Kitchen Cabinet Build

godinman

godinman

godinman

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Joined
26 Feb 2007
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Hi All,

Just thought I'd post what I've been making for the last few weekends, someone expressed some mild interest in the man jobs thread so I thought I'd make a thread as it may interest some others.

After putting a new floor down in the kitchen I noticed that the chipboard kitchen cabinets were looking in a pretty poor state, I don't think they would've even gone back together so it was time for some new ones. I didn't want to put that same crap back in, and I can't really afford solid pine ones so I decided to make my own!

Opened an account at a local builders merchant and courtesy of their 25% discount I got all the materials needed for under £200, although with tools and bits and bobs I guess that total is nearer £300, still under the cost of a simple pine sink unit!

Anyway, to the build. I've not photographed anything else, so i'll show you how I made the corner unit.

First off I made a frame, so a top, bottom and middle like this (the middle frame is just the outsides).

Measured and cut all the bits of baton.




Clamped them together, and the drilled through for the dowel using a depth limiter so I don't lose the dowel.






With the doweling hidden on the front sides that people will see, I used some dowel markers for that.



Then I made the base, it's pretty darn solid, all pieces doweled and glued together before being nailed to the base.

Unfortunately I didn't take a pictures of this but you can see it below...annoying as I was proud of that!


I then attached the frame together with baton, again doweled in and glued.



Next I cut the side boards, it's t+g stuff which will give a nice finish inside and keep the whole thing together.





Then it's case of attaching them, I took a long time doing the front pair, ensuring they're level, I then clamped them, dowel and glued them and then clamped until it has mostly dried. The rest of the boards I just slotted in and nailed on, with a bit of frame wrenching to keep everything square.



And you're left with this.












All I need to do now is glue and dowel the sides onto the base as this will be taking a lot of the loading, attached a spinning table thing in the middle and screw the feet on.

Updates to follow!

I hope this is of interest to some, I'm obviously not a carpenter :o:p but I think I've not done too badly, everything is square and the whole thing is damn solid (and heavy!).
 
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Awesome work, looking forward to what it looks like all finished and fit as thats far cheaper than buying units.

How much the carousel cost? Or is it from the old one.
 
Cheers :)

I'm not sure what I'll do with the carousel, a wire frame one is about £100, but I'm going to see about designing and making some sort of solution myself, maybe just a carousel, or some sort of sliding drawer system but that might be a bit complex!
 
That looks great, what are you doing for the doors?

Couple of points that might help you out.

Treat the pine well especially at the backs, you'll be surprised how water gets behind kitchen cabinets from nowhere.

PVA is great for proper carpentry joints, it's not great for straight joints, maybe think about Lumberjack, there's a 5 minute and a 30 minute if you're less confident.

http://www.everbuild.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=72

What tops are you using? search for Chippy Shop they have the best rates for solid timber worktops which look lovely just with danish oil.
 
Thanks macca, I'm using the original doors, they're solid wood and pretty nice. I've got to do a similar job for the utility next so might even see about making my own for that. I'll definitely look at some different glue, PVA seems to work fine with the dowels, but the stronger the better I guess.

I haven't thought about treating the wood yet but certainly will be doing so all over, not sure what I'll use yet...it seems a shame to paint it now, which was the original plan.

I've found some solid oak top I want to use, but I'll have a look at that site to see if they're cheaper.
 
I'd paint the backs in something pretty strong and ugly as you'll only get one chance but anything you'll see including the insides I'd Danish oil, one coat 50 50 spirits two full coats.
 
Good job. But why didn't you fix the matching to the inside rather than the out, that way the inside would have had a nice finish rather than that ^ :p would have meant a couple more braces but if you'd of done it properly would have been as sturdy if not better. Good job though.
 
Cheers guys. :)

I'll pop down the merchants and see what they've got in re wood stain.

Today I've got a pair of single units to get started (finished doweling the corner unit, will add the carousel at a later date).

If anyone if thinking of doing the same, the absolute key is properly drawing the thing out, not just a rough single line drawing, actually draw the baton as you have to take account of the width of it, and the width of the walls to get the overall dimensions you want.

All good fun, it's a really enjoyable way to spend a sunny autumn day. :)


edit - Cosmic. Mostly because I didn't think of it. :p, but for the shelves it'd need an inner frame for them to rest on anyway, so the corner unit is about the only place I could properly do it the way you suggest.
And to be fair, I quite like how it looks.
 
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