# Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets ?



## jedmc571 (29 Mar 2005)

Hello All

I'm thinking of building my own kitchen, can anyone point me in the right direction for plans or books that could help ? 
Regards

Jed[/img]


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## wizer (29 Mar 2005)

if you want to pay for plans then Norm has made some nice kitchen furniture.

http://www.newyankeeworkshop.com


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## johnelliott (29 Mar 2005)

Are you looking to make something different (in style) to conventional kitchen cabinets. If so then you may need to design something yourself in order to get what you are looking for
If you want to keep the conventional style but improve the quality of construction or materials, then a copy of the MFI catalogue and a good look at their cabinets in one of their showrooms would be a good start. The catalogue will give you the main dimensions

John


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## Jokerman (29 Mar 2005)

I've got a few magazine articles on building these that I've used in the past. If interested let me know and I'll either get them copied or send them to you for a loan and read.
Good luck.
hh


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## Aragorn (30 Mar 2005)

Hi Jed
There's not much to it really. A kitchen cabinet is just a box with either a door hinged to the sides or a faceframe applied and a door hinged to that.
I'd second John's ideas - get a load of catalogues, magazines etc, like MFI, Interior design, Mark Wilkinson and so on: take your inspiration from the things you like!
Some places offer a free design service. Why not take advantage of that for a basic layout?

As for the carcasses - you could take the basic measurements from your existing kitchen. One of the great things about building your own is that you are not restricted to standard unit widths, so you can really make the best use of the space you've got.

If you do decide to make your own and use birch ply for the carcasses, my best tip is to pre-varnish the ply both sides before cutting it up, or at least before assembly.

Good luck


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## Newbie_Neil (30 Mar 2005)

Hi Aragorn



Aragorn":1g6zs1hb said:


> If you do decide to make your own and use birch ply for the carcasses, my best tip is to pre-varnish the ply both sides before cutting it up, or at least before assembly.



Will you please explain to me why you recommend to pre-varnish? Is it just a single coat?

Cheers
Neil


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## Aragorn (30 Mar 2005)

Yeah sure Neil - also be interested what John E thinks of this idea.

I found when making the kitchen I posted a short while ago that the most tedious bit for me was getting 4 coats of varnish onto the cabinets in situ.
I found it harder to get to everything well (e.g. limited access corner unit) and harder to sand back between coats (can't get the sander into corners!)

Fortunately for me I made the kitchen in two parts, so when it came to the wall units and utility room, I pre-varnished the birch ply with 3 coats water-based varnish after cutting to size. As the parts are flat it is easy to varnish them and sand them in between coats.
Next time I think I would varnish the 8x4 sheets before cutting just because it would be more efficient in my smallish workshop.

Once the units are assembled, everything's already varnished (bliss!) and it only leaves exposed edges to touch up.

Doing it this way worked really well for me, and I'd recommend it.


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## wizer (30 Mar 2005)

sounds sensible to me


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## Chris Knight (30 Mar 2005)

Adding to Aragorn's comments, they are especially true if you spray finishes. Spraying the inside corners of closed boxes is very difficult to do well - it is a thousand times easier to spray a nice big flat surface!

Also - don't ever finish just one side of birch ply unless it is already part of a rigid framework. Differential moisture exchange will ensure it bows and winds otherwise.


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## Alf (30 Mar 2005)

I did a similar thing - giving a couple of coats on the parts for the coffee table before even cutting them to length - and it worked very well. 

Cheers, Alf


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## Jokerman (30 Mar 2005)

It cuts down time and effort when assembling the units in place if all exposed surfaces are already sealed. Kitchens can be steamy damp areas and the notion of sealing both surfaces is to minimise any moisture ingress which may cause bowing or warping. Plus helps to keep them clean and hygienic for future cleaning. Try thinning down the varnish a bit to ease penetration of the surface. If using the face frame method do the same with those.
Good luck.
hh


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## jedmc571 (30 Mar 2005)

Hi Fellas, 
Thanks for the reply's I bought 2 books from Amazon last night just for something to get the inspiration flowing.
I imagine this is a project lots of us have thought about ? I also came accross a website last night called www.kitchen-secrets.com It's frightening what they get up to, and with that it in mind I would be more willing to tackle such a task.
Aragorn...........I am certainly impressed by the beatifull kitchen you constructed, could you tell me how you made up the carcasses ?
Also with regards to pre finishing the ply, will it not create scratching on it when it's being run across the saw/router tables ?

Regards

Jed


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## tim (30 Mar 2005)

Three things: 

I agree with John and Aragorn about mags and catalogues etc. Nothing beats wandering around showrooms and also your mates' kitchens - always quite difficult to explain why you've got your head stuck in the back of someone's undersink cupboard though. 

