# kitchen cabinets



## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*The Beginning *

I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.




























Before I could do anything I needed to build a rack for all the plywood. Note: would have been better to do this before delivery.


















This weekend I started laying out the panels and started rough dimensioning the face frame parts. I have wood stacked Everywhere! Space has become a precious commodity.

I only have weekends to work on this project; I will try and post updates each Monday as to my progress for those who are interested.


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


I am very close to being in a similar situation to yours; I will be watching with interest!


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


I am going to keep close track to your blog. I can see a new kitchen in my future as well and I haven't gotten up the courage to start planning yet so I might as well watch and learn. I warn you though, I will ask lots of questions.


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## CaptainSkully (Aug 28, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


I am looking down the barrel of building a whole set of kitchen cabinets before knocking out the wall and installing them. So I am looking forward to getting inspiration (read courage) from your blog. Thanks!


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


Good luck. Its cool to get the materials upfront. I built this, but it took me a year as I bought as I could (retired & on disability)


















You certainly went to great detail in your plans, I just started with a sketch, a couple of critical dims, and have at it.

Keep us posted!

M


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


What's your design plan MC? Are you building them in-place, or in the shop? Are you planning to build individual units and connect them, or wall-length pieces?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


Earlc I will answer as many questions as I can.

Madmark 2, nice cabinets, I hope it does not take me a Year! The cabinets look great, what did you use for the lights?

Richard Taylor, I started with sketches and then moved to detailed drawings. The cabinets will be built in the garage, not full wall length but continuous to each transition i.e range, sink base which extends out. I have also chosen a design that has a separate base for the lower cabinets.

Other design characteristic include: inset doors, 15 inch deep upper cabinets, 47 inch tall upper cabinets, and smaller glass doors on the top.

We started by removing a set of stairs for a butler's pantry (wife watches a lot of HDTV and DIY). I will build the pantry after the kitchen is done.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


Big project. Very exciting though that you have a chance to do it. It looks like you're well-equipped in your shop, so I'm sure it will turn out beautifully. I'll be following along and looking forward to seeing it progress.

Speaking of butler's pantries, we bought this house a little over a year ago, and it had a large 10×12 laundry room. I put shelving up the two blank walls. Since the ceilings are 10 ft, I went a full 8 ft up. I'm an avid cook and need the space. I also keep things like finishes, glue and other things that don't do well in the Arizona heat in there. Finally, it houses my favorite cooking tool - my VacMaster VP215 chamber vacuum. That guy gets used almost every day.

It's nice you have the room to add one. There's never enough storage space, and it will sure help.


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## Bobsboxes (Feb 8, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *The Beginning *
> 
> I have started a project that for me is enormous. A kitchen remodel with me building the kitchen cabinets. First came many weeks of planning and many drawings. The cut list has 294 parts just for the face frame and doors. I have purchased 19 pre finished 4×8 sheets of plywood and 250 board feet of 5/4 rough sawn cherry.
> 
> ...


It is a big job, but very interesting. I do all of my face frames, cabinets, shelves, and drawers first. Then I build all of my drawer fronts and doors. Then I did all the finishing at once. That way I am able to do things repeatedly and that helps things move right along. Good luck, I am sure you will have a great set of cherry cupboards, to be very proud of.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*A lot of sawdust. *










For spending as many hours in the shop this weekend it does not seem like I got much done. I did finish rough dimensioning the 294 Parts! This took much longer than anticipated. I had a lot more waste than I thought I would. I budgeted for 25% scrap and barely had enough lumber. One 4' by 7" board left. If I make any mistakes I will need more lumber, I think I will order it now.










I built a rack with saw horses to start organizing the lumber and started to work on running boards on the jointer and through the thickness planer to the final 1" thickness. This process should occupy all of next weekend.










A few of the boards have many dark lines, too many to be gum pockets. I fear I may have some lumber with spalting. If there are only a few I can move these to the side panels.


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## Allman27 (Jan 2, 2017)

mackcr said:


> *A lot of sawdust. *
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It always feels like slow goings in this stage for me as well. But things really get going when assembly starts, that's when I want to be in the shop 24/7.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Weekend # 3 dust collector about to give out.*

I do not have much to post this weekend. Spent the entire weekend jointing and planing the lumber and I am still not done. I have about three more hours of work before I can start building. After three yard bags and one full trashcan can of sawdust my dust collector is near done. It was given to me and I got a couple of years out of it so no worries. Will pick one up in another week.

I also solved the lack of space situation by renting a storage pod; anything not related to building cabinets has been moved out.


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## Kelster58 (Dec 2, 2016)

mackcr said:


> *Weekend # 3 dust collector about to give out.*
> 
> I do not have much to post this weekend. Spent the entire weekend jointing and planing the lumber and I am still not done. I have about three more hours of work before I can start building. After three yard bags and one full trashcan can of sawdust my dust collector is near done. It was given to me and I got a couple of years out of it so no worries. Will pick one up in another week.
> 
> I also solved the lack of space situation by renting a storage pod; anything not related to building cabinets has been moved out.


