Building Kitchen Cabinets

[jack duren]

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.

You need to post room dimensions,windows, ect. This will allow some of us a chance to see what your trying to accomplish and some can give you a layout. There's boxes and then there's a whole wall cabinet.

Your going to get pounded with this way or that way on this forum. PB,plywood,etc here again pounded with there preferences. Sub,this sub that again pounded with preferences.

A simple drawing on paper, scanned or photo uploaded will give some details that one can work with.

Replies on here sometimes remind me of car salesman. When I run my shop I give the base price of set of cabinets and then we upgrade till we hit there budget. In this case your building them yourself but there's still a budget.

[kevin st john]

I am going to use 3/4" pre finished maple plywood for the cabinets. Then for the faces I am using Quatersawn White Oak finished using the Jeff Jewitt method.
Then I have a friend who is a perfectionist woodworker who I am going to hire to build my drawers, doors, and drawer fronts. I really think that I can pull this over a two year period.
I really only need 40 lineal feet of cabinets. Plus, I can build these as I want and utilize every square inch of space in my kitchen.
Where I live, custom cabinets are $250 or more per lineal foot.
I do agree with everyone that has offered advice here. And everyone has provided me with valuable advice in which to take into consideration.
Now as far the cost of tools, well I am remodeling my bathroom this summer myself. So between the bathroom and the kitchen I can justify the additional cost of tools between the two projects combined. I am fairly certain that I would be north of $40,000 if I would hire everything done professionally.
Finally, I find great pleasure in learning how to do new things and I love a challenge too.
Once again, thanks to everyone who has responded.

[rudy de haas]

Kevin st. John:

You say you're going to buy a sawstop, and you say money is important to you - and those two things do not go well together (better than festool and savings but..)

Sawstop's big advantage is its ability to save fingers - but what that really means is that it is great for places like schools where insurance costs dominate shop and equipment costs. For personal use I don't see it - and I still have all my fingers.

[jack duren]

I am going to use 3/4" pre finished maple plywood for the cabinets. Then for the faces I am using Quatersawn White Oak finished using the Jeff Jewitt method.
Then I have a friend who is a perfectionist woodworker who I am going to hire to build my drawers, doors, and drawer fronts. I really think that I can pull this over a two year period.
I really only need 40 lineal feet of cabinets. Plus, I can build these as I want and utilize every square inch of space in my kitchen.
Where I live, custom cabinets are $250 or more per lineal foot.
I do agree with everyone that has offered advice here. And everyone has provided me with valuable advice in which to take into consideration.
Now as far the cost of tools, well I am remodeling my bathroom this summer myself. So between the bathroom and the kitchen I can justify the additional cost of tools between the two projects combined. I am fairly certain that I would be north of $40,000 if I would hire everything done professionally.
Finally, I find great pleasure in learning how to do new things and I love a challenge too.
Once again, thanks to everyone who has responded.

Something isn't right with the numbers...

Time your buddy does the drawers,doors,etc he may as well build the cabinet boxes...

[Ben Rivel]

Kevin st. John:

You say you're going to buy a sawstop, and you say money is important to you - and those two things do not go well together (better than festool and savings but..)

Sawstop's big advantage is its ability to save fingers - but what that really means is that it is great for places like schools where insurance costs dominate shop and equipment costs. For personal use I don't see it - and I still have all my fingers.

If you know you want to buy new and you want a cabinet saw, SawStops are only a little more than the closest competition and their fit and finish are better. The safety feature is just an added bonus. I recently bought my first cabinet saw and when I was doing my research on only new saws I couldnt find a reason not to go with a SawStop for a say 3HP, 36" cabinet saw.

[Mike Berrevoets]

I'm a hobbyist in the middle of a kitchen remodel and building all the cabinets. I did this about 10 years ago on our first house so I knew what I was getting into but this kitchen is twice the size.

I laid out my kitchen in CAD so I had all the dimensions and worked out the kinks.

i then went to the big box store and found a plywood cabinet, dovetailed drawers and door style we wanted and had them run an estimate of cost to buy the cabinets. Then I figured out my materials to build my own and determined if my time was worth what I would be saving by building myself. Yes, I will save some money but I have all the tools already and had a good idea of how boring and monotonous this would be.

