Kitchen Cabinets

[charlie kapper]

I am about to plan a kitchen remodel and am considering building the kitchen cabinets myself. I just came back from one of the big box stores and get a little sticker shock with what we want. Before I decide to undertake this project, I need to determine what my costs would be. My first question is what type of plywood is typically used. I believe that the inside face is coated specifically for kitchen cabinets. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
I am not lacking the tools required to build cabinets and consider myself an average woodworker.

[Tyler Howell]

Hi Charlie,
Welcome. May I suggest a few practice runs before you take on the kitchen. SWMBO will have your head if you tear up her kitchen.
If this is your first attempt a box making give shop cabinets a dry run. Focus on joinery techniques, and precission.
Everything that you saw at the borg can be used in your shop for kit cabs. BB, melamine, maple, veneer luane........
Good luck and keep us posted. We love pictures

[Jim Becker]

Welcome aboard, Charlie! Glad to see you here at SMC.

I chose to build my cabinets when I did our kitchen renovation in 2003. It saved a TON of money, leaving more for the high-end appliances. Cabinetry is relatively easy work, too. Tyler's advice (as always...) to get your feet wet first is a good one as you will be better able to plan your big job once you construct something similar.

[Brad Kimbrell]

I am in the same boat. I've built many pieces of furniture, but not any plywood boxes.

What would you guys say is the most difficult part of doing so?

And how much can I plan to save over buying from a cabinet shop or big-box store?

[Jim Becker]

And how much can I plan to save over buying from a cabinet shop or big-box store?

While it's not strictly about the cabinets, let's just say that my kitchen would have cost us $50-60K in this area for the equivalent work (includes everything) and I did the job for $20K including the high-end appliances. 'Only sub-ed out the drywall (I hate doing drywall and could work the real job while they did it), the soapstone counter tops and the gas line. My cabinets cost approximately $1200 to build including purchased drawer boxes. (to save time I had a supplier build them to spec)

[Bob Johnson2]

Yet another guy getting ready to build a kitchen. I just get done today with a bathroom vanity and wall unit. The most difficult part for this rookie is finishing, took a long time as I don't have a spray setup. One cabinet took me months as the list of firsts is pretty long. For each first I built something to try it out before going to the vanity. And of course each new task I had to buy something, and I thought I had plenty before I started. Makes staying inside a monthly budget tough. Great practice before starting the kitchen though.

1st raised panel doors on a shaper (scary)
1st try at handcut dovetails (enjoyed the heck out of it)
1st try at router cut dovetails (didn't care for these)
1st try at drawer construction, and hardware.
1st use of euro hinges
1st use of pocket screws
1st use of maple
1st time dyeing anything.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Charlie,
Probably the worst part for me is finishing the cabinets. This is difficult and time consuming. An HVLP sprayer may make things a little less messy, but the amount of work is still the same.

If you use plywood for the carcasses, I recommend pre-finishing them first. You can use a roller to apply clear finishes if you don't want to spray. I have seen pre-finished plywood on TV (This Old House or the New Yankee Workshop), but I have no idea where to procure it.

The easiest option is to use melamine. The benefits are: no finishing, easy to clean the surface, and the white melamine provides a lot of brightness in the cabinet when your hunting for that can of baked beans. The edges can be banded with the wood you are using on the door fronts, or you can attach a face frame for more traditional cabinets. The exterior cabinet sides that are in view can be clad with 1/4" hardwood plywood, or an adhesive backed veneer that are available from Rockler.

cheers, Jeff

[Richard Maurer]

Charlie: I was in exactly the same boat you're in 8 years ago. Bought a 40 year old rambler needing a new kitchen in N. Virginia. Discovered the cabinets would run around $26K (minimum) for a basic set of cabinets, which was the budget for the whole kitchen (probably unrealistic at the time). After our sticker shock, the LOML asked me what it would take to build our own cabinets. Mind you, I had done little-to-no cabinetry at this point in my life. I owned a Ryobi BT3000 table saw, some power tools, and a few hand tools and that was it!!! Necessity being the mother of invention, I decided if I bought a good bandsaw I could build the cabinets - which we did. Saved a TON of money by buying A1 birch and cherry ply from a local supplier for the carcasses and had the doors/drawer fronts made by Evans Cabinet and Door (www.evanscabinetanddoor.com).

In the end, we were able to install a Viking 6 burner gas stove, cherry cabinets, granite counter tops for our budget. (BTW, I bought the JET 18" bandsaw for the job, which I still have).

The best part of the story is that we trippled the value of our house in 4 years and sold it. 2 houses, many tools and lots of other projects later I now do woodworking full time and live on a 20 acre horse farm in the country.

My suggestion - study and learn how to build the cabinets yourself and go for it!!

