Building Base Cabinets [1]

Transcription

1 [1] Submitted by Ana White [2] on Thu, :07 [1] Seven sheets of PureBond plywood [3] and $200 in popular boards. Page 1 of 42

2 Yep, that's what it took to take this blank space... And turn it into this: Page 2 of 42

3 Well, at least to build all those cabinets! Page 3 of 42

4 I'd love to know how to make a dishwasher out of plywood, but I'm going to stick to cabinets for now. The Ram and I spent about a week building the cabinets, and honestly, the building was the easy part. Once we got all the steps down, we were throwing together cabinets in about an hour! Here's how we built the base cabinets: We opted to use PureBond Formaldehyde Free Plywood [3] because it's non-toxic and it's made right here in North America! We choose a prefinished plywood (it's special order) in maple, so no finishing out the insides of the cabinets! The plywood is beautiful and so smooth! Page 4 of 42

5 We first determined the depth we'd like the cabinets to be at - for us, with the full overlay doors and the back plywood panel, and the face frames subtracted out, we opted for a 22 1/4" wide rip. Since I was seven to eight months pregnant while building these cabinets, I could not catch the plywood pieces as they were pushed through the tablesaw. The Ram modified our work table so it's the exact height of the table saw deck, so the table could do the work I Page 5 of 42

6 couldn't. Then we ripped again the remaining piece so we've now got two strips 8 feet long, 22-1/4" wide. That leaves a little extra strip (about 3-1/2" wide) that we save for blocking and bracing. For the sheets that had an imperfections - like this one has a few scratches - both sides of the PureBond Plywood [3]are finished, so we just place the good side on the inside. If you don't have a tablesaw at home, you can order plywood from Page 6 of 42

7 PureBond that is in different sizes - check with them - or have your local home improvement store make the rips for you. But make sure you stress that it is crucial that the plywood rip width is consistent. Another great option is to use the Kreg Rip-Cut [4]- it's a miracle tool that fits on a circular saw and will give you very nice rip cuts with a circular saw. I thow a thin piece of foam underneath to support the sheets as I cut them. From the strips ripped 22-1/4" wide, we then cut sides 34-1/2" long. This is standard base cabinet height. We also cut bottoms and shelves out of the strips - this varies depending on the width of your cabients. I will be putting together plans for different base cabinets, to give you exact lengths to cut bottoms and shelves at. Page 7 of 42

8 Now on to the side panels... We took two side panels (22-1/4" x 34-1/2") and clamped them together Page 8 of 42

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10 And then marked out the toekicks on the bottom, Page 10 of 42

11 And then used a jigsaw to cut out the toekick, Take your time and use the right jigsaw blade and... Page 11 of 42

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13 You can get a very nice cut with a jigsaw. After the toekick is cut, there's two things we do to each of the panels before assembly. We drill shelf pin holes for adjustable shelves on the insides, and drill 3/4" pocket holes on the outsides for attaching the face frames. For the shelf pins, we used a Kreg Shelf Pin Jig, [5] Because we thought shelves would never be placed flush to bottom of Page 13 of 42

14 cabinets, we decided to start our shelf pins about 8" from the bottom of the cabinet. So we cut a wood block 8" long, and used it as a pattern for starting the shelf pin holes. And then just drilled one set of shelf pin holes in the center of the base cabinets. NOTE: Remember that the shelf pins need to be drilled on the insides, so in mirror on the two side panels. We actually marked all of our panels with big Os for outside (placing the prettier side inside) so we wouldn't mess up. It's much easier to do this now, than later on trying to reach inside a cabinet - especially those smaller ones! Page 14 of 42

15 Once the shelf pin holes were drilled, we just have the pocket holes to drill on the outsides for attaching the face frames at the end. Page 15 of 42

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17 We used the Kreg Jig [6] to drill pocket holes on the outsides, about every 8" or so, along the outside edges (see the big O?). When the cabinets are installed, the neighboring cabinet hides the outside, so this is a slick way of attaching face frames without having to hide nail holes or pocket holes on the inside. Page 17 of 42

