Kitchen Cabinets

[monster]

Making the fluted pilasters which will sit at the corner of each cabinet. Made a little sled to locate and guide the router for each flute and made a little ramp at each end of workpiece to raise the cutter out of the timber giving a tapered look to the flutes rather than an abrupt stop.

 

[robump]

Making the fluted pilasters which will sit at the corner of each cabinet. Made a little sled to locate and guide the router for each flute and made a little ramp at each end of workpiece to raise the cutter out of the timer giving a tapered look to the flutes rather than an abrupt stop.

Nice jig, following this thread with interest, really good looking work so far and interesting to see how you are approaching it

 

[monster]

Thanks for the kind comments robump, just feeling my way really - I know what I want to achieve and I'm just working out how to get there along the way!

Here's a pic of the island with the fluted pilasters attached - I used dominos to attach the two fluted panels together to form a 90deg pair and then attached that to the island - I'm finding a use for the domino on virtually everything - its an ingenious invention, the more I use it the more I appreciate it.

I need to plumb the sink and dishwasher in next and then I guess its on to the end panels - I'll make them in the same manner as the doors - they will in effect be doors I guess that are fixed in place..

 

[Mcluma]

Beautiful work

 

[porker]

Great job! I'm 'augmenting' a bought kitchen at the moment by making the end panels etc and also putting corner posts in. Nothing as nice as your work but getting some good ideas. I've made fluted features on some built ins before but love your 'ramps' on the end detail. Please keep showing progress.

 

[monster]

Thanks guys for the comments! - I've not been able to do much this last week as Ive been up on the roof renewing the lead flashing alongside a parapet wall and around two chimneys - hard work climbing a tower and scrambling around on a pitched roof all day - looking forward to get back to the woodwork!

 

[robump]

Just wondering.... how did you design this, did you do it on paper or use CAD? I am about to embark on some cabinets for a utility room and wondering how to go about the design phase.

 

[monster]

Just wondering.... how did you design this, did you do it on paper or use CAD? I am about to embark on some cabinets for a utility room and wondering how to go about the design phase.

Apologies for late reply, I designed it on paper although if you have access to a CAD package and are proficient with its use then that would I am sure be a better way. You can see my paper drawings on Island in last pic

Just had the worktop guys in to template and they used a digital scanner that sat on a tripod and logged all the relavent co-ordinates and generates the diagrams / templates and cut list for the granite fabricators. Very impressive!

 

[monster]

About to start making the drawer boxes shortly, what do folk use as the 'standard' sort of sizes - both in terms of thickness of material and relative heights of sides and front back?

I'll be making them from rough sawn oak which I have already bought in, I'll dovetail them using a jig - need to make around 26 off.

 

[Farmer Giles]

All my drawer side stock is nominally 11mm thick and 100mm wide.

Front and sides all the same height, I've put a 1/4" groove all the way around to hold the base which is 6mm ply.

I made the mistake of buying planed oak "to speed things up" By the time I got around to making the drawers they had moved a bit so had to put them through the PT anyway, so now about 10.6mm x 98mm. If your using a jig, its is easier if all the stock is identical in thickness and width, saves a lot of fettling later.

So far I've made 21 through dovetail drawers. I have about 19 to make for the utility, it was 14 but the missus keeps moving the goalpost.

I then have 12 half blind small drawers without sliders for teas etc.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Doug71]

Just had the worktop guys in to template and they used a digital scanner that sat on a tripod and logged all the relavent co-ordinates and generates the diagrams / templates and cut list for the granite fabricators. Very impressive!

Last kitchen I did the template guy was some spotty kid who looked about 14, he turned up with a tripod, a laser and a laptop, did his thing and emailed measurements off to the fabricators. I was a bit dubious because there were some awkward shapes incorporating window cills etc but the fitters turned up a few days later and it all fitted perfectly.

About to start making the drawer boxes shortly, what do folk use as the 'standard' sort of sizes - both in terms of thickness of material and relative heights of sides and front back?