Be careful when buying books on the subject - most are American and they mainly use the face frame style which while attractive (my pref actually) doesn't necessarily match the standard, more easily obtainable hardware available here. 

Thirdly, I firmly agree with finishing things as big as you can - full sheets if poss. Chris is right about spraying but also you can get a way with a roller with most finishes on a flat surface. However, be very careful with curing times. While most finishes are touch dry very quickly, they don't cure for quite a while longer. If as is inevitable with making a kitchen you have lots of sheets, if you stack them together or lean them against each other then they may well become welded together! WHich can make them impossible to get apart or damage both finishes. This is the only reason that I sometimes finish completed pieces rather than components. 

As an aside re my second point, am I alone in thinking that sellers of these books esp Amazon, Stobarts, Axminster, Rutlands etc should clearly indicate which books are from the US so that less experienced purchasers can make an informed choice rather than get a book which uses different machinery, styles, imperial measurements and terms? 

Cheers

Tim


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## Aragorn (30 Mar 2005)

jedmc571":vpec0soo said:


> Aragorn...........I am certainly impressed by the beatifull kitchen you constructed, could you tell me how you made up the carcasses ?


Thanks Jed.
The carcass construction is embarrassingly simple  :
Birch ply cut to size with a circular saw (Festool in this case, so the edges are excellent and ready for use).
All pieces grooved about 2" in from the back to accept a 6mm ply backing piece.
Sides fixed to base with glued butt joints, screwed roughly every 6-8" from the outside.

(This sort of thing






Backing piece slotted in to the grooves.
Top fixed to sides in the same way as above

Hey presto! One box! When the glue dries, they are very strong.



jedmc571":vpec0soo said:


> Also with regards to pre finishing the ply, will it not create scratching on it when it's being run across the saw/router tables ?


I didn't find this to be a problem The tops of my machines are very smooth! :wink:


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## Newbie_Neil (30 Mar 2005)

Hi Aragorn

Thank you for the explanation, I found it really helpful.

Cheers
Neil


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## Aragorn (30 Mar 2005)

2000 Posts Neil!! Well done mate! \/


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## Newbie_Neil (30 Mar 2005)

Hi Aragorn



Aragorn":1jg1rwl0 said:


> 2000 Posts Neil!! Well done mate! \/



Thank you, but I'm surprised at the number. :shock: 

Cheers
Neil


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## Alf (30 Mar 2005)

Newbie_Neil":3qa8ajzz said:


> Aragorn":3qa8ajzz said:
> 
> 
> > 2000 Posts Neil!! Well done mate! \/
> ...


Hmm, I agree. You're not posting nearly enough, Neil. [-X :wink: Congrats =D> =D> =D> 

Cheers, Alf


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## Newbie_Neil (30 Mar 2005)

Hi Alf



Alf":1twu2tfk said:


> Hmm, I agree. You're not posting nearly enough, Neil. [-X :wink: Congrats =D> =D> =D>



Thanks Alf. When I looked at your number of posts, and I'm glad I was sitting down at the time, I noticed that you've been demoted from a Master Cabinetmaker to a lowly mod. :shock: 

Cheers
Neil


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## johnelliott (30 Mar 2005)

Some interesting stuff here, especially the kitchen secrets website.

We (actually it's my wife, who works full time in the business) finish the birch ply cabinets we make with danish oil after the cabinet is assembled. Just one coat. It brings out the grain and tends to emphasise any patches which is why I am careful to put the best sides where they will be most visible.

My cabinet assembly method is similar to Aragorn's only I use pocket screws, which I find to be more easily hidden and which, for me anyway, seem to be more accurate

We don't sand any of our finishes, oil, water based varnish or paint. Instead we draw a stanley knife blade (held almost vertically, like a scraper) gently over the entire surface, lawnmower fashion. This takes off all the little bubbles and knibs. You can hear it when the surface becomes smooth.

On the horizontal surfaces, bottoms of cabinets and shelves, we apply a couple of coats of water-based matt varnish. We prefer the Ronseal make.

Front edges of cabinets we paint to match the doors (all our doors are painted). This is a good move because the edges often have voids which need to be filled, and the paint covers the filler.

I second Tim's comments regarding American books and kitchen plans. Avoid them unless you are interested in old fashioned and awkward stuff. Oh, and don't bother with a table saw and dado blades either (very popular with kitchen makers in the States)

John


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## Alf (30 Mar 2005)

Newbie_Neil":3qgu91cl said:


> Thanks Alf. When I looked at your number of posts, and I'm glad I was sitting down at the time,


Cheeky  



 Newbie_Neil":3qgu91cl said:


> I noticed that you've been demoted from a Master Cabinetmaker to a lowly mod. :shock:


What's with this _lowly_ business? :shock: :-s Mods are only one letter away from divinity... :wink:

Cheers, Alf


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## jasonB (30 Mar 2005)

I use 18mm MFC(melamine faced chipboard) for my carcases, usually white but sometimes wood grain depending on the door colour, backs are 12mm MFC.