18 Here's a finished side panel (it's upside-down here). After the first cabinet was built, we got into production mode where we made up all the left sides and right sides, and then just had a big stack of side panels to go into assembly mode with. Page 18 of 42

19 For assembly, we planned the cabinets so there was a 5" space under the bottom shelf, consistent on all base cabinets. So we cut a 5" spacer block and used it as a guide on all the cabinets. The bottom shelves really only need pocket holes along the 22-1/4" wide edges to join to the sides. Page 19 of 42

20 Then we attached the bottom shelf to the side with 1-1/4" pocket hole screws. Page 20 of 42

21 So it looks like this from the back, with the shelf pins on the insides. Normally, we'd have gone ahead and attached the other side in the same manner, but because this cabinet is a narrow one, we decided to attach the front base support next. Page 21 of 42

22 ATTACHING FRONT SUPPORT Because the front support will get covered with a finished toekick later on, we opted to use unfinished plywood (it's cheaper) for this piece. It just gets attached with pocket hole screws too. Page 22 of 42

23 ATTACHING REMAINING SIDE We don't have a right angle drill (Santa, I've been good!) so we had to use a screw driver to tighten up some screws on this narrow cabinet to attach the remaining side, but this is only an issue with cabients less than 15" wide. Page 23 of 42

24 ATTACHING ADDITIONAL BACK SUPPORTS We also added a back support made from the scrap piece of ripped finished plywood (as it will show inside the cabinet) and a second support at the base along the back. I'll detail all this in plans for those of you building kitchen cabinets. Page 24 of 42

25 The cabinets were plenty sturdy without a back, but I wanted to finish the back out just to make the cabinets nice inside for Mom. So we applied glue along back edges, Page 25 of 42

26 And then tacked the back on with 3/4" finish nails. We again used prefinished 1/4" PureBond Plywood for the backs. That WAS my nailer once upon a time! Page 26 of 42

27 I'm glad he likes it too :) Once the main carcass is complete, we can move on to the face frame. Since we plan to paint, we used poplar boards, and cut them to length. Then drilled 3/4" pocket holes as needed. Page 27 of 42

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29 This was the first project I used the K5 [6] on... and it's awesome!!! When building face frames, we always clamp the joints - it's just such a better joint if you do! No guess work, finger crossing, hope this works out - it's just clamp, drive the screw, and done! Page 29 of 42

30 We built the basic square outline of the face frame first, Page 30 of 42

31 And then went back and added additional rails for between drawers/doors, Page 31 of 42

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33 Again, attaching with pocket holes. Page 33 of 42

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35 If there's anywhere you want to do a good job on cabinets - it's the face frame. Of course you want to do a good job building the carcass and everything - but it's that face frame that is a absolute must for perfection and precision. Once the face frame is done, we layed it face down on the table. Page 35 of 42

36 And then set the cabinet on top, with the face frame overextending the sides by 1/4", and attach it using the predrilled pocket holes and 1-1/4" pocket hole screws. We do this for two reasons. 1. If your walls aren't perfectly square, you have some wiggle room between cabinets, but the face frames will still line up perfectly. 2. If you were at all "off" on building the carcass, the face frame will forgive you. Page 36 of 42

37 NOTE: We did not glue our face frames to the carcass at this step because we later removed them and painted them, and then replaced the painted face frame, gluing that time. Page 37 of 42

38 And then just flip the cabinet over, Page 38 of 42

39 And it's done!!! Page 39 of 42

40 The inside is fully finished, so all we have to do now is paint the face frame, throw a door and drawer in, and it will look like this: Yep, that's the same cabinet! Page 40 of 42

41 I will of course be sharing step by step plans for standard sized base kitchen cabinets over the next bit - so stay tuned for that! Happy Building! Ana main_category: Momplex [7] Momplex Vanilla Kitchen [8] Sponsor Box: <script type="text/javascript" src=" memedia.com/script_serve.php?st=hhm.anawhite&zn=lowes&sz=300x Page 41 of 42

42 60"></script> Momplex: Kitchens [9] Source URL: Links [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] anilla-kitchen [9] Page 42 of 42