That's a lot of work right there. Can't wait to see the build. Too bad about your dust collector.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Demo Day*

I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.



















We have taken everything down to the studs so that we can move electrical, plumbing, gas, and HVAC lines. The floor will come out next.

When planning our kitchen I transferred measurements from my sketches to story sticks. This helped me find a couple of design errors before completing my final drawings. Story sticks were then updated with the final dimensions.

I have tacked the story sticks to the walls. They are now being used to identify the new utility locations and any areas I need to add nailers to support the upper cabinets. I have also taken the time to mark the stud locations on the sticks, this will be good information in the future.



















Next week I have a little more prep work but should be back in the shop again.


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## nkawtg (Dec 22, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Personally I think you're doing it right instead of chopping up drywall to retrofit utilities. Your final finish on the walls will be nice and consistent.


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## 000 (Dec 9, 2015)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Another tip for marking and saving the stud layout. A client I was working with used a paper roll from an adding machine and layed out all the studs for each wall and labeled each of the rolls then kept them in a file. I've never done it but thought it was a good idea. Easy to save.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Wow, I like the way you Demo.


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Tip: the flaps in the sides of the insulation go on top of the studs, not the sides. This way the covering sheet rock will seal the flaps on the top of the stud . . .

M


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


MC,
I wish I had read yours and JBay's tips on stud measurements before we remodeled our kitchen. I measured and documented all the studs. While it worked, both of your ideas are so much simpler and less likely to have inaccuracies.

Did you arrange for cooking elsewhere? We managed to set up a temporary kitchen in a portion of our great room by using some of the old kitchen cabinets. We even had "plumbing": a hose from the utility sink and a 5-gallon pail under the drain! I'm certainly glad those days are long since gone!

You're making good progress.

L/W


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


I'm curious why you are demoing the kitchen so soon in the process. Do you have cabinets ready to go? Are you building the cabinets and installing them?


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Stud measurements? We always just put a small pencil mark on the ceiling to mark the centers . . .

M


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## Kelster58 (Dec 2, 2016)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Story sticks are a great idea. Preparation and planning always saves time and money. Looks like a bonus may be that you lose weight during the process now that your kitchen is gone. Keep up the great work!


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


To answer some of the questions above:

We have set up a make shift kithchen in another room. Not great but beats pizza every night.









I am building and installing my own cabinets..they are not even close to being done. So why demo so early, probably not a smart move. We put our deposit down on our new appliances in January and must take delivery by the end of March. We decided that better to put the new appliances in a completed shell instead of storage. We also realized that we had limited space to store cabinets. Problem solved, install as each section it is completed

Thanks for all the comments.


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

mackcr said:


> *Demo Day*
> 
> I did not spend anytime in the shop this weekend but instead spent the weekend tearing out our old kitchen, there is no going back now.
> 
> ...


Just a thought…

When we remodeled our kitchen, we had an electrician install a new 20a circuit and a couple of outlets. For many years, we would have trouble during the holidays when my wife was cooking with the breaker tripping. Not any more - slow cookers, rice cookers, toaster oven, you name it. She is very happy and that makes me very happy.

Looks like you are at that point in your remodel to add a circuit if you need to.
Good luck. You job is coming along nicely.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*First face frame!*

Good weekend in the shop. After hauling away the last of the old cabinets and pulling a few nails out of the ceiling I treated my neighbors to the sound of my planer. I finished planing the rest of the face frame parts and built a new cross cut sled.










I next built an assembly table for the face frames. Nothing fancy, two hollow core doors joined with biscuits, pocket screws and attached to lumber I had jointed. I took time to make sure that the bottom and right side were perfectly square.



















I finished the weekend by putting my new Kreg face frame beading tool to work and produced my first face frame. I still need to glue it up and add pocket screws but I am feeling better now that I have actually made something.


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *First face frame!*
> 
> Good weekend in the shop. After hauling away the last of the old cabinets and pulling a few nails out of the ceiling I treated my neighbors to the sound of my planer. I finished planing the rest of the face frame parts and built a new cross cut sled.
> 
> ...


It's nice to see you're making progress. With all your jigs, etc. ready, things will go much faster now. You've got a healthy start!

L/W


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Infrastructure *

I have not got much done on the actual cabinets but have still done a lot of work over the past two weekends. After the plumbing, electrician, and plumber were finished I had work that I needed to get done before the drywall and floors went in.

The story sticks I made helped identify areas that I needed to add blocking to support the new cabinets.









Once the drywall was in I built the bases for the cabinets. The cabinet design I went with has separate bases that the cases will sit on top of. After the floor goes in I will take these out, disassemble and rip down to the height I need based on the floor thickness. These will eventually be covered with a 1/4" veneer I will resaw.


















