Has anyone ever built their own kitchen cabinets? Can I really save money by building them myself? Can anyone recommend a good book that covers kitchen cabinet construction well? I have looked for weeks, and all the good quality cabinets are super expensive, and all the cost effective ones are weak quality.
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Replies
>> Can I really save money by building them myself?
Mebbe. If you count your time at $1.25 an hour. Or if you're as slow as I am, at 47 cents an hour.
Depends on how much spare time you have and how many tools you already own. If you have nothing to work with, you are probibly better off buying the cabinates. If you want to make them, you may want to try some time saving techniques like using pre-finished plywood for the carcass and ordering the doors instead of making them.
I don't have that many tools, but I do have a good table saw and lots of time. I figured I would make the shells out of veneer ply, and make a simple shaker style fronts. (frame and flat panel) I could use a good book with cabinet construction techniques though.
I'd recommend " Build your own kitchen cupboards", by Danny Proulx (his site is http://www.cabinetmaking.com/). I have it and used it as a guide for the first set I built out of Ash. They turned out great. Another is "Traditional Kitchen cabinets" by Jim Tolpin, again excellent book.
You may consider using melamine for the cabinets, and using a plywood veneer for the sides that show. This gives a nice "European" white, wipeable(?) interior, in conjunction with a solid wood face frame and door, gives a great cabinet. Danny's book covers all of this including dimensions, and construction details. He is also a contributor to "Cabinet Maker magazine", writing a column " Ask Danny". It is a freebie magazine to those who small shop owners.
Greg
There are several good books currently available on the subject of build and install, Taunton may have some of these or go to Woodcraft.com. You won't save a gret deal of money if you count your time at current employment rate of $15.oo to 25.00 per hour. But, you will be getting the type of product than you want and the finish and lumber selection that you deem acceptable. This will be particularly true if you are looking at cherry or maple faceframes and doors.
Look at the cabinets curently available in the home centers and look at the grain patterns and color match of the woods used. If that is acceptable to you, you probably can't beat the prices. You will also have to accept interiors made of melamine type product (plastic covered particle board). Many of these are only 1/2 or 5/8 in. thick for sides and bottoms.
The shop you have available (tools, space, finish area and finish experience) will also play an important role in the end product you want.
Hope this helps.
i am currently designing the kitchen cabnets for our kitchen renovation of 2004. i figure we'll save about half of the cost of showroom cabinets. the boxes themselves should take app. 2-3 months of part time hours to complete.
i've installed a couple of hundred kitchens worth of particle board "crapinets", and i won't have them in my house. the joints are hotglued and stapled, the cheap ones have a minimum of structural requirements. we call them ten year cabinets. you can definitely tell the difference between those and the better plywood cabinets.
and don't forget that you can get, depending on your location, get prefinished hardwood plywood, which will save you alot of time in building the boxes. and a good lumberyard will rough rip all of your stiles and rails.
if you own just a tablesaw, you can do it, but a larger selection of shop tools would make it easier, especially if the doors are simply constructed.
here are a couple of my favorite books on cabinetmaking:
"the home cabinet maker" by monte burch, a Popular Science book
"building tradional kitchen cabinets" by jim tolpin, a taunton press book
"cabinetmaking from design to finish" by byron w. maguire, a craftsman book
good luck rg
I have made my own kitchen cabinets in the past, have made cabinets for some clients, and am presently designing new cabs again for myself. For me, the cost effective issue doesn't exist. Not to say that I have more money than I know what to do with or too much free time on my hands. Simply, I'm in the custom woodwork/fabrication business because "it is what I do." The thought of living with either producton cabs or some other guy's work is not one that I choose to have. So, if you are at all like me (and I suspect a great many of the other users of this forum) you want to make the cabinets yourself. I say, just do it and hang the cost analysis.
