A couple of cabinetry questions.....

There is no no toe kick because I will be building a 4” base separately with a shallow toe space even on the short ends. I wanted to get 6 sides from a sheet of ply since it is expensive.

Rhett has a blog on basic cabinet construction and as I recall he also likes to see the toe kick wrap around like you are doing.

I’m just a weekend warrior and don’t really know what I am doing, but I’ve got an upper cabinet in the works with no where to hide pocket holes for attaching the face frame and I was just going to use glue and finish nails to hold it on.

I never thought to finish the face frames before attaching them. I think painting them after is pretty standard. I’m just about to painting my cabinets.

BTW, what paint are you using? I’m planning to use General Finishes Endro white pigmented poly. It is common to put clear poly over that (or so I’ve been told) but 3 coats of Enduro clear poly left the color noticeably yellow (I was using an old door for testing). Except for the fact that I need bright white I think I would go for that. I am also using this cabinet project as an opportunity to learn how to spray.

-- Greg D.

I am planning on using Graham Aqua Borne Ceramic. My local paint shop swears by it. I did my interior doors and the wainscoting in a room my 2 boys share with it. It was a long a winter with 4 kids beating on the those surfaces and it held up very nicely.

http://www.grahampaint.com/core.htm

You won’t need to seal the plywood ends (as long as the core is lumber and not chipboard or other) Unless you have REAL moisture problems in the house. In that case those need fixed first. IMO you are right on track on P-hole on the face frames and such as you mention. I think They would be fine on the sides of drawer spaces. IMO the are fine in open areas, and then plugged. You can also locate them to be covered by drawer guides, and hinge plates. A 1/4 x thickness of ply dado in the back of the frame handles alignment neatly. Seeing your carcasses and FFs already assembled this may not be the best now. But if you do the dado in the verts, and rabbet the top to the st, or set the st back, you get instant alignment, and the ability to paint the ff off the cab.

-- Who is John Galt?

Thanks Joey