Laundry Cabinets

Hi Rich,
Very nice.
It’s always nice to see the work in progress.
Thanks for sharing.
Keith

-- Keith, Charlotte, MI www.julyswoodworks.com www.TheBenchDawg.com

No wonder I haven’t been seeing the fancy boxes and pens and such from you, was wondering what you were up to lately. Good looking cabinets, scratch off one item on the honeydew list, 99 to go, and more being added for sure. :>(

-- Dan Wiggins

Rich, these are great! They sure beat the heck out of open shelving for looks. And, as a plus, it’s a project that should earn you lots of brownie points with the boss.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

these look great. I thought the shelves in the before pic were nice but when you compare that to the cabinets you see what an upgrade they are.

-- Wipe the blood stains from your blade before coming in.

Rich, these look really nice. Thank you for the parts list. I’ve never tackled cabinets before, so it was really informative to know that you can break them down into different wood types. They look incredibly clean and precise.

Can I ask you a very novice question?

In order to create a raised panel cabinet door frame, do you buy a router set that cuts the cove of the panel and another one to create the rabbet in the frame? I assume this task requires a router table and not just an hand-held router? Also, do you use any metal in the doors, or does glue/clamp work?

Thanks in advance. I just ordered a cabinet book from Rockler. I’m excited to give it a try one day.

-- Measure, cut, curse, repeat.

Hey Rich,
Your Lady should be happy with those units….......sweet.

-- I will just keep doing it till I get it right.

These look really great, Rich!!

Next you’ll need to build one of those rolling library ladders so the Mrs. can reach the top cupboards ;^)

Lew

nice work. did you spray the finish or hand paint? It looks VERY smooth.

Thanks guys.
HokieMojo – no spraying, just a lot of sanding. The MDF does take the paint nicely though.
McCleanVA – There are lots of ways to make the door frames and panels. You can get a set of bits for the router that will do this. Pretty pricey though, and you definitely want 1/2” shanks and a good stable table. I used the table saw for these. To cut the channel I used a dado blade, and would run the rails and styles through one way, then flipped them and ran them through the other way. This put the channel dead center. You want to cut the channel just a little deeper than what the panel is going to recess in it. I made a jig for my table saw fence to hold the panels, set the blade to 7 degrees, and cut the raised panels that way. Keep track of all your measurements, ie how far the fence is from the blade, in case you need to redo one. There are more learned people on this site that do this for a living, and can give you better advice than me, so you might want to search the videos and see if someone has done one on raised panel doors.

-- Rich in Richmond

This has been on my to-do list for years. My wife just the other day said “someday I’ll get my laundry room” My response was “after I get my shop redone”. After all, I need the shop to make the cabinets. Well you know how that went over.
Very well done, clean look. Another job well done.

-- Bob K. East Northport, NY

I like these! My wife has been wanting me to build some. These are the design I need. My fear is the FINISHING…I am such a novice that I can build something, but then worry about destroying it with the finish. Can you tell me the process you used for the painting? Thanks!

-- Randy, Allen Texas

Hi Randy,
The finish isn’t that hard, so don’t let it put you off. I used Kilz, just because it is a good sealer and it dries really quick. I did two coats of this, sanding lightly between coats, and then two coats of good acrylic enamel, sanding again between coats. I thinned the acrylic enamel some to allow it to level out. Use a decent quality brush and brush towards the edges, rather than away from them, you won’t get the big drips on the edges that way.
You could also spray your last finish coat if you wanted to get the perfect look. Go for it!

-- Rich in Richmond

thanks for the respone. again, nice finish