70 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO KITCHENS 71 Cabinets

Custom Cabinets
Building your own custom cabinets from scratch
isnt necessarily a cost-savings venture, but it allows
you to populate your kitchen with sturdy cabinets
made of high-quality materials with the exact tone
and appearance you want.
T
he simple base cabinet and hanging wall cabinet
shown here use the same basic construction as
professionally built kitchen cabinets, but because
they are custom-designed, trimmed, and finished to
blend into the room, they become permanent built-in
features of your home.
These basic cabinets are built with maple
plywood, which gives them the look of fine custom-
made cabinets, but at a much reduced cost. The base
cabinet has extra-large drawers that are well suited for
storing table linens.
You can use the methods shown here to build a
single based cabinet with a wall cabinet above it or
several cabinets side by side (for a full wall of storage
or display).
Tools & Materials
Electronic stud finder
Cordless screwdriver
Hammer
Tape measure
Utility knife
Router with bits
(
3
4" straight,
1
4" rabbet)
Drill and bits
Right-angle drill guide
Pegboard scraps
Pipe clamps
Level
Sander
Circular saw
Power-driver screws
(
3
4", 2
1
2", 3
1
2")
Pocket screw jig
Wood glue
Biscuits, splines, or dowels
Finish nails (1", 2", 3", 4")
Shims
Pin-style shelf supports
3
4" plywood
1 3, 1 6, 2 4 lumber
1 3 maple
Finishing materials
Drawer and door hardware
Trim or base shoe molding
Wood putty
Countertop hardwood (see
page 80)
Cutting Sheet Goods
A full-sized table-saw and a helper, youll find no better
combination for cutting full-sheet panels, with the possible
exception of a panel saw. But if you are working alone, it is
still possible to cut full panels down to size accurately and
safely using a circular saw. The main difficulty beginners
encounter when cutting panels with a circular saw is that
they do not adequately support the waste so it falls away
prematurely and ruins the cut (or causes an accident).
Another common mistake is to support both ends so the
area being cut binds on the saw blade as the cut is made.
The solution is simply to support the entire panel along
both edges with sacrificial scraps of 2 4. Set your saw
blade to cut just slightly deeper than the thickness of the
panel. The blade will score the 2 4s as it cuts, but they
will continue to support the workpiece all the way through
the cut. Be sure to use a straightedge guide for your saw,
and always cut with the good face down when using a
circular saw.
Overlay Doors
Easy-to-build overlay doors, made with
1
2" finish-grade
plywood panels framed with door-edge moldings, are
designed to overhang the face frame by about
3
8" on
each side. Semi-concealed overlay hinges, which require
no mortising, are attached to the back of the door and
to the edge of the face frame. This door style also can be
adapted to make folding doors.
Face frame
1
2" finish-
grade plywood
Door-edge
molding
Semi-concealed
hinge