My wife wanted all drawers on the bottoms. I have all the boxes made and they are installed. My 20 by 36 shop was not big enough for all the boxes and drawers and storing them was a pain. Moved them to the garage and parked outside for the winter. Thank goodness for the remote car starter. Made 26 dovetailed drawers so far and have 6 more to make. I still need to make all the drawer fronts and doors.

This stopped being fun a long time ago and it is like work. I have a regular job, I don't need another one. I'll get it done but now I'm on the "show" portion and getting to that point when the project is getting old is not a good thing.

Finishing takes as long or longer than building. I can bang out good square boxes pretty quick. That's the easy part.

I knew this would happen but I still did it. I don't want to sound like a downer but it is a lot of monotonous repetitive work. I can't make stuff as fast as guys geared up for it so it seems to drag on and on....

so why did I do it?
i will save money versus the quote I got from the big box store and I'm confident my quality is better. I'm probably only working for minimum wage but its still real money.

my wife is understanding. She knows it will take a while and I work to keep things working for her in the kitchen. We've tore out walls, Windows, moved the kitchen, all the electric, etc but she has always had a sink, stove, fridge and dishwasher.

I make the exact size cabinets I want. I can balance cabinet spacing on the Windows, I make deep cabinets for the island, custom sized for the microwave, etc. I like to control the outcome and I have the flexibility to make anything within reason.

i determine my own quality. If I make something that isn't quite perfect I make it again or I live with it. No arguing with a contractor about what is good enough.

I like some of the challenges of figuring things out. I'm an engineer so problem solving is my thing and that is part of the fun.

is it worth it? I'll tell you in a few months. Well, maybe 6 months.... Ok, make it a year. This project consumes all my spare time.

[Robert Engel]

As others have said, don't do it to save money-- you won't. It's one of the simpler woodworking projects one can take on but for the sheer magnitude of the materials involved, but it all comes down to plain boxes, some drawers and doors. As such, you really can't compete with a factory that's all jigged up to turn out product in vast numbers and buys their material by the railroad car.

Have to disagree here. Checking the cost of sheet goods vs. even the cheapest boxes, I've found they are a fraction of the cost. How many sheets of DS Melamine can one buy for $150, the cost of one 24" base unit? They will also not be built as well or with some features you may want.

Assuming, of course we work for free when we work for ourselves

Assuming our time is actually worth something, this is not necessarily true when it comes to doors. Depending on # and type of wood it can be cheaper to let someone build them.

[Robert Engel]

is it worth it? I'll tell you in a few months. Well, maybe 6 months.... Ok, make it a year. This project consumes all my spare time.

I went through everything you are but I can assure you it will!! Especially the rewards of people praising your abilities. I think I didn't build another cabinet for like 6 years!!

When I did my kitchen I worked with a kitchen designer (who happens to be the daughter of my dentist [who happens to be one of my clients] who volunteered her expertise in return for services). She helped me a LOT in the beginning just one suggestion she made saved me from a big design error.

Long story short, she looked at the kitchen when completed and estimated $35,000 if built and installed by her company. I had a bunch of addons like a big pantry unit with 150# slides, slide outs in all the bases, turntables in all the corners, a recessed refrig and custom curved open shelves in 3 corners. All Blum hardware.

My total cost was right around $6K and in the process I acquired a new planer and drum sander plus a few hand tools.

[Randy Red Bemont]

Kevin, I say go for it. If you're comfortable enough to take this on, do it. I've built three complete kitchens and two walk-in pantries. It's not that hard but you do have to be very organized. And yes finishing IS the worst and hardest part. It is nice to sit back, look at the cabinetry and say I did it and did it well! Good luck and post some pics along the way.

I read this book by Jim Tolpin and it was a huge help for me. Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets. You can find it on Amazon for $20.

