So I have no woodworking experience, but I have done a lot of minor home repairs
(putting up trim and crown molding, replacing parts of a damaged hard wood floor,
putting up a couple of walls, ( the general kind of stuff all homeowners end
up doing somewhere along the line).
We recently bought a condo and while the the kitchen cabinets have been painted white,
the boxes themselves are in good shape but the doors are plain and ugly. I would like to
try to make new ones myself, not only because I am cheap but because I think it would
be fun…and a good way to get an introduction to woodworking/carpentry.
So my question is, is this something that a novice can attempt? Something basic like a
Shaker style would be okay. If it's something I can attempt, is there a good place to go
for styles, directions, materials list etc? A website would be nice, but I'm not adverse
to purchasing a book or two if they would be beneficial.
If you have a table saw and some wood, then I strongly suggest you give it a go. Build one, a prototype, to see if you really like your design before taking on the whole task. You can even use salvaged 2×4's for the prototype if you have a means to joint and plane them down to your needed size.
There are plenty of websites and youtube vids to give you an idea how to build simple doors. Google is your friend. Search for (building "cabinet door") without the parenthesis.
Nine out of ten, professional cabinets shops where 90% of their business is manufacturing kitchens BUY their doors for good reasons.
First and foremost is that companies who make "just doors" buy hardwoods in huge volumes where they can produce a door for less money then the shop building the kitchen, can buy "just the material" for the door.
The investment into the tooling to build doors is nothing to sneeze about. You will need a router, a router table, the coping router bits, a jointer, a planer, sanding equipment, clamps…..............and the list goes on.
IMO, attempting to tackle doors is not likely the best introductory task, but I always recommend doing a first project yourself, or at least part of it, so you gain the appreciation that comes along with it. Building doors can get tricky in many ways. Buying doors is much much cheaper than spending the time and money to make them yourself, even if you are a pro. I get my doors from www.donalddeanandsons.com. Many designs and species to choose from, friendly people.
I'm also getting ready to make some cabinet doors by making some practice doors to get the settings right. I'm using a router table and Freud rail & stile matched router bits (about $60) and a Freud raised panel bit with a backcutter (about $110.00)
We have a reasonably equipped workshop-however we don't have a planer or a jointer. But I might
be able to find someone who has one or the other.
Good idea about making a prototype-that will help decide whether or not this is something I can do,
and give me an idea of cost of doing it verses buying doors.
I will check out the video and also the website that sells doors mentioned above.
I did visit youtube and also googled but it was kind of whelming-almost too many
choices! We use both a lot-that's where we learned to install granite counter tops,
and they actually came out great-so I am willing to try just about anything, if the
directions are clear enough.
thanks!
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