My first attempt at kitchen cabinets

And cheers back to you Mike. Yow. That is some fine job. Good for you. Love that cherry.

Welcome to LJs. Looks like you are going to be a nice asset.

Steve

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Mike, That is a very fine looking kitchen. You both should be proud. I bet that in addition to saving money you got getter storage and convience than you would have gotten from commerical cabinets.

Way to go.

-- Al Holstein

wow..this is amazing!!! beautiful job—-when you added everything up—-did you save money—-? I am assuming that you spent more but got a lot more since the cabinets alone were $15K…amazing…how much wood working experience did you have before you tackled this job>>>?

great result…I bet you feel like you can do anything!!!

-- Matt, Napa, CA...177 days to sanity...

Outstanding job! You just cannot beat that – saved half on the job, and they turned out great. That’s when this “woodworking hobby” turns into a serious money saver for the household budget. Congratulations!

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Beautiful cabinets Mike. How long did this project take, even with the home work?

-- Andy Stark

Very nice job Mike. Nothing will stop you now. Besides you have all those new tools to work with.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Good job. I like the black toe kick.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Looks good to me. I have some on my list also.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I dumbfounded. These look like the work of a pro who has been building cabinets his entire life.

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

Congrats on a beautiful job. They look great. You must be one of the guys that can do it perfectly the first time. Looks to me that thats what you have done all of your life. They are GREAT!!!

-- Saved, and so grateful, consider who Created it ALL!!!

Mike, looks first class, you’ve done yourself proud. Your wife should see you as her hero. Now if only I could finish my own kitchen. I’m lucky she doesn’t read my posts.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3

Wow thanks for the comments everyone. I really appreciate them. I’ll try to answer you all individually.

Steve thanks for the welcome. I hope you’re right about the assett..lol. One of the reasons I joined was to learn. I’ve fiddled with woodworking for a long time, but until the last 2 years I never got into it as deep as I would have liked. My wife is very supportive, and she’s the main reason why I’ve taken the plunge so to speak.

Al yes you are right. The pantry alone has more space than the entire set of previous cabinets. Some of the new ones we haven’t even got stuff in yet.

Hi Matt, thanks for posting. As stated above I’ve been making quality sawdust for as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until recently SWMBO encouraged me to really take the plunge and get what I need so I could actually make things, not just sawdust..lol. We had several quotes from various places to have the job done professionally. They ranged from 21k to 39k complete. I managed to do the whole job for a smidge over 8 thousand, and that included the purchase of a Dewalt 13” planer and a Jet 6” joiner, a CMT Dado set and Freud Biscuit joiner. I’m lucky to have such an understanding wife..lol.

• = She Who Must Be Obeyed

Hi Tom. Thanks for the comments and yes you are right about the household budget. The other side of the coin is my “honey-do” list has suddenly tripled in size.

Hi Andy. Thanks for posting. I started collecting material in April, but I didn’t cut any wood until the end of August. We researched cabinets, hardware, designs of one company over another and had a pretty good idea of what we wanted before I made any cuts. Actual cabinet work took about 350 hours. It might have taken less, but I spent a lot of extra time checking and rechecking. I didn;t want to waste lumber because of errors. ( I still managed to though..lol)

Hi Grumpy. Yes I do, and it’s GREAT! My next project is a hall table for a Friend of my wife. I may just have to get the Mortising set I’ve been eying. nudge nudge wink wink

Hi Dennis, thanks for the comments. Actually it’s not black, but the same color dark maroon the walls of the dining area and the trim around the ceiling recess is painted. The lighting of the photo doesn’t show it very well though.

Hi Gary, and thanks for the comments.

Hi Charlie. Thank you so much for the comments. I have to admit I was a bit reserved when I started, but I think doing my homework and planning ahead made it easier. There were still some pratfalls, but as far as the cabinets went, there were no major issues. The actual kitchen demolition and remodeling however… well we won’t go there.

Mr Dutchman, thank you for the comments. I wish what you said was true…lol. There was one minor setback when I was making the rails and stiles for the doors. My Cabinet Cruncher was a super tool for planning the cabinets, however it failed to account for the depth of the stick cuts in the stiles for the rails, so when it came time to fit the door frames together, they all came up 1 1/2 inch too short because of the 3/4 deep stick cuts. My wife learned some new language that evening. It wasn’t too bad, as I only had to make 4 new rails, the others I just moved to the next smaller door and cut them to length.

Thanks for the comments guys. So far I am really enjoying this site. I can see the wealth of information here will help me to become a better woodworker.

Cheers
Mike

That’s frigging awesome. Don’t let me wife get wind of this thread….

Wow, Mike great kitchen, hope my wife doesn’t see this post though or I’ll be in big trouble…LOL The cabinets and everything else looks awesome, you must have one of those “good for a year doghouse passes” for that project. What an outstanding job.

-- Jim Hallada, Chesterfield, VA

good job Mike, I make cabinets for a living ans so could you!!!!

-- John, Steamboat Springs Co. http://7kcraftsman.blogspot.com/

Mike, great job! We have been kicking around the same idea but I haven’t gotten the courage up to give it a go just jet. My wife did the same thing. I built some oak cabinets for the main bath and her comment was “I didn’t think you knew how to do that, now that I know what you can do I have other projects for you” she has supported me too and allowed me to build an oak entertainment center. One project down and unknown numbers to go…but that is great in my opinion!