Basic box construction, joined wirg biscutes and held together with "powerdrive" screws fron screwfix.

As the others have said the good thing about making your own is that you are not restricted to standard carcase sizes and filling the gaps with filler strips. If you plan to use some of the vast amount of wirework that is available remember that this is designed for the standard sizes of carcase with 18mm sides, any other combination will need packers and the internal depth of the carcase should not be less than 500mm.

Only the 3 wall units in this kitchen were standard widths

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4542

Jason


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## cambournepete (31 Mar 2005)

Aragorn":8g3smf4j said:


> Sides fixed to base with glued butt joints, screwed roughly every 6-8" from the outside.
> 
> (This sort of thing



How do you keep the box off the floor?

I'm not _trying_ to be thick here, but if you put legs under the base and not the sides don't you pur a lot of strain on the screwed butt joint? Any enlightenment you or John E could shed would be most welcome - a friend is in the process of deciding how to build his own kitchen at the moment.

Cheers,

Pete


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## Aragorn (31 Mar 2005)

Hi Pete
The legs actually bridge the join between the base and side, so both are supported.
When it's all glued up it's very strong - the units are also fixed to the wall and to each other. The worktop (granite in this case) is bonded everywhere too.

All in all, it is a very solid construction, which you can really _feel _when you use it.


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## jedmc571 (31 Mar 2005)

Hello All, 
Looks like this could be an interesting subject post, I imagine we've all considered building our own kitchen, but it's a big undertaking.
I'm looking for my next house and have decided that it's the option for me.
Interesting to see the different construction methods, simple box carcass sound good to me, it's great watching Norm putting together with dadoes 
but as were all aware we don't have that facility, and besides it's even more time consuming.
I like the idea of pocket screwing, but also biscuit jointing (don't have a pocket jig yet ) but again is it as easy to butt joint glue and screw ? 
I also like the suggestion of a pre finish for moisture protection, and I will probably use a rub on oil for speed.
Now here's the biggy ! Natural Wood or MDF ?
Pro's & Con's..................?
Worktop ? It would seem a shame to build your own kitchen and lump a piece of laminate worktop on it, so Solid Timber or Granite ?
I drove past a granite workshop in Cannock, they had loads of big pieces sat about, has anyone ever enquired at a place like this ? obviously worktop suppliers make their money selling the finished article, but it would nice to get someone at a granite yard to qoute for it ?
Keep posting all tips welcome

regards

Jed


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## wizer (31 Mar 2005)

with regards to what worktop to use, i'd say it is a personal thing. I like both granite and solid timber. But would never put an off the shelf laminate on the cupboards id sweated designing and and building.


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## Aragorn (31 Mar 2005)

I'm not sure about solid wooden worktops.
However beautiful they may be (obviously a question of taste), they don't strike me as being a very suitable material for a kitchen worktop.
There's also the maintenance issue.

Granite on the other hand seems such a suitable choice...?

I'd also be interested to hear what others think. Anyone had a solid wooden worktop for some years? How's it holding up? Is it a practical choice for a kitchen?


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## wizer (31 Mar 2005)

I think if you choose to have a wooden worktop you have to be prepared for the odd burn mark and 'ding'. Personally I think that wooden worktops age really well as long as they are treated correctly. 'Butcher's Block' island units are fashionable atm in kitchens. Real butcher's blocks take an incredible pounding and are prolly not everyones cup of tea, personally i like them.


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## jasonB (31 Mar 2005)

I try to steer my clients away from solid wood around sinks and hobs/ranges and use granite in these areas if not the whole kitchen. If they do want to go all solid wood I leave them some worktop oil & a sctotchbrite pad for touch-ups & regular re oiling.

Did a solid beech one for my brother about 5yrs ago and it looks manky around the sink and drainer nasty grey colour. There are also odd burn marks here & there.

Jason


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## Dewy (31 Mar 2005)

After Wolfs post about varnishing (yuck) on the ATT forum I may try the one he said about on a test piece.
*Marine varnish* not yacht varnish which is used on internal yacht surfaces and is food safe.


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## tim (31 Mar 2005)

The first kitchen I built was mine and it has a beech top. 

It is 6 years old and gets regularly oiled but it still has gone a bit manky to one side of the sink. We put it in because we simply couldn't afford the price we were being quoted at the time for granite/ marble.

I would always recommend non wooden surfaces where water was involved although apart from that one area it is fine and looks good. 

