Pre fab cabinet parts

[Mark Singer]

Has anyone used

www.cabparts.com

My son Ryan just bought a home and is thinking about re doing the kitchen. Are there other companies you would recommend?

[Jim Becker]

As much as I hate to say it, Ikea's kitchen cabinets (Akurum) are quite good, whether you use their doors and drawer fronts or make your own. It's all Euro system and quite versatile. Hinges are Blum Inserta. (no screws on the 35mm doors) I don't see much difference from buying from CabParts...perhaps cost, but I don't know. Definitely worth checking on.

[frank shic]

mark, jim's right on the ikea cabinets. the cases are made from 3/4" material which is more than enough to support granite slabs. the knock down fasteners make assembly a no-brainer. another factor is ease of installation. the ikea cabinets utilize complete european hardware with adjustable levelling feet as well as suspension wall brackets which will save you some time and effort on the installation process although you'll still need to scribe some fillers where the cabinets meet the walls. they sell tandembox-ish drawer boxes which again speed the assembly process along and provide a pretty nice upgrade to the usual epoxy drawer slide. the only problem i've heard with the ikea cabinets is the potential for delaminating after so many years. you can make your own raised panel doors and install them - just try to get a melamine pattern that matches the woodgrain.

[Ellen Benkin]

Where does he live? In S Calif there is a company called "Cabinets Quick" that will do custom boxes using CNC equipment with a variety of materials to choose from. I'm not sure if they do doors or drawer fronts, but there are other companies that specialize in those. Might be worth checking them out if he wants them customized to the space.

[frank shic]

mark, you may want to check out the ikeafans.com forum. under the heading "the work part" and then the subheading "installation" you can find a 15 minute video that shows just how easy it is to install their akurum kitchen cabinets. the best part of the video is that they demonstrate the installation process with only hand tools! even a complete noob can do it.

[Dan Oliphant]

Mark, these folks do high volume quality doors, but they also do short runs. http://www.caldoor.com/home.htm

[Ryan Singer]

you may want to check out the ikeafans.com forum...

HI FRANK,
THANKS, I REGISTERED AT IKEAFANS.COM AND THERE ARE ALOT OF IDEAS THERE AS WELL AS THE VIDEO YOU TALKED ABOUT. IT LOOKS REALY EASY. MAYBE TOO EASY, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE A TIME SAVER AND $$$ SAVER IF I DO IT MYSELF. I'M DEFINATELY GOING TO CONSIDER THE IKEA ROUTE WHEN I FINALLY DO THE KITCHEN.
RYAN

[John A. Williams]

www.cabinetoutsource.com

in Brea, great company to work with

[Dave Avery]

HI FRANK,
THANKS, I REGISTERED AT IKEAFANS.COM AND THERE ARE ALOT OF IDEAS THERE AS WELL AS THE VIDEO YOU TALKED ABOUT. IT LOOKS REALY EASY. MAYBE TOO EASY, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE A TIME SAVER AND $$$ SAVER IF I DO IT MYSELF. I'M DEFINATELY GOING TO CONSIDER THE IKEA ROUTE WHEN I FINALLY DO THE KITCHEN.
RYAN

Ryan,

We did Ikea Cabinet with high-end appliances.... Thermador, DCS, etc and for less than $25K we have a kitchen that friends and associates think was a $100K remodel. The long-term plan is for me to make customer drawer/door front's, but in the meantime, the Ikea stuff works well and looks great. BTW, my wife Katherine did 95% of the work - including cutting down a 36" cooktop cabinet to house the 36" DCS gas unit. While she's on the extreme side of handy, she has little or no building experience.

[Scott Larson]

Yet another thumbs up for the ikea cabs. I needed to get cabinets into my office QUICK (my wife and I were moving into the same office space and only had a weekend to get everything up and rolling). I had pre-measured the week before and made door/drawer faces to further cut costs (and make things look a little different). A sheet of eucliptis ply, some edge-banding, and a little watco and her office was done. I did upper and lowers in my office (another sheet of ply) and was quite happy with how things turned out.
ocabs.jpg
-Scott

[Roland Chung]

Hi Mark,

I've used CabParts a couple of times over the years. I think that they are out of Colorado and you have to rely on freight delivery.

Their catalogue is easy to use and modifications and alterations are not a problem. The upcharges seem reasonable. You can order the cases set up for dowel assembly or confirmat or both - I like the idea of both.

Their customer service is excellent and they seem genuinely nice to talk to.

There is another cabinet parts manufacturer that I have used in OC that did a nice job and allowed me to pick up orders at their will call. One of the guys is a salty character - not nearly as pleasant as they are at CabParts, but they get the job done nicely and the prices were reasonable.

Roland