Hi Ernie
I have my kitchen Plans recently completed by an interior designer so I can tender to particular joiners.
One of my options is a kitchen manufacture v’s qualified joiners. I understand the joiners will do a better job but they also come at a higher price. As I have a general understanding of joinery work I am considering the following
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The Kitchen manufacture cuts all the panels to size, each panel is numbered for installation.
PVC edging
All cabinets are pre drilled with pilot holes for carcase assembly, screws only used.
Draws are assembled with metal runners attached.
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I would assemble the cascase on site but am considering using biscuits to glue the carcase together in conjunction with the screws for added support as I believe using screws only is not good enough, do you support this argument.
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I am having Veneered doors but am concerned the edging may not be adequate. The veneer on the door is 0.6mm and would think the edging will also be 0.6mm, is this OK.
How do Manufactured companies apply these edging are they simply ironed on – is this adequate for a kitchen with a poly finish.
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Please advise if veneered Partical Board is adequate for the kitchen door fronts or should I be using Veneered MDF for the kitchen door fronts.
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Can you also explain how the end veneered panels that are seen in a kitchen are attached to the carcase. I’m sure the kitchen Manufacture will simply use screws, is there a better way to attached the panels to the carcases.
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Regards Boyd
Replies
Dear Boyd
I presume from some of your syntax and the measurements that you are in the UK. Some of your "kitchen cabinet" manufacturing techniques may differ from ours in North America. First of all "kitchen cabinets," as mass manufactured in this country at least, are something that gives me bouts of apoplexy. I will henceforth in this diatribe refer to such things as "kitchen kabenets" to distinguish them from the real things. (As an aside I live only five miles from such a constructor. Their plant covers hectors and boasts Amish workers. Amish though the workers may be they still produce kabenets.)
I have always looked to the Arts & Crafts Movement, which started in he last quarter of the 19th Century, for inspiration. One of the Craftsmen's founding principals is that they were competing against machines so the only thing they had to offer was the finest of materials and workmanship. Kitchen Kabenets fail on both counts. If you are going to take the trouble to do your own cabinets, do it right, use real plywood for the boxes, solid wood face frames, door frames, etc.
The efforts you discuss in your email will do nothing to appreciably improve the quality of your kabinets. Biscuits will not improve the strength of the boxes very much as they are made for particle board. Have the "jointer" screw them together and deliver them or make real boxes yourself from real plywood. With plywood biscuits will make a difference.
The PVC edging can be applied in a small shop with a heat gun. Its purpose is to keep moisture out of the edge of the panel so that the particle board does not swell up like a pretzel in a glass of beer when you splash water on the door, etc. While MDF is far superior to particle board it still suffers from this problem unless you go to water resistant MDF (one brad here is Medix). If you insist on MDF this water resistant grade would be my grudging choice. Again, why not go to real plywood? You can get real veneer core plywood faced with just about any veneer. Why not go to solid wood panels and really do the job right? You can also go to solid wood face frames from the 32 mm systems that are in vogue today because of the savings in labor and material. (One does not even have to make the door the right size or hang it square because all that can be corrected by the hardware!)
Attachment of panels can be done by glue or screws and would vary with the manufacturer. Since they are simply a facade it is not an important detail.
In this country a small kitchen in a track home goes for about $10,000 (U.S.). Thy can escalate from that to $25,000 for the cabinets alone very quickly. This makes building the cabinets (instead of kabinets) yourself quite economically sound. You can buy five grand worth of tool and still have money left over. What is more you end up with the finest of materials and workmanship--and some cool machines in your shop.
With best regards.
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