my first kitchen...

[TucsonLawrence]

Hi all- looking forward to any resources/tips/tricks etc you can offer.

I'm in the process of designing our kitchen cabinets with the following design specs per the customer (my lovely wife)

1. White cabinets with beadboard/shaker styling (similar in design to these)

2. 2x glass top cabinets, all the rest beadboarded

3. Under cabinet lighting

4. Counter TBD at a later date

5. Prefers face frames vs frameless (whew)

6. Likes slow close doors and bottom mounted slides for drawers (I retrofitted these to our last kitchen and she loved it)
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My thoughts on this first time doing kitchens from scratch

I plan to use melamine for the carcasses and Alder (readily available here) face frames/door rails and stiles.

I plan to use my domino for the carcass fastening as well as the construction of the face frames and the doors

I haven't completely decided yet on attaching the face frames to the carcasses- probably either dominoes or pocket screws.

Finish for face frames and doors will be paint- I have had really good luck painting kitchen cabinet doors with my earlex and Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo paint. It is expensive, but has worked well and held up. I'm sure painting here in WA state will be slightly different than it was in Tucson with the moisture- any tips there will be appreciated.

Also I'm curious how any of you would make the beadboard for the door panels (I'm thinking ply with a bead bit and router)

My shop includes all the basics (tablesaw, jointer, planer, router table, bandsaw) as well as some tools that should help make things better as far as quality or speed go (I have a forrest melamine blade, a festool tracksaw, domino etc.) I also have a large outbuilding where I can plastic off a dust free area for spraying and storage.

I think I've thought this through but would appreciate tips/resources etc. from those of you here that are more experienced.

Lawrence

[jteneyck]

I found Jim Tolpin's book on building kitchen cabinets very helpful when I designed/built our kitchen. There are other books, too, that's just the one I used.

THE most important thing about building kitchen cabinets is getting a square box. Face frames help, but you still need to be able to cut the box parts square and common parts to the exact same dimensions. If you don't have a slider then a good cut off sled, large enough to handle the parts you need to make, is invaluable. If the boxes are square everything goes easier; if they aren't the problems seem to multiply the further along you go.

Melamine is nice stuff for kitchen and bath cabinets. No finishing required, easy to keep clean and very durable compared to nearly anything else. The only downside in my opinion is its weight. The stuff is really heavy. Your track saw will be just the tool to break down those sheets into manageable pieces.

I use Norm's method for attaching face frames to the box - a slot milled around the front edges of the box with a 5/32" router bit, and biscuits in the back of the face frame. A few Dominos would do just as well; anything that helps register the face frame to the box is all that's required until the glue sets.

A good set of accurate drawings is essential to having everything fit correctly. Take your pick on how to create them, SketchUp, story pole, hand drawings to scale or full sized. The more time you take to make sure the cabinets fit the space and everything will fit in the or between the cabinets the smoother building and installing them will go.

Painted finish - oh boy. You are in for a lot of prep. work. Sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, prime, sand, fill, sand, prime ...... Eventually, you get to put the finish coats on.

Good luck - and eat your Wheaties.

John

[fredhargis]

Build the boxes without a toe kick, then make a separate frame for the boxes to sit on. When you install, you level the frame and then place the boxes on it. Your material goes much further when you do this. +1 to John's comments on painted finish, the times I've did it it was a lot more work.

[John Mihich]

I wouldn't make the beadboard myself - that's just me. I would consider pre-finished beadboard. As for the face frames attaching - I use to use nails now I use biscuits. Takes a bit longer but not that much - you don't see any nails. I also used biscuits for attaching the FF together. Now I would probably use pocket screws - really quick and will hold together well. You can use pocket screws to attach the FF also for those that are not seen. Most of my work is free standing cabinets so biscuits are better than anything else IMO.

Something my brother does is to put a drawer in the kick plates; good place to hide a folding step stool. If you need extra space you can make a thin drawer there.

Melamine is good for the cabinets but so is pre-finished birch. Both have good finish and will take some abuse - pre-finished birch a bit more. Both will give bright look inside. I have used both. I think the birch is more expensive. So there is a trade off. I used 3/4 melamine for the shelves - again - bright, easy to clean, and will stay straight for the average shelf - 24" and less.

Whenever I spray paint in my shop I cover just about everything I can reach. That over spray will get everywhere. I didn't do it well for a blue paint I sprayed - My shop had a blue tint to it for years. Clear isn't so bad - but colored - cover it.

[JerGar]

I would use a good pre catalyzed white Lacquer instead of paint.
So much easier and very durable.

[TucsonLawrence]

thanks guys- these are exactly the kind of inputs I am desiring- keep em coming

Lawrence

[Papa Jim]

I second John's suggestion to get a book. I also used Tolpin's book. He even answered an e-mail question I sent him! The point is, with a book you are able to dial into years of experience and not having to reinvent the wheel. Also, although I am not particularly computer literate, I bought and mastered (sort of) a kitchen design software. I think it was the second most important thing I did. The most important is after I had settled on a design I did individual design drawings on each cabinet, including detailed cutting lists. By the time I finished these, I felt like I had already built the cabinets, in that I had mentally solved every possible problem on paper ahead of time.
Here is how mine turned out:
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[SLN]

On the bead board, look into an mdf core plywood if possible, a lot more stable than normal plywood in terms of movement. If you are looking at fastening things to the back of the door you may want a thicker door panel tan 1/4" beaded plywood. Perhaps do a back cut 3/8" or 1/2" beaded panel.

Our company uses all blum tandem blumotion soft close slides and compact tandem blumotion soft close hinges. We tried a couple of less expensive alternatives and paid for it in time and money replacing failed hardware.

The drawer box sizes and construction are very particular, but it sounds like you have some experience with them.

I really like the Rev-a-shelf accessories. Many of their items now have the blum soft close mechanisms. The trash pullout with lid, was the greatest thing we added to our kitchen, according to my wife.
The 12" and 15" cabinet door knife, cutlery and spice pullouts have come a long way. Also you can add the cabinets but not have decided on the particular one up front. They also have a lot of drawer organizers. Some items can be added easily later but some things are nice to plan for.

Make sure to check into the under/over/inside cabinet lighting options. Even toe kick lighting is nice for that late night snack.

Kitchen layout overall is a lot more thought provoking. How many cooks at a time, entertaining, breakfast serving, wine lover, etc...

Sorry, did not mean to get preachy, but we see a lot of "oh I did not know about that, why did I not do that" happen.

Most of all, enjoy.

[JM Weber]

Good advice so far. Im just finishing up my kitchen remodel and it is an everlasting gobstopper of a project. I did beaded inset doors with face frames and would not do that again. My first experience at an earlier home I used Euro style cabinets. Much easier. Any kind of overlay door is going to be less Fiddley. Another mistake I made this time was I reused some of the existing cabinet boxes thinking to save money and time. Big mistake. