Building Their Own Cabinets

The construction of a set of kitchen cabinets can be a daunting task for someone who has never built cabinet before. Not only are there some technical aspects of design that may be difficult to completely understand, but processing the cabinet parts from sheet goods and raw hardwood requires a fair compliment of tools and experience in ensuring square, repeatable and accurate cuts. For the highly motivated individual, I would suggest purchasing a book that strictly deals with cabinet construction before deciding whether to take on the project.

A more reasonable approach, in my view, for the adventurous homeowner would be to thoroughly familiarize him with the detail of cabinet construction and then order the parts precut. A tremendous savings may be realized this way, and you will be assured that the parts will be square and to the correct size.

This same approach may be employed in the sourcing of doors and drawers. There are specialty manufacturers that only make doors and drawers to order. A secret: this is the approach many cabinet shops take when they contract a job. They might build the cabinet boxes in house, but will probably purchase the doors from a door shop, and may or may not purchase the drawers as well. In most cases the doors come pre-finished, but there are also some door shops that will finish to suit or at least can recommend a finishing shop that they regularly work with.

While building a complete set of cabinets from scratch might be too much for most Dyers, ordering parts and assembling them might be a good compromise. This way a large savings may be achieved, but without many of the challenges that building from scratch presents.