Pantry cabinets too.









The last picture is what the pantry was before we started, a back set of stairs and a long hallway. Our remodel started with taking those stairs out to open up the space.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Infrastructure *
> 
> I have not got much done on the actual cabinets but have still done a lot of work over the past two weekends. After the plumbing, electrician, and plumber were finished I had work that I needed to get done before the drywall and floors went in.
> 
> ...


What a long process renovation is. I just finished remodeling a closet and it took most of 3 months of nights and weekends to get everything built, then a week of vacation time to rip out the old shelves and carpet, paint, and then install the shelves.


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *Infrastructure *
> 
> I have not got much done on the actual cabinets but have still done a lot of work over the past two weekends. After the plumbing, electrician, and plumber were finished I had work that I needed to get done before the drywall and floors went in.
> 
> ...


You're making great progress with all that has to be accomplished with such an extensive remodel. Keep on keeping on!

L/W


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Lower face frames are done.*

Over the week the new floor went in. I now have a finished shell waiting for cabinets. I am now officially the bottleneck of this project.

I started the weekend assembling my new dust collector; the old one is done. I should have read the desciption better; when I flipped the on switch I immediately threw a breaker. This "sucker" requires 20 amp service and I only have 15 in the garage. The electrician will be here Monday.










I finished all the face frames for the lower cabinets, the empty shell is a great storage place. There is a slight dimension issue with sink base that I will need to fix.




























I also took some time this weekend to make the mortice jigs for the two hinges I will be using. As I build the face frames I will add the mortice before assembly.



















Starting next weekend I will be off work for one week. I should be building cases by the end of the week and maybe have a cabinet or two hung. We'll see.


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *Lower face frames are done.*
> 
> Over the week the new floor went in. I now have a finished shell waiting for cabinets. I am now officially the bottleneck of this project.
> 
> ...


I normally fit the frame to the carcase but thats just me . . .

M


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Lower face frames are done.*
> 
> Over the week the new floor went in. I now have a finished shell waiting for cabinets. I am now officially the bottleneck of this project.
> 
> ...


Madmark2 , seems to be two camps on that. These are my first cabinets and face frames first seemed to work best for me.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Lower face frames are done.*
> 
> Over the week the new floor went in. I now have a finished shell waiting for cabinets. I am now officially the bottleneck of this project.
> 
> ...


Inset doors and drawers? That is a really nice look. I also like the bead details


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

mackcr said:


> *Lower face frames are done.*
> 
> Over the week the new floor went in. I now have a finished shell waiting for cabinets. I am now officially the bottleneck of this project.
> 
> ...


I have to agree with Madmark2. I build the carcass first, then the face frame. Your works looks great, and I'm sure it will all come together, but I think it's harder to build a case to fit a frame than the other way around.

I remember the first "desk" I decided to build long ago. I started with the drawers, and then tried to build a desk to fit them in. Big mistake.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Making progress. *

All face frames are done and I have finally moved on to the cases. I added a curved element to one of the face frames, the kreg beading bit would not cut a curve but fortunately I have a LN beading tool that did the trick. I did have to spend some time on a blank that came close enough to the bead from Kreg.


















Before assembly of the face frames I morticed in the hinges using some jigs I built. This did take some time but better now than after assembly.

















I am making raised panels for the cabinet sides which are exposed, I had purchased the woodpecker sled last year for this purpose. The sled works great and the first two panels are ready for glue.


















For the cases I am using a prefinised cherry plywood form Columbia Forest Products. The panels are beautiful. I was able to order these through the local big box store and have them delivered. They are not cheap though so great care was taken to measure accurately before cutting with a track saw. 


















Once the panels were a manageable size I cut the dados and rabbits with a dado set on the table saw. My next post I hope to show a cabinet on the wall.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Making progress. *
> 
> All face frames are done and I have finally moved on to the cases. I added a curved element to one of the face frames, the kreg beading bit would not cut a curve but fortunately I have a LN beading tool that did the trick. I did have to spend some time on a blank that came close enough to the bead from Kreg.
> 
> ...


Prefinished plywood is expensive but it a HUGE time saver. It looks like the project is moving along nicely.

I'll have to check Woodpeckers for the coping sled you mentioned.


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## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

mackcr said:


> *Making progress. *
> 
> All face frames are done and I have finally moved on to the cases. I added a curved element to one of the face frames, the kreg beading bit would not cut a curve but fortunately I have a LN beading tool that did the trick. I did have to spend some time on a blank that came close enough to the bead from Kreg.
> 
> ...


I built many sets of cabinets many years ago and the thought of prefinished plywood would have been SO NICE!!!
There's some great work going on here and lots of it.
More power to you!!!