I generally make the drawers 16mm thick, seem to recall this was the thickest Blum recommended for use on the runners. Blum do give all the recommended clearances for height etc, that is if you are using Blum. The height can also be dictated by your Dovetail jig if it is the fixed type.

Don't know why I'm bothering telling you this as you seem to know what you are doing so far

 

[monster]

Cheers Andy - I bought a secondhand Leigh jig - basic one, been having a play with it and it seems easier and quicker to do blind dovetails rather than through dovetails on it - bearing in mind I will be afixing plant on fronts - I guess it doesn't matter what type of dovetail is used - do you have any thoughts on that?

 

[monster]

Doug, yes i plan on using Blum runners - just bought a single set to have a play around with - I see they say a maximum thickness of 16mm for the drawer sides in their blurb - my rough stock is around 20mm so I can take it down to what I like - I guess one advantage of staying closer to 16mm is I'll be generating less sawdust - what do folk do with it all - I generated nearly 20 bin bags of the stuff just planing down material for the face frames!! - they weren't to happy at the tip when i turned up with it all!

Doug I'm learning as i go - not done this before - all Ive made before is a Sash window which was the first thing I did - with help from people on here - i did a little thread on that - i then made an internal door - one of the ones you will see in the kitchen pics - and then on to the kitchen - been buying machinery and tools as i go.

 

[Farmer Giles]

Cheers Andy - I bought a secondhand Leigh jig - basic one, been having a play with it and it seems easier and quicker to do blind dovetails rather than through dovetails on it - bearing in mind I will be afixing plant on fronts - I guess it doesn't matter what type of dovetail is used - do you have any thoughts on that?

I've only made through dovetails on the leigh jig so far. The main top kitchen drawers will have false fronts so you won't see the pins, just the dovetails. The drawers within cabinets are also through dovetails as I like the look and as the stock is quite thin it made sense.

The small drawers with integral fronts will be half blind as they are not inside cupboards, but the fronts will be thicker than the sides. The fronts will probably be closer to 20mm, the sides and back 11mm. I have no idea if that will pose a problem as I haven't got that far with the jig yet.

 

[monster]

Ive got a basic small Leigh jig that I bought off ebay, just getting to grips with it and have made first drawer box, I tried the three different modes of operation - through dovetails, half blind dovetails and single pass half blind dovetails - Ive decided to use the latter as it reduces production time since both pins and tails are cut at the same time. I also need to do the notching for the Blum drawer runners - any tips on the best way to do that?

Also, what do folk recommend for finishing the drawers with - I keep reading about shellac...?

Some pics.

 

[Farmer Giles]

I notch my runners out with a japanese saw and a chisel. Takes moments, not worth getting a router set up for it.

 

[monster]

I notch my runners out with a japanese saw and a chisel. Takes moments, not worth getting a router set up for it.

Thanks for that Giles, yes I ended up doing the same on the drawer above - tenon saw and chisel, it felt a bit crude but its unseen..

Ive just made the one drawer and fitted it to get a feel for the complete operation - I'll now do the remaining 20 in two or three batches, Ive just been planing and thicknessing the timber up today.

 

[robump]

As a matter of interest... Which blum range did you go for? Movento, Tandem etc?

 

[monster]

As a matter of interest... Which blum range did you go for? Movento, Tandem etc?

I went for Movento, I think they are Blums latest runners - since I am making in frame drawers I also added the optional depth adjustment which gives the 4th dimension of adjustment. Not cheap though!

Here they are fitted in one of the cabinets:

 

[robump]

I went for Movento, I think they are Blums latest runners - since I am making in frame drawers I also added the optional depth adjustment which gives the 4th dimension of adjustment. Not cheap though!

Here they are fitted in one of the cabinets:

Thanks Monster - I agree, not cheap but they look good. How are you doing to face the shelves? Are you going to edge band it?