Red

[scott vroom]

Kevin, ignore all he naysayers and go for it. If you do your homework, are detail oriented, and aren't in a hurry you can make a beautiful set of cabinets as a first project. Your experience in the trades gives you a good head start on some basic concepts. I'd recommend you build a simple wall cabinet and base cabinet first, one each, start to completion including the finish. You'll learn a lot and will be able to work out a lot of the bugs.

Good luck!

[Chris Hachet]

Kevin, ignore all he naysayers and go for it. If you do your homework, are detail oriented, and aren't in a hurry you can make a beautiful set of cabinets as a first project. Your experience in the trades gives you a good head start on some basic concepts. I'd recommend you build a simple wall cabinet and base cabinet first, one each, start to completion including the finish. You'll learn a lot and will be able to work out a lot of the bugs.

Good luck!

Agreed. This is good advice....

[Glenn de Souza]

Have to disagree here. Checking the cost of sheet goods vs. even the cheapest boxes, I've found they are a fraction of the cost. How many sheets of DS Melamine can one buy for $150, the cost of one 24" base unit? They will also not be built as well or with some features you may want.

Sorry, not only will I throw out a +1 for IKEA boxes, but I will respectfully disagree with you. A 24" x 24" x 30" Sektion IKEA base cabinet is $44.00. If you can buy a sheet of melamine, edge band it, line bore it, join it, buy additional material for a backer and do so for less than $44.00 then teach me sensei. Even if we say a sheet of 3/4" melamine might do two bases, by the time you add the backing material and edge banding, it's still not a "fraction" of the cost.

I've built several projects the old way, and have since built more than a handful using IKEA boxes as my skeletons and adding on my own drawer boxes, fronts, plinth bases, trim, moldings, etc to the point where the finished product looked nothing like what IKEA shows in their showrooms. You're only using their "guts". The process has been much more enjoyable and far less expensive. Also, their installation system of hanging rails is brilliant.

Unless you have expensive, space consuming tooling, don't underestimate the grief involved in handling sheet goods and line boring.

[Biff Phillips]

I am going to use 3/4" pre finished maple plywood for the cabinets. Then for the faces I am using Quatersawn White Oak finished using the Jeff Jewitt method.
Then I have a friend who is a perfectionist woodworker who I am going to hire to build my drawers, doors, and drawer fronts. I really think that I can pull this over a two year period.
I really only need 40 lineal feet of cabinets. Plus, I can build these as I want and utilize every square inch of space in my kitchen.
Where I live, custom cabinets are $250 or more per lineal foot.
I do agree with everyone that has offered advice here. And everyone has provided me with valuable advice in which to take into consideration.
Now as far the cost of tools, well I am remodeling my bathroom this summer myself. So between the bathroom and the kitchen I can justify the additional cost of tools between the two projects combined. I am fairly certain that I would be north of $40,000 if I would hire everything done professionally.
Finally, I find great pleasure in learning how to do new things and I love a challenge too.
Once again, thanks to everyone who has responded.

I really wouldn't want to count on this buddy. Lots of times people mean well and volunteer to help with a kitchen or whatever.
Then reality sets in. It's a gigantic time commitment. Too much of a chance that he will resent the project (by his own underestimating) or just
never get around to finishing it. Not worth losing a friend over.
Since you are doing oak, it would probably be better to order all the stuff you were going to have your friend build for you, or build it yourself.

Again, this is purely an opinion thing.. but if you are going through all this trouble to build your own cabinets, consider using oak plywood instead of maple for the inside.
I think it looks better when the wood species matches throughout the entire piece. Finishing really doesn't take that long, IMO. I do my own "prefinishing" .. I cut all the plywood pieces to size, apply finish, then assemble. Oak and prefiinished maple plywood look very different. (Or maybe consider making the face frames. doors, etc maple instead of oak? )

[jack duren]

Sorry but I don't see these cabinets in the near future. This is the second time on two different forums this kind of question has come up with either wild cabinet numbers or now I don't want to spend time away from my family. You need to hire it out...

[Andy Giddings]

Totally agree with Robert, Scott, Chris and Randy. Go for it. Might be good to work with your buddy to see how the drawers etc are made in case you want to have a go yourself. And finishing is the PITA part