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*1st and largest cabinet is on the wall!*

I finished (not counting doors) the first and largest cabinet this weekend. I added pocket screws to all the panels that would not be seen to hold the face frame on. For areas I could not add pocket screws I used a biscuit joiner, mostly for the rails. This also helped with alignment. 









Before assembly I added shelf pins using a jig from Veritas. I decided to add steel sleeves to the pin holes for durability.


















My shop is out of space and I had no place to assemble the cabinet so… I built the cabinet and finished the cabinet in the kitchen. I did not use sandpaper until the first coat of finish had been applied instead relying on planes and scrapers. Finish is a 1 1/2 pound cut of super blonde shellac followed by two coats of polyurethane. Nice warm color.


















While all the drywall was down and studs exposed, I marked the stud locations on my story sticks. I transferred the stud centers to the back of the cabinet and predrilled the holes to hang the cabinet.









The story sticks is now being used as the ledger board for hanging the cabinet. The far left style was cut wide so that I could scribe it to the wall for a tight fit. I used #10 by 3" screws, three per stud, four studs, to secure the cabinet.


















Feels good to finally have something to show for all my work. Good motivation to keep going!


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *1st and largest cabinet is on the wall!*
> 
> I finished (not counting doors) the first and largest cabinet this weekend. I added pocket screws to all the panels that would not be seen to hold the face frame on. For areas I could not add pocket screws I used a biscuit joiner, mostly for the rails. This also helped with alignment.
> 
> ...


That's a nice looking cabinet case. Looks like plenty of wild grain in the cherry too.


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *1st and largest cabinet is on the wall!*
> 
> I finished (not counting doors) the first and largest cabinet this weekend. I added pocket screws to all the panels that would not be seen to hold the face frame on. For areas I could not add pocket screws I used a biscuit joiner, mostly for the rails. This also helped with alignment.
> 
> ...


Doors?









Lights?









M


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *1st and largest cabinet is on the wall!*
> 
> I finished (not counting doors) the first and largest cabinet this weekend. I added pocket screws to all the panels that would not be seen to hold the face frame on. For areas I could not add pocket screws I used a biscuit joiner, mostly for the rails. This also helped with alignment.
> 
> ...


Doors will come later after all the cases are done. No lights inside of these cabinets.


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## JJayzon1 (Oct 20, 2012)

mackcr said:


> *1st and largest cabinet is on the wall!*
> 
> I finished (not counting doors) the first and largest cabinet this weekend. I added pocket screws to all the panels that would not be seen to hold the face frame on. For areas I could not add pocket screws I used a biscuit joiner, mostly for the rails. This also helped with alignment.
> 
> ...


Hey MC,

How is your kitchen coming along?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *1st and largest cabinet is on the wall!*
> 
> I finished (not counting doors) the first and largest cabinet this weekend. I added pocket screws to all the panels that would not be seen to hold the face frame on. For areas I could not add pocket screws I used a biscuit joiner, mostly for the rails. This also helped with alignment.
> 
> ...





> Hey MC,
> 
> How is your kitchen coming along?
> 
> - JAY Made


It is coming along. I had two weekends that I could not get in the shop, work and family, but I am back at it. I will do a new blog soon.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*2 down 10 to go*

I missed two weekends in the shop, Cub Scout camping weekend and work at the job that pays.

I finished and hung another cabinet. The cabinet above the sink is 16 1/2" deep. This will eventually have 1 glass shelf and two large glass doors. The cabinet was designed specifically for some pottery the wife has and wants to display.










I have started on the last upper cabinet on this wall. The side will have a raised panel which I was able to finish. There are three other side panels with the same dimensions. Since the set up time is the most time consuming, I milled all the rails and styles at the same time. The panels are taking time. I have some nice wide boards that I did not want to cut up just to fit on the jointer so I am planing these by hand, one side, before running through the planer.



















I am going to have to take the face frame apart and make some repairs. I mistakenly morticed hinges on both sides of the top right opening which will only have one door…bad words were said. But it is repairable.


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## JJayzon1 (Oct 20, 2012)

mackcr said:


> *2 down 10 to go*
> 
> I missed two weekends in the shop, Cub Scout camping weekend and work at the job that pays.
> 
> ...


Looking good!


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *2 down 10 to go*
> 
> I missed two weekends in the shop, Cub Scout camping weekend and work at the job that pays.
> 
> ...


You're making progress and the cabinet cases look great. I noticed there is a gap between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling (1st pic). Is that to accommodate crown molding?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *2 down 10 to go*
> 
> I missed two weekends in the shop, Cub Scout camping weekend and work at the job that pays.
> 
> ...


Crown molding is the last step. I have left a larger than normal gap in case the wife chages her mind about lights in the top part which will have glass doors.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Measure twice cut once.*

The third cabinet has been a challenge. Starting with the extra set of hinge mortices I mentioned in my last blog, I had to repeat just about every cut I made. In my effort to hurry I wound up spending more time on this one cabinet then the first two combined.

