Cabinet questions

[Karl Card]

Okay I have decided that since I have school on Monday and Wednesday a full day and only one class on Tuesday and Thursday, I feel like I have the time to make my kitchen cabinets.

I am wanting to use 3/4 inch plywood for the carcass and then face it out in a wood of my wifes choice. What I am wondering is this; if I use the 3/4 plywood with glue and if I do use few screws just for holding in place sake (yes I will be using many clamps also) will pilot holes need to be drilled first or will the plywood take a screw with out bulding out?
Some of the plans I read on the net suggest 1/4 plywood for the back and personally I disagree with this but you have to realize that I have never built cabinets before. I am not going for a super ritzy look just a good clean cabinet and id rather use some easier joinery and make it look nice than try something that I cant do. I figured this way I could get a well constructed cabinet and still use a very nice wood for facing it and have best of both worlds. I also realize that in the long run it maybe more cost effective to just buy them at HD but I have to try this. I just have to.
I figure I have just about everything I need to do the job except experience and alot of clamps. But my kitchen is not that big either, right at 20 linear feet of cabinets for complete kitchen. I have been going back and forth on this for awhile and just decided that this is why I built a shop in the first place and I need to do this for experience etc. Plus I figure I can have "custom" cabinets.

[John Grossi]

Karl, Take a look at www.sommerfeldtools.com. I have nothing to do with that site except some purchases. The cabinet made easy dvd is terrific. He shows the tongue and groove method to attach the face frame to the box. I ended up getting both his t&g and raised panel sets. For me it is a pretty simple method. The panels all snap together and pretty much square themselves up. John

[Karl Card]

John that was a pretty neat site. I was really surprised at the price of the dvd's. I saw the price of 49.99 and figured as much then I saw that was for the set... Quite a few things on there I liked.

[Neal Daughtry]

Karl, I have built many cabinets out of plywood and I have never glued any.
I use screws about every 6 inches. Some folks just use crown staples. I use pocket screws only to hold the face frames on, no glue. Never had a failure and much easier and no nail holes to cover up. When I first started building cabinets I tried using glue and the face frames wanted to slip all over the place. Buy Danny Proulx's book "Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets"
He has a simple procedure for building cabinets.

[Zach Callum]

This is a brief explanation of how I build cabinets. For the boxes, cut 3/8" deep dadoes in the sides to accept the backs and tops/bottoms of the uppers. Assemble with glue and screws. You will want to pre-drill. Clamps may or may not be necessary. Face frames are assembled and attached to the boxes with pocket screws.

A few things to consider:

Make sure you leave room for finished end-panels.
Use quality glides and hinges. I like KV glides and blum, or salice hinges.
Be sure that all of your equipment is cutting true. It is very important that all of the parts are cut square! Especially the doors.
You will want some good clamps for door assembly.

And in NO way is it going to be more cost effective in the long run to buy cabinets from the box store! If you build them right, they will outlast the big box cabinets 10 times over.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Just staple and screw. For finished ends, you can screw an endpanel on from the inside.

Whether you need to predrill depends on the screws you're using. I predrill to prevent splitting, but let the screws countersink themselves.

[Richard Dragin]

Don't confuse fine woodworking techniques with those used to build kitchen cabinets.

I would use melamine for the cases because it's a great surface for the insides. Crown staples are fast and really, really strong. Wood glue on the edge of ply or any manufactured product isn't going to help much. There is a specialty glue for the melamine.

Get a pocket hole system to build and attach your face frames.

The fronts is where you can get fancy.

[Don Alexander]

pocket holes are very useful and relatively simple way to assemble both carcasses and face frames as well as to attach said face frames glue is not a necessary part of cabinet construction and IMO makes many things harder to do as the pieces and parts tend to slide around pretty easily

just my 2 cents for whats its worth

[Joe Chritz]

Butt screw through the sides into the bottom (and tops of uppers). Face frames nearly flush inside, pocket screwed on in all locations. Applied end panels cover the exposed ends and a 1/4 panel covers the bottoms.

I build separate toe kicks for all the bases and finish the end kick with a wrap around 1/4" panel of base trim.

1/4" backs are fine with a nailer that is thicker but I use 1/2" backs with plywood or 5/8" with melamine to make it easier on me. 1/4" backs should really in my opinion be set in dadoes where a thicker back is simply planted on and secured with 2" screws every 8-10".

I use assembly screws from a couple different sources but they have a full size shank, a #17 cutting tip and counter sink nibs. Couple those with a crown stapler and it is fast, strong and easy.

This isn't fine furniture building except the doors and trim so the carcasses just need to be strong and square.

Joe

[Craig D Peltier]

I have built many a cabinets. First my way as far as assembly.

Rabbet and dadoes for all tops and bottoms and backs that are shown from the side on end cabs. Glue and Nail , square it up, put on backs with staples.
Before the back goes on I nail and glue hardwood nailers ( hang boards) for tops an plywood nailers for lowers.

I know someone that uses all butt joints with glue and screws and it works for him with his clients.

I personally nail all my face frames on, its much quicker to do this over pocket screws. If your going to leave it natural it might be better to use pocket screws since nail holes will be hard to match in a putty.

Theres lots of ways to do this as you can see. If your table saw outfeed tables are set up , then the dadoes and rabbets are quick and strong with nails and glue.
On screws if you dont use a countersink it just squishes the wood up.May not be a big deal on interiors etc. Sometimes though the screw wont grip it enought o sink it flush. Its just easier to countersink.

[Karl Card]

Really good info here. I was going to ask about the staples and the question was answered before I could ask so that is good.

I will post some pics as I progress and I should be able to get started in about a week.

[Karl Card]

concerning the statement that was made about make sure your tools are cutting square etc. what is the best way to get a panel square if it not?
I have been wanting a jig so that I could use my circular saw to make straight cuts, would this be good or not good enough?

What I have done is taken a small 8x8 piece of scrap plywood and it was already square and I cut about 1/2 inch off each side and it is still square, so does this tell me that my table saw is cutting good?

I have tried the 5 cut method and not sure what I am to get out of this. I mean it all depends on the piece of wood you are starting with doesnt it? I am sure this is easy but I feel i am just making it harder than it has to be. Basically if I start out with a 4x8 sheet of plywood I can cut it into nice squared pieces where the corners are 90 degrees. but if you have a board that for some reason is not squared what is the best jig or piece of equipment to get it squared?

You have no idea how much I appreciate the info on making cabinets and I truly cannot wait to get started.