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Beautiful work, I can see the honey do list growing.

-- Marty Ohio

Bee-you-tiful. Hope my SWMBO doesn’t get wind of this.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Great looking cabinets.A wonderful job. The space improvement make everything look bigger. a great job.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Not bad at all! That’s a beautiful custom kitchen!!!

-- Dust collectors suck.

If that’s your first attempt, you have a future in it.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

WOW, do you hire out? What a beautiful kitchen. If that’s really your first attempt, you need to be in the business.

Let’s see, the average of your two quotes is $30K.

Your cost (materials & tools) was 8K, so mark up 50% and you have $12K.

That left about $18K for your labor, or about $51/hour. Actually probably more because you have some tools in the cost. That’s not bad for something you call a hobby!

Happy New Year!

Jay Vaello

-- Jay, San Antonio, Texas - Making Sawdust Rocks!

What a transformation. That is one elegant kitchen. Love the granite.

-- Maplewood, MN

Awesome job! I did a similar project years ago (before I knew any better LOL. My kitchen remodel was not nearly as nice. In fact Your before pictures look better than my after pictures! : )

Great job!

Dave.

-- Dave.

A job well done!!!
You’ll get a a lifetime of memory’s from your experience.
It’s tough to buy cabinets at a box store that are really what you want no matter how much you spend. You now have a kitchen you can feel comfortable working in.
Whats your next project?

-- Ed Collinge- Edmonds, WA.

Just a note of thanks to all the recent comments, I’m glad you all enjoyed it.

Hi Jim. Yeah I am in severe good graces for sure. It’s a nice place to be too..lol

Hi John. Thanks for the vote of confidence. The only problem with doing it for a living, is that it no longer is a hobby, but becomes work. I’d rather have fun doing it as a hobby. :)

Hi Dan. You know there’s nothing wrong in being assigned more projects from the other half, as long as she understands that it requires a new tool of some sort. I was lucky and picked up 3!

Hi Marty. Yeah it is. I want to make two reproduction dressing vanities for the two step daughters, so they don;t come to blows fighting over who gets the bathroom to get dressed in the morning. I also have an entry table in the wings, and I’d like to make my wife a new 4-poster bed.

Hi Doug..lol. I won’t show her if you don’t. Thanks for the comments.

Hi Karson. Taking the wall out between the two rooms really opened it up. The pantry has a huge amount of room in it too. My wife doesn’t know where to start putting things. We went from barely any storage to an abundance. It’s an amazing difference.

Hi Blake. Thank you for the comments.

Hi Tom. Well it not only was my first, but probably my last also, unless my wife tells me she wants a new house..lol

Hi Jay. I like the way your math adds up. My bank account does too.

hi rikkor. Thank you for the comments. In case anyone would like to find a source for it, we got it from The Tile Shop, and it’s a color called Green Diamond. It’s a very dark green, almost black, with heavy traces of mineral iridescence.

Hi Dave. Well then call that one practice and try again..lol. I have to admit I was a bit concerned if I could pull it off in the beginning, but once I got into it with both feet it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.

Hi Ed. Thanks for the comments. I want to make two matching vanities for the kids so they aren’t killing each other over the bathroom in the morning to get dressed. They can do their own thing in their bedrooms.

Cheers
Mike

Very nice job, especially for your first set of cabinets! The Cherry, black appliances and Burgundy color go very well together.

Wow. I have to go find my socks now- they were knocked clean off by your beautiful kitchen. Just gorgeous.

-- Furniture Medic- the prescription for damaged furniture

With first attempts like that you shouldn’t have any regrets or wishes you’d done it different. Very very nice work.

-- DocK, WV

Nicely done. Way to go! I know that got you big props with the missus. I know that whenever I’m in trouble I just have to get a major honey-do done. Darn thing is, one good project completion and the list grows by two maybe three more deep. Sheesh! The kitchen is the last room in our house slated for a complete rehab such as you’ve done. BTW, did you do anything to the floor? Replace, rehab, refinish?

I particularly like your use of light. I’ve seen a lot of nice cabinet jobs that lack that aspect either by negation or ignorance of its importance. You done good, son.

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

Thank gbvinc. I have to give credit to my wife for the color scheme though, that was all hers. The maroon paint caused a few moments of panic, as it’s a 2 part color by Bhear. It required a base color coat of a light lavander, overwhich the maroon was applied. The maroon was a translucent color, so the first coats were very blotchy and uneven, and the more coats I applied to cover it, the worse it got. I went to bed that night muttering to myself and preparing to get a different paint and do it over the next morning. When we woke up and went downstairs, it had dried to an even color overnight and was fine. I was relieved.

Thanks Myron, I papreciate it. Hope you found your socks!

Thanks Dock. I am pleased with it, more important so is wife. She’s been in the kitchen non stop ever since.

JC thank you. I understand what you are syaing, Not only has the honeydoo list grown, but now the two teenage daughters have started a list. Looks like I’ll be busy for a while. My next project(s) will be two matching dressing vanities so they can dress and do their girly makeup and stuff in the eir bedrooms, rather than the one bathroom they share. The fun of watching them fight over the mirror has long since faded. I also get a new Router Table for me “fee”. Yippee!

Cheers
Mike

Very well done, indeed. Good composition of colors and functionality. Excellent.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Over the top for your first attempt.

-- Bud, NY, http://tpww.libsyn.com/