Sawstop table saw. I will also have access to other wood working equipment as well.
I would appreciate any input that anyone has.
Thanks.

Building them myself, not that difficult. But I ahve a reasonable amount of WW experience. Keeping everything organaized and having a detailed task list is important.

Buy American made plywood, it works better IMHO.

Have an overall plan set to go, and all of the details complete before you start.

It is really repetitive work, so you will increase speed exponentially if you can make tasks repetitive and have a plan for your shop time.

Lots of companies sell doors and drawers, you can make your own or buy them.

I would suggest using creativity so they do not come out looking like the garbage available from most big box stores. Push your artistic limits a bit.

Use the money you save to buy really nice hardware and soft close slides. You will appreciate that later.

[Chris Hachet]

I have a table saw but I use a track saw and parallel guides and a right angle forr cutting the majority of the sheet goods for the cabinets and drawer parts. Dealing with a whole sheet on a table saw or parts where the length of cut is shorter than the width of the piece hanging over on the left side of the blade isn't my thing. I groove the drawer slots on a table router which might also come in handy in drawer and door front construction. Then you need a way of joining the cabinet and drawer parts.

Finishing takes time. And sanding.

There are a lot of parts in kitchen cabinets. So you need space and to build them.

I have been building shop cabinets and using them as skill builders before making kitchen cabinets. You could also do closet organizers first for practice and skill building if you haven't made cabinets before.

I would buy a track saw before I would spend money on a table saw.

[Chris Hachet]

Building the cabs isn't the hard part since designs can be super simple.Now laying down a good finish that's a whole new kettle of fish.
That's the part I hate.

Pre finished plywood works well. I find working slowly and sanding between coats will give an excellent finish with most finishes. And many small cabinet shop and professional painters will spray a set of cabinets for a reasonable cost, at least here in Columbus.

[Chris Hachet]

Danny Proulx's book "Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets" was written for guys like you (and me.) Super simple system. Doors and drawer fronts can be outsourced. The rest is just boxes

I liked Bob Langs book. Found that to be very helpful.

[Chris Hachet]

Thanks for the replies. I used to work construction in my past life. And the reason that I want to build them is that for me to have the kind of cabinets I want is more money than I want to pay. Plus, I want to walk into my house and look at them and say to myself, I really like the way they look. And I do understand that this will be a lot of work. But so is borrowing $15,000.00 and then having to work and pay that back over a period of time.
Now, I have been researching how to build them and I have read a lot of books on how to construct them.
Also, I do plan on buying the drawers, drawer fronts, and cabinet doors on line to help speed the process up.

Building doors and drawers is not difficult. A hollow chisel morticer or a good plunge router can make all of the mortice and tennon work fairly straightforward. And I can trail a wide awake eighth grader to make decent shaker style doors. Raised panels require an expensive bit and a variable speed router in a table, but they are not rocket science either.

[Chris Hachet]

When building your own cabinets, you need to know that you not only need room for all the materials, assembly and finishing, but youalso need a place to store teh completed cabinets prior to installation.

I need to get restarted, my wife wants that corner of the family room back...I also coach Collegiate debate, and this has been a very busy season.

[Chris Hachet]

As others have said, they're just boxes. BIG boxes. And they take a LOT of space!

I dedicated 2-car garage space to fab and storage. Cut all the parts, then started assembly. By the time I had 4-5 cabinets assembled, I was climbing over them to get to tools. I quickly realized it was hopeless in the space I had, so took over another room in the house for storage. The logistics of stacking, un-stacking, moving into/out of storage/finishing area, and staging for install probably added 20-25% to the time required.

I am building all of my base cabinets as one run,a nd the top cabinets as another run, for this very reason.

[Chris Hachet]

Robert those are very nice cabinets. I have more than enough room to build them and to store them. Then when it comes time to finish them, I am going to use my garage next summer for that.
Also, am going to have a track saw to cut down the sheets of 4x8 pre finished maple plywood.
And I am going to be a software program KCD to design the cabinets which will give me a cultist to work from.
For the drawers, drawer front, and doors I have a friend who built his own cabinets. So I am going to see if I can hire with him to do that work. He does very nice work and he is currently building my bathroom vanity.
Then for the install, I will most likely hire that part done because I have will have enough to do with completely gutting my kitchen and finishing that part.
I do realize that this will be a lot of work and it is going to take some time to complete. But, the cost to have my kitchen remodeled professionally is shocking, but people don't work for free either. So I made the choice to do everything that I can do, and hire out the rest.
Finally, I have all of you wounderful people to ask questions if I need to. I really appreciate the responses thus far.

A lot of this is just taking your time and being willing to forgive yourself for the occasional inevitable mistake. I laid ceramic tile, installed hardwood floors, did major plumbing and electrical....in all 4 of the houses we have lived in...just relax, take your time, be aware of safety concerns, and enjoy the process. you will wonder why you ever hired anyone.

[Wayne Lomman]

Kevin, if you are using CAD software to do the design and cutting list, consider doing the assembly and installation as you go. You only assemble and move once. If you want more detailed help, let me know. I have spare time evenings while on my 3 weeks working away from home and I have only just started this stint.
Get the materials for the 'boxes' all pre-cut and finished ready for assembly.
Get them all sorted and stacked ready for assembly. Get your bench tops ready for assembly.
Get any face panels that need to be installed before the bench tops ready.
Forget doors and drawers for the time being if you like but you can get them ready as well.
Get all your kickboards made up ready to install.
At this stage you have a pile of components waiting to get put together.
Organise a holiday or something so that you have a few days in a row to work on the renovation and be prepared to work long enough hours to get the following done.
Now get to work stripping out the old kitchen and get the site fully prepared for the new cabinetry. Have the plumber and electrician booked for the time you need them to turn up.
Install the kick boards.
Assemble the cupboards and install them on the kickers as you go.
Install the fixed face panels.
Install the bench tops.
Install the sink, dishwasher, cooker etc.
The kitchen is now functional and the customer ie your wife or whoever can now at least use the basics.
You can now turn your attention to doors, drawers etc at a more relaxed pace.
This is what I do when the site is difficult to access or a cabinet such as a corner pantry are too big to get on site or I am working alone and, as I get older, don't find lifting cabinets to be fun anymore.
Part of this process is what I have learnt about how to keep the customer/wife happy. If I am in the workshop, she is happy. If the mess and disruption spreads outside the workshop for too long, she is not happy.
I am using this process on my current project which is restorations and additions to a 7600sq ft Georgian style home near Adelaide in South Australia. It has 2 kitchens, 4 bathrooms, built in robes in 6 bedrooms and dressing rooms, and a library, all spread over 3 floors. I don't often get to have labour on site with me so I use this method to get the job done.