To repair the extra mortices, I took apart the face frame and cut the bead off with a band saw and cleaned it up with some planes. From a piece of scrap I cut a new bead and again cleaned up with hand planes. The new bead was glued in place.










As I mentioned above, I had to repeat almost all of the cuts. After cutting the shelves too shallow I had to employ my board stretcher, unfortunately I stretched the wood too far and had to adjust with a hand plane again.










Once the cabinet was done I scribed the side to the wall for a nice tight fit.



















In the end the effort is worth the reward with the upper cabinets on one side of the kitchen up.


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## TraylorPark (Jan 9, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *Measure twice cut once.*
> 
> The third cabinet has been a challenge. Starting with the extra set of hinge mortices I mentioned in my last blog, I had to repeat just about every cut I made. In my effort to hurry I wound up spending more time on this one cabinet then the first two combined.
> 
> ...


Beautiful looking cabinets so far. Keep up the great work.


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## jayman50 (Feb 12, 2017)

mackcr said:


> *Measure twice cut once.*
> 
> The third cabinet has been a challenge. Starting with the extra set of hinge mortices I mentioned in my last blog, I had to repeat just about every cut I made. In my effort to hurry I wound up spending more time on this one cabinet then the first two combined.
> 
> ...


Wow, nice looking cabinets.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Measure twice cut once.*
> 
> The third cabinet has been a challenge. Starting with the extra set of hinge mortices I mentioned in my last blog, I had to repeat just about every cut I made. In my effort to hurry I wound up spending more time on this one cabinet then the first two combined.
> 
> ...


Seems like whenever I hurry or short cut something I wind up having to redo it for one reason or another. Still, it looks like you are making good progress. How many more upper cabinets before you start the lower ones?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Measure twice cut once.*
> 
> The third cabinet has been a challenge. Starting with the extra set of hinge mortices I mentioned in my last blog, I had to repeat just about every cut I made. In my effort to hurry I wound up spending more time on this one cabinet then the first two combined.
> 
> ...


I am building the base cabinets on this side next so that we can put in a temporary countertop and hook up the sink and dishwasher. This will give us a functional kitchen while I work on the other two sides. I have four more upper cabinets to build.



> Seems like whenever I hurry or short cut something I wind up having to redo it for one reason or another. Still, it looks like you are making good progress. How many more upper cabinets before you start the lower ones?
> 
> - EarlS


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Lower cabinets *

Made some progress and finished the cases for the three cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen. To save $ I used maple plywood instead of cherry. With the exception of the sink and corner cabinet all the lowers will have drawers so the maple will not be seen. The maple plywood was 2/3 the price of the cherry plywood.

The lower case construction is simple rabbits and dados. The largest of the cases, my table saw was not large enough to cut the center dado. Instead made a simple jig and used a morticing bit in a router.










I also used the jig to cut a rabbit and that extended to a dado on the sink cabinet side panels. The sink bumps out three inches so I added cherry to keep all the exposed sides with the same finish.










Sink cabinet during assembly.










I have already had one friend inquire why I added a toe kick to the side of the end cabinet. I intend to add feet to the cabinets later in the project. The toe kick is there to give the appearance of furniture once the feet have been added.










Before I apply the finish to the cabinets, I need to add the raised panel end and level the bases for the cabinets, will have to wait until next weekend.


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## TraylorPark (Jan 9, 2014)

mackcr said:


> *Lower cabinets *
> 
> Made some progress and finished the cases for the three cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen. To save $ I used maple plywood instead of cherry. With the exception of the sink and corner cabinet all the lowers will have drawers so the maple will not be seen. The maple plywood was 2/3 the price of the cherry plywood.
> 
> ...


Looking really nice MC. What type of tile did you use for the floor? It too, looks really sharp.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Lower cabinets *
> 
> Made some progress and finished the cases for the three cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen. To save $ I used maple plywood instead of cherry. With the exception of the sink and corner cabinet all the lowers will have drawers so the maple will not be seen. The maple plywood was 2/3 the price of the cherry plywood.
> 
> ...


It is irritating that cherry plywood costs so much more than maple. The price difference on the skins is insignificant relative to the labor costs to stack the plywood cores whether the skin is cherry or maple or walnut. It looks like you went with unfinished maple plywood. What was your thought process of unfinished vs. pre-finished maple?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Lower cabinets *
> 
> Made some progress and finished the cases for the three cabinets on the sink side of the kitchen. To save $ I used maple plywood instead of cherry. With the exception of the sink and corner cabinet all the lowers will have drawers so the maple will not be seen. The maple plywood was 2/3 the price of the cherry plywood.
> 
> ...


Zach, the tile is porcelain in a pattern my wife picked out.

