The Kitchen Project

[Matt Meiser]

Today I finally started my parents' kitchen, about a month after I had hoped to due to two surgeries earlier this summer, vacation, and a surprise party for my mom which was at our house. But that's all done and now its time to get to work.

Today's first task was to throw together a table for assembling the face frames. I just made something simple from a piece of melamine and some stock (pretty sure its cherry) from my cutoff bin. Here's a picture of it clamping up the most complex face frame in the project (which isn't very complex.) Two of the three pictured clamps are Harbor Freight cheapies. Used on this table, I think I actually like them better than using the Kreg clamp.

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Then I stared milling stock. After straight-line ripping several boards I decided I need to get a ripping blade for my Festool saw before continuing. Hopefully someone local has them in stock and I can get one tomorrow.

This is the first completed component which will be the face frame for the upper pantry cabinet.

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And the day's production, 6 of 18 faceframes. Not really a full day as I worked about 5 hours. I suspect I could do most of the rest in the same amount of time now that I'm getting a rythm down and took care of things like the framing table, setting up, making spacer blocks, etc.

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[John Thompson]

Off to a good start..

[Steve Clardy]

Yep. Looking good.

Clamp. That's all I use, a pair of visegrip's with the swiveling pads.

[Glenn Clabo]

And the fun begins! Nice start there Matt.

[Sam Layton]

Good job Matt,

How did you design the kitchen? Did you draw the plans or use a computer program, cut list, etc?

Keep up the photo's, Sam

[John Keeton]

Off to a good start! I admire people that can do kitchens and such projects. Normally, I am good for only one of anything! It would not be good for me to start this kind of project, and come to a screaching halt after the first cabinet was done

[Matt Meiser]

Good job Matt,

How did you design the kitchen? Did you draw the plans or use a computer program, cut list, etc?

Keep up the photo's, Sam

I used Sketchup to do a basic layout--no construction details or anything like that. Then I worked out how I was going to build upper and lower cabinet and created an estimated cutlist. But I can't really work from that because there's no way I can cut up all the sheet goods at once and still have room to work in my shop and find anything. So I'm going to do all the face frames, finish them, then start building boxes in batches of a few. Once they are done I'll document the door/drawer sizes and start building those. Its probably not a very efficient process but one I can wrap my head aroiund.

[Chip Olson]

Take care of those face frames, especially after finishing. Some of mine ended up with dings between when I made them and when I installed the cabinets. Of course, I bet they aren't going to sit in your shop for five years like mine did. :-/

[Sam Layton]

Thanks Matt, for your response. I will be starting my kitchen very shortly. I have to complete one bathroom first. I can't get the hang of Sketch up. I am trying to use Cabinet Planner. It is really good for the lay out and face frames. I am not sure about the boxes yet. There way of Assembly is different than mine. Keep the photo's coming.

John, I am not sure I agree with what you say, (screeching halt)... I have seen your work, and it is fantastic.

Thanks again, Sam

[Matt Meiser]

Chip, my parents are paying for rental of a "Mobile Attic" which is like a POD only better built. Its sitting behind my shop now for storage and when I'm done with the cabinets everything will get packed and moved to my parents' for storage until installation so that will help protect from dents and dings in the shop. I've been saving cardboard for months to put between them.

[Todd Young]

Matt, thanks for the kitchen thread.

I'm a ways off from starting mine, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out to see how yours progresses. Realistically, I should quaduple the amount of time it takes you to do things, as you seem like you have a better grip on your than I do on mine.

I already have some ideas that I didn't think of just from these few posts.

The kitchen project is very overwhelming to me, but my better half is looking forward to a new kitchen at some point. It's already been put off a few years, so what's a few more??

Seriously, thanks for the post and looks like you're off to a great start. Geetin' some great tips from ya.....

Todd

[Peter Stahl]

Looks good Matt! This is something I need to do for my laundry room. I'll be keeping a eye on this post.

[Matt Meiser]

This is the first time I've ever used any significant quantity of rough sawn lumber. I seriously underestimated the time it takes to straight line rip one edge, rip the stock down to what my jointer will handle,face joint one side, plane to final thickness, then joint an edge square. I went out for a few hours on Monday and spent the whole night just prepping faceframe stock.

No pics handy but last night I got another 9 faceframes made. That leaves a huge one (72" high x 24" wide) for the lower pantry, 3 corner units, and the cabinet that goes over the microwave which is going to stick out a couple inches more than standard to add some interest, but that means the cabinet gets some special attention.

I also spent a little bit of time cutting up all the scrap. Anything about 1"x1" or larger got cut into about 9" lengths to go with us on our next camping trip. Some go cut into 1/8 to 1/4" thick chips for use in the smoker (about a 1/2 of a 5 gal pail--should last me a while since my smoker takes about what I can hold with my hands cupped. ) The miscellaneous stuff that was left went to the scrap bin. I figure I'd better stay on top of it or I'll be tripping over it constantly.

[Matt Meiser]

Tonight I reached a milestone by completing all the face frames (except for the island which is a bit of a different animal.) On to boxes...

[Matt Meiser]

And another milestone as the first box has been built. And components for many of the lower boxes are almost done so there should be a lot of boxes built tomorrow night--if I can refrain from playing with my new toy when it arrives tomorrow.