The Kitchen Project

[Sam Layton]

Good job Matt, keep the photo's coming.

Sam

[Matt Meiser]

Got a few hours yesterday and all day today in. Yesterday I assembled another 4 lower boxes. Today I built a corner box (phew--kind of time consuming.) Then I got all of the pieces for the regular, meaning 12" deep, 42" high, upper boxes cut and dadoed. I need to drill all the shelf pin holes and pocket screw holes for attaching the face frames, then they can be assembled. That will leave seven boxes to build, most of which are unique compared to anything else in the project and will therefore be built one at a time. I also moved all the completed boxes out to the storage container for now.

I also took time to go through all my scrap that's been accumulating over the past year--about about a 55 gallon drum full, plus some miscellaneous containers. Anything solid wood, with no finish, glue, etc over 9" is getting sorted out and cut into 9" lengths for campfires. Shouldn't need to buy much campfire wood any more this year. The rest got burned last night and today along with some pallets and shipping crate components I had from some deliveries over the past year.

[Todd Young]

Hey Matt, you look like you're moving along at a great pace. I'm sure it would take me much longer to get to where you're at now.

I've been reading about the pocket hole joinery for kitchen cabs (on the bodies, not just the face frames). A lot of what I'm reading is if it's not going to be visible, it's a good option (for speed as well as strength). You look like you're using it in a number of areas where the joinery method will not be visible. I would assume it's working out just fine for ya.

Things are looking good. I'm following your progression, I just haven't posted about it in a while. Keep up the good work.

T

[Matt Meiser]

Todd, On the recommendation of a friend who has built cabinetry for a living, I'm using dados for all the boxes to aid alignment. I've tried a few different methods--glued and screwed butt joints, Dominos, pocket screws, and this. I'd have to say this is probably a little easier because the crosscut ends are all hidden and the rare chipout isn't an issue. Plus the dados provide positive location that can't shift.

I'm using glue and pocket screw joinery for the face frames and to attach the face frames to the boxes. I'm also planning to use them for building the drawer boxes, though I'm also going to look at the new 4mm dominos that just came out this month.

[Matt Meiser]

Tonight's progress--another 6 boxes. First I had to drill 600 shelf pin holes with the help of my NYW-inspired jig and my plunge router with a 1/4" spiral upcut bit.

Storage container is filling up. Starting to notice the stack of plywood depleting too as I've gone through 10 sheets, and I've gone through about 2/3 of a bottle of glue, a whole Akro-bin full of 1-1/2" screws, and the same of pocket hole screws.

[NICK BARBOZA]

Looking good Matt!! You are making so great progress on a large project!

Quick question: what thickness material are you using for the cabinet backs?

Thanks!
Nick

[Matt Meiser]

I'm just using 3/4 all around. Someone suggested it for the uppers for strength and ease of installation. So I just did the same on the bottom.

[Jason Strauss]

Matt,

Nice progress! I like your methodical approach. I'm considering taking on the task of building kitchen cabinets for my wife's uncle – not too big of a kitchen, but my first “large scale” paying gig. So, I'm following your progress with much enjoyment and one eye open for good tips.

Anyway, I just reread all the posts looking for what material you’re using for cases - didn't find it. My guess is prefinished Baltic Birch. Right? If so, where’d you get it and roughly how much are you spending per sheet? If not, what are you using?

Thanks and keep the progress reports a’ comin’!

[Matt Meiser]

Jason, its prefinished maple ply. Its technically "shop grade" meaning there are some defects which haven't been an issue to work around. We paid $65/sheet. I could have gotten on-grade for the same price through a friend who has an account with a wholesale supplier, but I would have had to go pick it up at his shop about an hour away, load it on my truck (about 1800lbs), drive home, and unload. The local place delivered it and I just had to help unload.

[Peter Stahl]

Looks great so far Matt! How did you attach the backs to the sides? Nice thing with the full 3/4" you have lots of surface for screws. Wow 1800lbs, how many sheets of plywood did you use?

[Matt Meiser]

We bought 24 sheets, which is a few over my estimate to allow for errors and waste from not optimizing everything, though I will say waste has been minimal so far. Before I cut anything I go through the relatively small pile of offcuts and use them first. 1800 was an estimate of 75lbs/sheet, but I don't think they are that heavy. Not sure--I'm not lifting them completely. I get one end up on a cutting table positioned between my table saw and the stack, then slide it the rest of the way and either break it down with my Festool saw or slide it on over to the table saw.

The backs are just set in rabbets, glued, and screwed. Should be able to hang from them once they are up.

[Matt Meiser]

Another day, another box. This one goes over the microwave. Its special for two reasons. First, the width of the box was critical. Where the other boxes are 1/4" less in width than the faceframe, allowing for looser tolerances, this one needed to match exactly because of some side trim it will receive. Second, it sticks out 2" more than a normal cabinet to match the depth of the over-the-range microwave and give some visual interest to that wall.

I know from installing my own microwave that I wished in hindsight that I'd had a large flat area on the bottom of the cabinet so I added a filler that the installer can use, or not use if he wants.

Another organizational thing I'm doing is labeling the top of each box and the back of each face frame with a number (U=upper, L=lower) and the boxes with a description so we don't have to consult the plan and measure to figure out what's what when we hang them.

[Todd Young]

Got it. I didn't catch that from the earlier pics nor apparently from how you were describing the progress in earlier posts, but after going back in and looking, I see it now.

W/ dados, you probably have a bit more glue area for strength as you not only have what you would w/ a butt joint, but some of the cut off dado area as well for glue adhesion. Another good tip.

I'm picking up a lot of tips from your posts. Like the idea of marking the cab's to help w/ installation. I was going to try dovetails for my drawers.

Man, you're moving through this project, IMO.

I was thinking you were using maple or BB ply, but didn't think it was shop grade. I was thinking of using BB ply for the areas where it wouldn't be visible and then only using a higher grade ply (maple, etc) on areas where it would be seen and to match up with the face frames. Not sure if that's how we'll do ours or not at this point.

Keep up the great work and thanks again for the post. Can't wait to see the finished product. Your folks are gonna love it.

T

[Matt Meiser]

I used BB on my own master bath cabinets. I cut the parts, then sanded and finished, then assembled. The finishing was a huge pain. My next project I tried melamine which I hated. Then I tried prefinished maple and fell in love with it.

[Philip Rodriquez]

The pre-finished stuff is nice. My last project required a 4x8 sheet of cabinet-grade cherry ply. The pre-finished stuff was $120 each. It was book-matched on one side and quarter-sawn on the other. Awesome stuff!

Todd, you live in Denver. Austin Hardwoods is the place to go.