Earls, the maple plywood is prefinished. Just bad photography. On the selection of plywood, I have used 3/4" throughout the project. I guess I could have saved money by going lighter on the backs but that required even more planning than I had already done.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*First Lower Cabinets Installed*

Finished the lower cabinet cases on the sink side of the kitchen, half of the cases are now built and installed!










I made the bases for the cabinets out of pine. If I had to do it again I would use poplar. When I first installed they were not the correct height. I was not sure how thick the floor would be so I waited until now to rip these to the correct height. For appearances I resawed 1/4" pieces of cherry and laminated to the bases after finishing. Once the cabinets were installed it gave them a nice look.










Once again I had some nice wide panels for the end.. they were too wide for the jointer so I broke out the hand planes before running through the planer. Worked up a good sweat here in the Georgia heat. I also made the end for the cabinet on the other side when I get there.




























Unlike the upper cabinets that I built, finished, and installed one at a time. The lower cabinets I built at one time and finished at one time. This became an issue with space; I had to take over the kitchen for a couple of days while I applied the finish.










For most of the project I have done my best to not have any sap wood showing with the exception of the sink base. I had some nice pieces that I decided would help showcase the bump out sink.










This coming weekend we will add a temporary countertop and sink, this will get us back in the kitchen while we finish this project.


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *First Lower Cabinets Installed*
> 
> Finished the lower cabinet cases on the sink side of the kitchen, half of the cases are now built and installed!
> 
> ...


MC, this is really starting to take shape! The double raised panels on the end really look great. Keep up the good work!

L/W


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *First Lower Cabinets Installed*
> 
> Finished the lower cabinet cases on the sink side of the kitchen, half of the cases are now built and installed!
> 
> ...


It looks like you are getting close to the end. Looks awesome.

Were the sides of the cases plywood or solid? the interiors look like maple? Why would you have gone with poplar -weight?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *First Lower Cabinets Installed*
> 
> Finished the lower cabinet cases on the sink side of the kitchen, half of the cases are now built and installed!
> 
> ...


Thanks L/W

EarlS the exposed sides are solid wood. Lower cabinets are Maple plywood for inside and the upper are Cherry ply on the inside . The upper cabinets will have glass doors so I wanted the plywood to match the lumber. The lowers are mostly drawers so the inside will not be seen; the cherry plywood was $50 more per sheet so i used maple where I could to save.

The pine I used came from the home center. I took care to joint and plane the material but it still warped with time. Poplar would have been more stable.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *First Lower Cabinets Installed*
> 
> Finished the lower cabinet cases on the sink side of the kitchen, half of the cases are now built and installed!
> 
> ...


Oh I see now. Making the bases separate from the base cabinets makes a lot of sense. After the cabinets are set then you simply install a toe plate (1/4 plywood) over the pine. I can see where it would also make the base cabinet cases much easier to build since you don't have to deal with the notch for the toe kick on the sides of the cabinets. Should also make the cabinets rock solid since the bases can be anchored to the floor more securely.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*A temporary situation*

I spent this weekend moving us back into the kitchen. I made a temporary countertop out of melanine and installed a $15 sink with a $17 faucet. It is not pretty but functional while I work on the other side of the kitchen.










I also installed the vent hood that has been sitting on the floor since March.










As for the cabinets, I had incorporated into the cabinet design a filler strip between the dishwasher and sink. This was to allow the door to open without rubbing into the sink bump out. I had forgotten about it until I was standing there scratching my head wondering why I had such a large gap between the sink and far right cabinet.










I started work on the next cabinet but do not have anything to show other than some panels I have cut. Hope to make some more progress next weekend.


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *A temporary situation*
> 
> I spent this weekend moving us back into the kitchen. I made a temporary countertop out of melanine and installed a $15 sink with a $17 faucet. It is not pretty but functional while I work on the other side of the kitchen.
> 
> ...


Just keep plugging away at it. It's going to be a fabulous kitchen when you're done.

L/W


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *A temporary situation*
> 
> I spent this weekend moving us back into the kitchen. I made a temporary countertop out of melanine and installed a $15 sink with a $17 faucet. It is not pretty but functional while I work on the other side of the kitchen.
> 
> ...


Nice high end appliances to go with the awesome cherry cabinets. Curious if those are the face frames for the cabinets leaned up against the wall in the stove pic?? Did you run the stove hood vent all the way thru the roof?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *A temporary situation*
> 
> I spent this weekend moving us back into the kitchen. I made a temporary countertop out of melanine and installed a $15 sink with a $17 faucet. It is not pretty but functional while I work on the other side of the kitchen.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the comments.

The vent does not go all the way through the roof. The previous design had an island cooktop with a downdraft vent; a really bad design for a gas range. The new vent line makes a 90 degree turn through the back wall and a second 90 degree turn to the left to go out the back of the house. The turns and length pipe increase the size blower required. Lots of info on the internet on how to calculate the size blower required. The hood is made by a company out of California, Extreme Air. Good product at a reasonable price.