The book sources the others mentioned ought to get you started. I like to keep in mind that once the cabinets are fastened into position, their strength partially becomes moot. Drawers and doors do have to be made well, but no one will ever know just how well the backs are attached. In other words, don't make them as you might a fine piece of furniture. Save a little time and money....use nails wherever you can.
I built my kitchen cabinets and saved a bunch of money but it all depends on how you do the math. The wood we used - Birdseye maple and walnut - was of a nicer quality than I would have afforded if I had them done by someone else. I also used the "savings" to justify to my wife the purchase of all kinds of new woodworking toys. Then there was the fact that it took two years to do the whole thing including cabinetry,lighting, painting, book cases and a fireplace, as I do have a day job. But I also have an incredibly patient wife. She let me do whatever I wanted in the design dept. And I have no idea how to price in the pride I get using the place every day and basking in the glow of friends' compliments (who cares if they really mean it or not?). So go for it. With that new table saw you'll get you can justify a whole slew of other projects! : )
Alan
Alan:
Can you post pictures of your cabinets?
Jeff
Hi, I'm new here, but have been lurking around knots for several weeks. I'm in the process of design our kitchen and am planing on building the cabinets as well. I just finished a new bath vanity as a primer to see exactly what I was getting into. Came out great! If your interested in frameless cabinets then Paul Levines book (Tauton press) is a great one to look at. It may be out of print but with some loking you could find a used copy. If you are interested in face frame cabinets then I would second rickys choice for Jim Tolpines book.
I went to woodcraft, powells book store in Portland (they have a great website with a huge supply of new and used books.) http://www.powells.com/. Try the local library, ours has several books on the subject.
Brian
I have built seven complete kitchens, the last one almost 4 years ago. No, you will not save money if you count your time but there is not greater satisfaction than walking into your custom design and handcrafted kitchen. My last project was my "dream" kitchen - of course so were all of the prior kitchens - the lowers were enameled and the uppers were white maple with stained glass insets. There was a matching - less the stained glass - side of pantry style cabinets and another wall of built-in china cabinets and buffet. All of the drawers were dovetailed and the lower shelves were all dovetailed rollouts. The project took 6 months of evenings and weekends. The tools used were table saw, radial arm saw, router table, 13" planner, joiner/planner, hand router, belt sander, assorted finish sanders, drill press, hand drills, HVLP sprayer and you get the picture. Parenthetically, my first kitchen was made with a table saw, skill saw and a GE 3in1 combination drill/jig saw/orbital sander and paint brushes.
I liked the post where someone started with a smaller project which required all of the same tools and skills but involved a smaller scale. Also, I personally learn well from books and they serve to remind me about the little things that can really bite you in the butt if you do not apply them in the design or execution. Experience is a great teacher and it is a stern and unforgiving task master. If this is new to you, invest your time and money in at least one quality cabinet/case construction book and visit lots of kitchen design centers to learn what you really want in your personal design.
Good luck.
I did mine last summer, along with two washroom cabinet. The total cost of material was 1200$ cdn, and that include all the material for the kitchen, the molding of the house and the two cabinet in the washroom. Okay, I pay 1.06$ bf or birch 4/4, but if you dont count time, it is a money saver. It took me two weeks to build everything. I'll try to get pictures and show you.
Bob in Sherbrooke, province of Québec
p.s. just consider the beauty of wood instead of melamine.....
It all depends how much time and patience you have and particularly your wife. Ive been doing my kitchen remodel for a year now. Working 6 days a week at a full time job then in the evenings and holidays ect. yea I save money outta pocket but time wise no not really. But if its your first attempt. I say why not the experiance will do you good. you'll learn alot about wood working, construction techniques, materials and who your friends are when you need help.
Darkworks: We fight for Peace
It's all in how you look at it. Materials cost will be a fraction of what you would pay for the same quality in store-bought cabinets. Some might argue that you need to account for your time, but I personally am of the opinion that unless you are willing to take a second job and actually earn money during the time you would be building the cabinets, you don't have to charge yourself for your time. I'd much rather be working in my own shop, building something for myself, than working for someone else in order to earn money to buy something from another someone else.
