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Thread: What not to do when building kitchen cabinets

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Hachet View Post
    I built the boxes a few with fixed shelves and then added face frames and doors. Hung boxes and then added face frames. Wife had preloaded cabinets before I put the face frames on. Had a row of glass jars that would not come out because of the face frame...we both laughed at that one.
    LOL. Are the jars still there?

  2. #17
    This thread reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "the amateur practices until he gets it right, the professional practices until he can't get it wrong."

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    One other tip...favor drawers over doors in the base cabinets. Drawers are a heck of a lot easier to use.
    My jobs have very few doors in base cabinets.

    Roll out trays are ridiculous. Opening a door to pull out a drawer? Crazy talk. People still want that madness though.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Wasner View Post

    My jobs have very few doors in base cabinets.

    Roll out trays are ridiculous. Opening a door to pull out a drawer? Crazy talk. People still want that madness though.
    Yea, I see many folks going for the door thing on base cabinets and don't get it. I only used doors in the places that I really had to (under the sink, area where sheet pans, etc., are stored) and am very glad I did. The island, which was the prototype for the cabinetry, does have a couple doors and if I decide to replace it, things will change in favor of drawers on that, too.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Wasner View Post
    My jobs have very few doors in base cabinets.

    Roll out trays are ridiculous. Opening a door to pull out a drawer? Crazy talk. People still want that madness though.
    I always thought people tended to favor doors over drawers on the bottom to cut costs.

    And older drawer slides didn't fare as well carrying the heavy loads people typically put into base cabs - pots and pans, etc. Now that you can soft-close a drawer carrying a hundred pounds of cast iron, it's a lot more desirable.

    As for the roll-out drawers, I guess folks are just used to the visual of doors on the bottom. I doubt they're much cheaper than full drawers?

  5. #20
    When we redid our kitchen I tried talking my wife into drawers in the bottom cabinets but she insisted on one drawer plus a door for almost all of them. I still do not know why. I guess she just likes the look of doors. At least in the cabinets we used, drawers definitely cost more. She hasn't asked for roll out shelves in these cabinets, at least not yet.

  6. #21
    I had to break them to get them out....and then utilize smaller jars.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Wasner View Post
    This thread reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "the amateur practices until he gets it right, the professional practices until he can't get it wrong."
    At what point were you comfortable in calling yourself a pro, and I by no means question that you are a pro as that is a given. How many sets of cabs did you build or how many months/years did it take before you reached that level of confidence and know how to be comfortable with doing it and not second guess yourself on every little thing?

    I ask as This will be 4th kitchen I have built. It has been quite a number of years since my last one. I had forgotten how many little things you have to consider and allow for... toe kick dimensions, stile and rail widths, back attachment, drawer slide allowances, allowances at the top of uppers for crown, etc,etc.

  8. #23
    A couple years I suppose. I went from helper to running jobs in about six months at the first cabinet shop I worked at. I wasn't really refined at it until about a year into working at the next shop. Two(ish) years.

    I can do basic kitchen cabinetry with almost zero thought, after almost 20 years of woodworking the numbers and math are memorized so there's not much for figuring on that normal stuff. I'm good at basic math and am really good at spatial analogy stuff. I also blame playing with Legos too much as a kid for making me cut out for this work. I wish I were cut it to be a lottery winner.

  9. #24
    We I redid our kitchen 15 years ago one of our research projects was to go to a "renovation" display home.My wife asked the owner how she liked ALL drawers in base cabinets. I'll never forget her response. She said to my wife" honey, Im too old to get down on my hands and knees to find something is the back of the cupboard" We put in ALL drawers. Another thing we did was to pull our 24" lower cabinets(standard construction size to maximize plywood sheet usage) out 6" from the wall to give us a 25% bigger counter top. Also gave a nice area to put in a knife rack with blades extending down from counter top.Oh, and toe kick drawers are handy as well.

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Hachet View Post
    I built the boxes a few with fixed shelves and then added face frames and doors. Hung boxes and then added face frames. Wife had preloaded cabinets before I put the face frames on. Had a row of glass jars that would not come out because of the face frame...we both laughed at that one.
    Chris, your post is a CLASSIC; thanks for a good chuckle.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Wasner View Post
    Roll out trays are ridiculous. Opening a door to pull out a drawer? Crazy talk. People still want that madness though.
    And then get upset when the drawer or hardware scratches the inside of the door.
    -Lud

  12. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig View Post
    And then get upset when the drawer or hardware scratches the inside of the door.
    Yep, though using undermount slides has helped greatly with that.

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig View Post
    And then get upset when the drawer or hardware scratches the inside of the door.


    https://www.grassusa.com/downloads/z...ndex.html#p=21

  14. #29
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    I LOVE ME SOME LEGOS!!!! I have a Millenium Falcon and a Star Destroyer. One day when I grow up I want a Super Star Destroyer...

    I digress....

    Two years from entry level to pro. Impressive.

  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Travis Porter View Post
    Two years from entry level to pro. Impressive.
    Not when you're motivated. As a teenager I had beer and motorcycles to purchase.



    Some people are just good at things. Like throwing a ball, or cutting open someone's head and removing a tumor, or acting, or flying airplanes. Things that make money.
    I'm blessed with the ability to watch pieces of wood go through machines then putting those pieces together sometime after they come out the other side.
    ..............
    Last edited by Martin Wasner; 01-11-2018 at 1:53 PM.

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