Best of luck, Rich

[Larry Fox]

I am currently working on a set (my first) and I just looked at my spreadsheet where I am tracking the costs to the penny and I am at $2,021.78. I have everything (I think) except;

- Ply for boxes and shelves
- Drawer Slides
- Crown molding (I am not setup to make this)
- Finish for doors and drawer fronts
- Knobs and pulls

Based on this, I think I can reasonably expect to have another $1,000 into them.

I am building mine out of cherry. The numbers are definitely skewed as I scored a major bargan on some cherry and maple and ply for drawers. All the maple required for 17 drawers, all the 1/4" BB ply for drawer bottoms, all the cherry for face frames, door rails and stiles, and solid wood end panels cost me (effectively) nothing. I only mention it as I estimate that saved me about $1,000 so that will need to be added back in if you are basing anything on my numbers.

To give you a sense of scale, my kitchen has 14 cabinets and they break down like this;

1 giant floor-to-celing pantry cabinet
7 wall cabinets (one is a corner cabinet)
6 base cabinets (two are corner cabinets and one is an under-the-sink)

The one thing I can say about this particular project if you are contemplating it is that it takes a LOT OF TIME so definitely be prepared for that - I was not. I have been at it since November dedicating as much time as a average hobbiest can (maybe a bit more even). That said, I have found the process to be extremely rewarding and I suspect the end result will be worth it.

Shoot me a PM and I will be happy to share any information, hints, gotcha's, etc that I have encountered along the way as a first-time builder.

[Brad Kimbrell]

Saved a TON of money by buying A1 birch and cherry ply from a local supplier for the carcasses and had the doors/drawer fronts made by Evans Cabinet and Door

This seems to be pretty common - having the doors and drawer fronts made by pros - why not just mount the bits on the old router table and go for it? I'm sure there are good answers out there, but I'm just naive enough to believe that I could do a good job on the frames.???

I do have the 16-32 Performax and have flatened some table tops with it and some ROS touch ups. What's the issue with making the doors?

[brent lenthall]

Making doors isn't hard, but many people outsource to door shops to speed up a job and have more choices of profiles, etc.. (Esp. on raised panels). I recently outsouced some raised panel Cherry doors for an entertainment center. The doors were UPS'd to my shop, pre sanded for slightly more than I would have paid for the lumber. The door shop is setup with equipment I couldn't even begin to justify.

brent

[Dave Falkenstein]

I agree with the earlier post about using melamine to build the cabinet carcasses. You can buy melamine that is coated on one side or on both sides, if you go to a sheet goods supplier instead of a big box store. Using a veneer on the exposed sides and the bottoms of the upper cabinets will give the carcass exteriors the look of hardwood for a fraction of the price, and the carcasses need no finishing, except for the veneer.

If you elect to buy the doors and drawer fronts, check out this source:

http://www.caldoor.com/home.htm

I have used California Door a couple of times with excellent results. They send you doors and drawer fronts, built to your specs with hundreds of profile combibations and wood options to choose from. It is hard to buy the necessary raised panel bits and materials for what you can buy the doors. If you don't already have a router table, then you have a significant investment in tools to just get to the point that you can start building doors. You wiil need to finish the doors, so that will still give you lots of personal contribution.

Build your own face frames from the same material you select for the doors and drawers, and you will have great looking cabinets that are easy to care for.

[Phil Phelps]

You may want to out source the doors. The interior for many cabinets, manufacturers use colored melamine. You may want to use a vertical grade laminate, as I do, for your interior. You need to decide on the style of cabinets you desire, as this may narrow down how much you want to build. It does boil down to finish, paint or stain. Either should be sprayed for best results. Cabinest ain't rocket science, but skill and talent never hurt.

[Jalin Key]

Charlie, I just made this cabinet set for my utility room. I love the look of soft maple with no stain. Learning from all these guys and others really helped me through it. 3/4" ply carcuss. And made doors myself. Learned a lot on this project.

[Tom Peterson]

Charlie,
I am about 30% of the way through my cabinets for my kitchen. I concur with the other posts. It is a lot of work, but worth it. I am using 3/4" ply for the carcass and have sub-contracted for doors, drawer fronts and drawers. I do not have enough time to build all of that and the pro shop can do it better faster and cheaper. I have 22 cabinets that I am building. To Jim Beckers point, you can add a lot for little more money. We upgraded to inset drawers and doors with an integral bead around the opening. All the sizes are now custom instead of working with stock sizes so we get exactly what we want. Also, the box shop is fitting the doors to the openings for $7 ea and drilling the Blum hinge holes. I think my cabinet bill is a little higher than most do it yourselfers. By the time it is finished(paint with glaze and laminate on the insides) I am guessing $6K, Shame of it is that the countertops are more and so are the appliances. Our quote for stock cabinets was ~22K installed. Good luck,