BTW, I am about to embark upon a similar project, on a smaller scale. I will soon start building a couple of bathroom vanities, in order to get my feet wet with cabinet-building, before tackling the kitchen.
Orv,
I didn't read all the posts but here's my take. On the surface, it looks like you're getting a bunch of suggestions.
The first thing you'll need is a plan and you'll need to define the materials of construction - interior material, face frame material, style of doors, various features, type hinges, etc. Then go for some quotes to custom cabinet shops. (Don't fool with premanufactured cabinets) Get several qoutes. The prices will vary a lot. Get the cabinet shops to quote you the installation as well, but separately. Don't forget they'll have to be stained and finished. If you want the cabinet shops to do that, get it priced separately or as an add on. A painter is the person of choice for this. Do you want the interiors painted? That's a time consuming job.
Who's going to put the pulls on? What about the counter tops?
Then do a material take off and price the material. Don't forget drawer slides, hinges, etc.
Then estimate your labor manhours. I'd guess that being somewhat unexperienced at cabinet construction, take your estimated labor and multiply times 3 for a real figure. Take that total manhours and use Sarge's figure of about $1.50 per man hour.
I'd bet the best price from a cabinet shop beats your price. And it'll only take them a couple of weeks. You'll be so darn tired of those cabinets by the time your done that you won't even believe it. But on the other hand, you'll be proud of them too.
Having said all that - I'd probably build mine given the time. lol
jdg
Edited 2/28/2003 2:30:13 PM ET by jdg
I third or fourth the Jim Tolpin book. It's taken me a while to agree with his story-pole approach, but it works the best. I don't like his system for setting base cabs.
The grain-matching on production cabs (kraftmaid, etc.), suck.
The hardware is much more expensive than you imagine just looking at it. Kitchen I am currently doing - 10' x 10' ell, 3' x 6' island, pantry and cabinets over w/d, bifold doors - red oak wood & ply $1200, hardware $1400. Rockler's a good source.
remodeler
Someone mentioned buying the doors earlier. I believe this might be an excellent compromise.
Build the carcases and face frames. Buy the doors, drawer fronts, and maybe even drawers. The cabinet factory in Wisconsin does great work and can build a door much faster and probably as cheaply as I can myself.
Cost would probably go from $1000 for materials to closer to $3000, but you'd probably have a kitchen in half the time.
ORV - you are about where I started over twenty years ago. I had a second hand table saw, a cramped basement, little money and some spare time. I built the kitchen, same flat panel doors you are thinking about, and to this day am proud of what I was able to do. I think the best thing you'll get out of the experience is a terrific education. You have the advantage of many excellent books that have come on the market in the last few years. And you have, as you can see, an endless supply of great information available on this forum. Ask and someone will have the answer.
After pricing the commercial cabinets and chalking the construction time up to the learning experience you should be able to justify a few tools to make the job easier and more enjoyable. My first suggestion would be a router and some cabinet bits. As I acquired tools, my door joints have progressed from ship laps to mortice and tenions to router cut stiles and rails, but on the faces they look the same. You can buy or easily build a router table.
Learn a lot and enjoy! And good luck to you!
Fred
Yes, I just finished maple cabinets for my kitchen. As to costs, the Big Orange box wanted in excess of 10 grand plus installation and counter tops. Even then, they couldn't meet my specifications for 100 lb. slides with full extensions for the drawers and pull-out trays. I own the necessary machineery so I didn't have to buy any big items of that nature. Lumber costs (hard maple in the rough and baltic birch plywood) along with all the hardware cost me less than 4 grand. The rough part of the equation is that I spent almost a year on the job. We had to live in the house while the kitchen was being worked on and that meant moving items a time or two. Retired and having plenty of time, I consider I saved a bundle however if I had still been on a paying job, then I would have been forced to shop it out.
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