Those are the face frames for the remaining cabinets. Just need to build the cases.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Back at it.*

Another cabinet is up. With each cabinet done there is less material that I am tripping over in the shop.










I took three weekends off from working in the kitchen. The first weekend was cleaning up storm damage in the yard followed by a weeks vacation with the family. It is now time to get in the shop and finish this project.










After cutting the panels i use a dado set to cut rebates and dados in the panels.










The next step is to add cherry edge banding to all plywood edges that will be exposed.










I mark which panels will have poket screws to hold the face frame, all other panels will use biscuits. With the panel in the kreg jig, I will use the dado as a guide to pre drill holes then move to the other side to drill a countersink.










Finally I add the shelf pin holes using a jig from Veritas but I forgot to take a picture.

The cabinet is glued, clamped, and screwed together before finishing.










The final step I take after finishing is too carefully measure and scribe the locations of the studs on the back of the cabinet. I predrill pilot holes along the lines. This speeds up the process of hanging these heavy cabinets on the wall.


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Back at it.*
> 
> Another cabinet is up. With each cabinet done there is less material that I am tripping over in the shop.
> 
> ...


I can relate to your situation with other things eating up time that could be spent working on projects. It is amazing how fast 3 weeks can disappear.


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## CabTiger (Aug 9, 2017)

mackcr said:


> *Back at it.*
> 
> Another cabinet is up. With each cabinet done there is less material that I am tripping over in the shop.
> 
> ...


Solid work. I'm new here but I've been a cabinet maker by trade for 20+ years. You're moving right along, but if you catch a snag along the way I'd be more than happy to help.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*The twins are up!*

My last two upper cabinets, nicknamed the twins, are hanging on the wall.



















I am not sure why but it felt good to pack up and put away some of the tools that I will not need for some time. I guess it is a sign that I am closer to being done.

These cabinets took some time to build with the nine raised panels. I had enough of the wide boards to make six of the panels from a single piece of wood. The other three I had to joint. Still feels good to take rough sawn lumber to a finished piece.



















One of the panels had a nasty split in it but the grain on the opposite side looked great. I stabilized the back side with epoxy befoe raising the panel.










I have two cabinets left; I will take a few days off from work and try and knock these out over the holiday weekend; the wife is getting anxious to order her new countertop.


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *The twins are up!*
> 
> My last two upper cabinets, nicknamed the twins, are hanging on the wall.
> 
> ...


Your kitchen is looking good! Best wishes for the weekend work. We pray all goes smoothly and your wife can get a countertop soon.

L/W


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*All cabinets are in.*

I had a nice long five day weekend to devote to the kitchen project. I finished the last two cabinets and we scheduled to have measurements for the new countertop.










Before installing the cabinets I built a box for the toe kick vent and added insulation.



















I like the separate base for this design, leveling the cabinets is much easier. I resawed 1/8" cherry veneers and laminated to the bases.










Very excited to be done with the cases. Next weekend I will start on the drawers!


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *All cabinets are in.*
> 
> I had a nice long five day weekend to devote to the kitchen project. I finished the last two cabinets and we scheduled to have measurements for the new countertop.
> 
> ...


. . . and the excitement builds!! You're on the home stretch. It really looks good.

L/W

P.S. I'd love to have your stove!!


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Shelves*

It has been some time since my last blog but I have been busy. New countertop has been ordered, I have no idea when it will arrive. All the shevles are now in. These did not take too long to build but the finishing process was tedious.



















For the shevles I used up a lot of the scrap plywood I had on hand. Consequently, some of the shevles have the grain direction perpendicular to the edging. Doors will be on the cabinets so I am not to worked up about it. The edging is 1 1/2" by 3/4". I ran a 1/4" rebate the same height as the plywood and added beading to the front to match the face frame. Edging is on both sides of the plywood.










With all the work and planning we have done for this kitchen it was not until the past week we finally could agree on the hardware; and the winner is:

Drawers









Doors









Glass doors









I started on the first drawer and mounted the slides after adding blocking. Drawer box is done just waiting on some prefinished plywood for the bottom. The slides are blum soft close that mount to the bottom of the drawer.










This has been a long process but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Drawers!*

October was a busy month but I did manage to fit in installing most of the drawer slides and finishing nine of the seventeen drawers. The cherry on the face frames have darkened since they were completed months ago and contrast against the recently planed drawer fronts. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the aging process to catch up.

We also had our new quartz countertop installed this month and the plumber finished his work with the sink and pot filler.





































I made a pair of simple jigs to help with the installation of the Blum tandem slides and the required blocking that goes behind them. The jig kept everything perpendincular to the face frame during installation.