Cheers

Tim


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## Anonymous (31 Mar 2005)

Likewise, I built my own kitchen in our last home. I was a student at the time and perpetually skint. The carcases were constructed from T&G chipboard flooring, scavenged from a skip, cut to size using my old Skil circular saw. Once edged with iron-on edging tape and painted with white floor paint, from the same skip, they looked just fine.  
I bought the doors from a salvage yard. These doors were water damaged hardwood cabinet doors from one of the major DIY chains. A lick of the scavanged floor paint and they were 'as good as new.'
I would love to have the space to build a kitchen from scratch again. We installed a flat-pack kitchen 5 years ago, and it has been due for replacement now for about 2 of those 5.  

Long live all skip arabs!


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## woodshavings (31 Mar 2005)

I have just finished a revamp to our kitchen using granite tiles for the worktop. It looks great and is an excellent top but one word of warning. Granite is etched by strong acids such as lemon juice. I just could not understand where the white blotches on the black granite were coming from until I traced it to the splash from lemons being sliced. Good job I had used tiles so I could swap out the marked ones! I have now sealed the granite but we are now very careful to mop up any splashes.

John


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## Jake (31 Mar 2005)

My parents have had varnished pine worksurfaces in the kitchen my father built for over 25 years, with one re-polyurethaning in the interim. No problems with it at all, although it looks characterfully nice, rather than pristinely gleaming. Helped by the fact that they have a massive double drainer double bowl sink that must be 8 feet long. So not much water gets on the worktops. 

I'm going to follow suit when we renovate our kitchen, save with iroko. I hate granite for some irrational reason - too shiny, hard and glitzy.


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## Aragorn (1 Apr 2005)

Jake":zqu7w8mh said:


> I hate granite for some irrational reason - too shiny, hard and glitzy.


Hi Jake
Did you see the granite in the kitchen I did recently?
It is "honed" instead of polished and it is far removed from being hard-looking, shiny and glitzy!
It has a soft sheen and would suit a "cottage" kitchen style very well IMO


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## smiffy (1 Apr 2005)

I used to make kitchens in a factory. All carcasses made of 15 MFC and they were all just boxes as most of you have said.

I have had to re-enforce many flatpack carcasses as they are just...rubbish!

Making them for myself, I always used just MDF, screws and glue. (I am not a master craftsman  ) Simple shelf bearers under both mid and bottom shelves and a 12mm MDF back panel made a very solid if heavy box. The bottom shelf bearers in any carcass greater than 600mm or any appliance housing needs to go all the way to the floor. Unless you are using legs as mentioned. An extra mid bearer/leg is needed on a carcass greater than 600mm. 
As we all know it is the doors that make the kitchen and this is where I put most of my time and meagre skills to try and make something half decent.

As long as you are aware of the stress and strains that a carcass will be subjected to, and reenforce as neccessary then we should be OK.
All obvious stuff, but I have seen 1000mm wall units full of tins and crockery fall and smash to the floor(not my work :shock and appliances drop through the shelving in a tall unit because supposed professional kitchen fitters forgot about stresses.

My latest kitchen is a year old now and looks as good as when I finished it.
I have re oiled the solid wood worktop once. The only thing I would say is that a good solid chopping board is essential to save the worktop. And my wife will tell you that I am far too over protective of any harsh use. As she says, a kitchen, especially certain areas of a worktop will get heavy use so it is inevetable that it will not stay pristine. 

Cheers, 
Ray.


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## Dionmayland (9 Apr 2014)

this site might help with the layout planning http://blog.armchairbuilder.com/categor ... remodel-2/ as well as a few ideas on how to construct it


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## caroleb (9 Apr 2014)

Got a feeling he may have finished by now..........

:lol: 

Caz


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## Tom K (9 Apr 2014)

caroleb":2eulrbb7 said:


> Got a feeling he may have finished by now..........
> 
> :lol:
> 
> Caz



But it's not even ten years not everyone is in a rush to finish.


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## Benchwayze (10 Apr 2014)

Yep... Well... I almost fell for the 'bump'! Even I don't take that long over a kitchen... Errr.. No wait... Maybe I do! :lol:


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## bugbear (2 Aug 2017)

Charlie Johnson":3c78vmwz said:


> I know this thread is old, but I'm going to renovate my kitchen and l'm looking for a good place to buy it. Recently I've been suggested to visit https://forestrykitchens.ca/ as they have a wide range of products and services, though I haven't done it yet.


Getting them to ship to London might be expensive.

BugBear


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## Benchwayze (3 Aug 2017)

Magnet Joinery have a sale on for August. Their stuff is as good as you will get anywhere in that marketplace. Depends on how far up the price scale you can go I suppose. I decidedto furnish my kitchen with cupboards on castors, to fit beneath simple 30mm thick worktops. So I am making them myself. 

HTH

John


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## dickm (4 Aug 2017)

+1 for Magnet. No connection other than as satisfied customer, but from my research, they offer B&Q prices or better and good, though not outstanding, quality. But their trade catalogue is a nightmare to cross reference with their ordering system.


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