Replies

1. 
   DRBWWing | Aug 20, 2020 12:20pm | #1

   I feel bad about both of them :-D

   Why go backwards?

2. 
   user-7094555 | Aug 20, 2020 02:03pm | #2

   Haha. I think I am wondering if anyone has good literature on how these things were done before the dawn of sheet goods.

3. 
   davec_5 | Aug 20, 2020 02:21pm | #3

   You can do it with solid wood. It will be a LOT more work. I might feel sorry for you but maybe it will make you happy. You can use a solid wood frame and panel construction most anywhere you would use plywood. Be sure you understand why you would want to do that. Are you trying to be historically correct in a very old house? Are you trying to do your best work and think that plywood doesn't allow for that? Just enjoy making lots of traditional solid wood cabinets and have lots of time to do that?

   I recently started building new cabinets for our kitchen. I thought about this question because I don't like managing plywood in my small shop. But I'm using plywood because I have other projects I'd like to spend time on too. A track saw helps a lot. The visible cabinet parts are solid hardwood - face frames, doors and drawer fronts. I can still customize them to fit my spaces exactly and to add nice details.

   Before plywood, kitchens were also much smaller, or were relegated to very utilitarian spaces. People had a lot less stuff in their kitchens so needed few cabinets. Those would have been solid wood of course. Probably frame and panel construction like any other cabinet. Just because they could do it without plywood doesn't mean you should unless you have some other good reason.

4. 
   john_c2 | Aug 20, 2020 04:55pm | #4

   The cabinets I have built have been built in place. It's easier than building a box and then moving it around. Build a base, then all you need is one end, it it's against a wall, or two. Make face frames held together with pocket screws, then glue and nail to your base and sides. Couldn't be easier. Most of your time and effort will go into doors and drawers.

   You can do everything above with solid wood. But why on earth would you? Sheet goods are far easier, cheaper, and no one can tell from the finished product. It just isn't worth it.

   All of the kitchens I have seen from before the mid 1960s had kitchen cabinets built in place. I don't know if modular cabinets were available before that, but I haven't seen any.

5. 
   user-7094555 | Aug 20, 2020 05:26pm | #5

   Thanks John_c2. Did you frame them out with 2x4s or some other hardwood?

6. 
   user-7063600 | Aug 20, 2020 07:45pm | #6

   Kitchen cabinets as we know them really did not come around until the 20th century. Before that the kitchens were mostly furniture pieces. Plywood also makes a better more stable, stronger and easier to make cabinet. Even better build euro style cabinets (box no face frame), less cost, fast and cleaner install.

   Also have you ever tore out a set of site built cabinets. nothing is square, you can't move them. If the sides were built from solid boards they were often split. USE PLYWOOD you will be happier.

7. 
   g2g | Aug 20, 2020 08:33pm | #7

   Upper or base cabinets? I live in a 1925 house with the original site built cabinets. As Dave noted there are a small number of cabinets. The construction is very simple using pine boards. Most of the doors and side panels are frame and panel (and maybe these panels are early plywood - all are painted so can't easily check). Doors are inset but drawers are not. There are two banks of three drawers ten inches wide. After 95 years these drawers fit sloppily which is the biggest drawback of these cabinets. Also of note there are no backs on either upper or lower cabinets. I've attached a couple pics of one of the drawer banks that should give you a good idea of the structure.

   
8. 
   _mj_ | Aug 21, 2020 06:13am | #8

   Fine Homebuilding issue 126 has a feature article on building in place. You should be able to get the PDF from their site.

9. 
   user-3559444 | Aug 22, 2020 01:06pm | #9

   Putting frames together with pocket screws is fine but weak. By using plywood that is tongue and grooved into the back of the face frame on all four sides(top and bottom rails and both stiles)will solidify the joint and I use nothing but 3/4”ply for this. I’ve been making my living at this for 42yrs. I hope this makes sense and helps. Good luck.
   Scott

10. 
    user-2384513 | Aug 22, 2020 05:00pm | #10

    Take a look at "Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets"by Jim Tolpin. His book is about this very question and gives an insight into what was done in the past.

11. 
    rob_ss | Aug 23, 2020 05:11am | #11

    Building cupboards in place is perfectly reasonable. It has the advantage of limiting the requirement for materials and easily exactly using the space available. You will also have deeper cupboards as a back is not required. Off-the-shelf units have a fairly generous depth behind the back to permit scribing to uneven walls. Your own can be much better shaped.
    What you lose though, is simplicity of interior spaces - more nooks and crannies with the framing, and with this you also lose melamine faced material which is awesome in a kitchen situation.
    As with almost all things you make, it is a compromise.
    For me, If I have the plans pre-drawn, or just solid numbers for part sizes, I could make all the carcass parts for a complete kitchen out of melamine coated material in a few hours. It'd probably take me that long to work out the beginnings of the cutting list for a built-in-situ kitchen.
    This massive time saving, combined with the ability to use wipe-clean surfaces means the sheet goods win every time.