With ninteen drawers to build I quickly abandoned the fantasy I had of hand cutting all the dovetails and pulled out a porter cable dovetail jig I received as a gift several years ago. It took some time to get it set up but once there I was able to cut all the dovetails in an hour!










Once I had the drawer boxes installed it was time for the drawer fronts. The first nine drawers were all shallow so the front was just a single board. I used 1/32 inch shims (Lee Valley) to fit the bords for a perfect fit.










I have eight more drawers to build; these drawers are deep and will have panel and frame fronts.


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## Northwest29 (Aug 1, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Drawers!*
> 
> October was a busy month but I did manage to fit in installing most of the drawer slides and finishing nine of the seventeen drawers. The cherry on the face frames have darkened since they were completed months ago and contrast against the recently planed drawer fronts. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the aging process to catch up.
> 
> ...


That's going to be a beautiful kitchen when you are finished.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*I'm back and all kitchen drawers are in!*

The holidays and some other projects temporarily put the kitchen project on hold but I am back at it. The deep drawers were time consuming as there was a limited supply of maple that was wide enough. I used this material on the sides which is the most visible. The fronts and backs required jointing up the panels.



















I came across some nice figured cherry but not enough to do all of the drawer fronts, just enough for four of the drawers. I used this material on four of the deep drawers in one cabinet.

The top two drawers were installed in November. Amazing difference between the aged cherry and the fresh milled lumber.










All the different grain patterns are making the kitchen eclectic but we like it.



















Time to build some doors.


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

mackcr said:


> *I'm back and all kitchen drawers are in!*
> 
> The holidays and some other projects temporarily put the kitchen project on hold but I am back at it. The deep drawers were time consuming as there was a limited supply of maple that was wide enough. I used this material on the sides which is the most visible. The fronts and backs required jointing up the panels.
> 
> ...


Glad to see you're back at it. It is really looking great.

L/W


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *I'm back and all kitchen drawers are in!*
> 
> The holidays and some other projects temporarily put the kitchen project on hold but I am back at it. The deep drawers were time consuming as there was a limited supply of maple that was wide enough. I used this material on the sides which is the most visible. The fronts and backs required jointing up the panels.
> 
> ...


I know how easy it is for other things to get in the way of finishing a big project like this. Looks like you are moving along though and that means the end is getting closer. Things are looking good. Are the doors the last thing that needs to be finished on the cabinets?


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *I'm back and all kitchen drawers are in!*
> 
> The holidays and some other projects temporarily put the kitchen project on hold but I am back at it. The deep drawers were time consuming as there was a limited supply of maple that was wide enough. I used this material on the sides which is the most visible. The fronts and backs required jointing up the panels.
> 
> ...


Earls, after the doors I will add some trim molding and legs to the cabinets to give them a furniture look. The last part will be the crown molding for the top.


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## mackcr (Dec 22, 2011)

*Door construction*

The three doors, and the only doors on the lower cabinets are finished and installed. I made a couple of errors and took some time to figure a few things out but I am now moving forward with the many doors up top!



















The doors, like the face frame are 1" thick. With this dimension the standard 1/4" tongue and groove on the cope and stick bits seemed inadequate. The adjustable freud bits I have were easy to adjust for a perfect 5/16". It did take a few tries but once there I had a perfect fit.



















For the doors I have chosen to reinforce the cope and stick joint with an extended tenon and mortise. The directions to do this with the freud bits were straight forward but I did make one change. After cutting the cope the directions call for moving the fence back 1/2" at a time until you reach the desired tenon length. I was not confident that I could do this accurately with the fence I have on my router table. Instead I made a set of 1/2" and 1/8" shims. With the shims in place I set the fence they way you normally would for the cope cut. I then removed the top portion of the bit and removed the shims, first the 1/2" and then the 1/8", to reach the final tenon length on the front side. For the back side I added the top of the bit back on and without moving the fence lowered the bit just shy of the final height. The final fit was cleaned up with a shoulder plane.




























The mortise was cut using a 5/16"up spiral bit on the router table. I found this to be the most stable method for cutting the mortises and worked very well.










A haunch was cut on the tenon and the tenon was rounded to fit the routed mortise. The rounding of the tenon took more time then it should. For the upper doors I am using a 5/16 mortise chisel to square the mortise. This is actually a quicker method. However, with 28 more doors to build, it is all time consuming.



















The door assembly line is now in progress. Starting to feel good as all this lumber is clearing out of my shop!


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

mackcr said:


> *Door construction*
> 
> The three doors, and the only doors on the lower cabinets are finished and installed. I made a couple of errors and took some time to figure a few things out but I am now moving forward with the many doors up top!
> 
> ...


Those will be some sturdy doors. Hopefully you can get the production going now that you have everything dialed in. I'm curious about the jig in your picture. Some details and pics would be great.

Oh - I also noticed the drink of choice in the first picture. It helps to have a little now and then to help with the frustrating parts, but only after you are done in the shop….


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