| Project by ferstler | posted 395 days ago | 458 views | 0 times favorited | 8 comments |  |
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While not exactly custom woodworking, somethimes we handimen have to do more mundane tasks than milling fine wood to beautiful shapes. This is one of those times. Our original tract-home kitchen had cheap vinyl covered cabinets that my wife hated.
She eventually got one heck of a deal on some oak cabinets and of course I was selected to install them. The job was not all that tedious and I managed to get the things into position just fine. It is surprising just how uneven typical home walls are, and it was educational to get the cabinets both level and lined up with each other. The high cabinet on the far right actually is backed up to a wall with a curved stud and I ended up actually milling slightly into the drywall and mounting the cabinet into the recess. Because of this and other alignment work it was not necessary to use trim molding around any of the cabinets. They fit flush and tight against the walls.
The original had a drop-in stove, but I replaced that with a free-standing job that fit nice as a glove. (I had to replace the hard-wire hookup with a 240-volt wall plug.) I also installed new counter tops and a stainlless steel sink. (The tops are formica, because there are limits to what we will pay for something like that.) A few years later she tired of the stainless steel, and I replaced that with an acrylic version that looks like porcelain, but cost a lot less. The sink is on its third faucet assembly (for cosmetic reasons, since the first two each worked fine), and this one looks better than either of the others.
The oak cabinets were mid grade, with vinyl sides. Last year I obtained some oak-finished plywood sheeting in just the right thickness to cover up those side panels with real wood. (The original sides were actually recessed a bit behind the front panels, so the inserts went in perfectly flush.) The staining job was experimental, but in the end it worked out just fine. By going this route I saved several hundred bucks over what a more upscale cabinet model would have cost.
The original room had only one light above the sink area, but I installed a better-looking replacement and got two additional light fixtures to add a bit more illumination. The lights are on variable brightness controllers.
The wife likes the place now, and so do I. And, no, I did not install the floor. I paid to have that done.
Howard Ferstler
8 comments so far
CessnaPilotBarry
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1265 posts in 596 days
posted 395 days ago
Looks good!
One note… Most end cabinets usually include a slightly extended side that can be “scribed” to the wall. You would trace, or “scribe” the wall profile onto the cabinet, and form the edge with a belt sander and/or a jigsaw. How you did it seems to look fine, though!
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ferstler
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posted 395 days ago
These particular cabinets did not have that feature. Great idea, though. The center was where the outward bowing occured and so I had to cut into the drywall at the top and bottom to get the center to move inward enough for the left and right sides to contact the wall. One result is that the cabinet actually rests on the drywall. I used caulk along the bottom to make the seam completely invisible.
I will install an additional photo to show that cabinet’s detail, and also install one that shows the stove area.
Howard Ferstler
lew
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posted 395 days ago
Been there, done that and I think our wives must have been to the same store to buy the cabinets!
griff
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posted 395 days ago
Very good job. they look great, and your wife is happy. what more could a man want ?
-- Mike, Bruce Mississippi = Jack of many trades master of none
CessnaPilotBarry
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1265 posts in 596 days
posted 395 days ago
Howard,
Your final result looks fine. However, if you had sufficient material so the top and bottom could be buried in the drywall, your cabinets DID have scribe strips.
Think negative. You would have ground off the areas that are buried in the drywall.
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ferstler
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138 posts in 414 days
posted 391 days ago
Thanks for the info. Actually, I still think it was easier to groove the drywall than to plane the back edges of the cabinet. I just cut the grooves until a straitedge sat flat in the cuts. If I had worked on the cabinets themselves I would have had to carefully contour the cut to fit against the curved wall surface.
Howard Ferstler
Beginningwoodworker
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posted 380 days ago
Thats a nice job.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
ferstler
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138 posts in 414 days
posted 356 days ago
The only problem with the work is that I did not install a crown molding at the top. My wife recently hired a decorator (she is getting new rugs and furniture, but the decorator has scoped the entire house) and the decorator mentioned the lack of moldings.
So, last weekend I cut some pre-finished sections purchased at Lowe’s and attached them to backerboards and then attached the backerboards to the tops. The improvement certainly made my wife happy.
Howard Ferstler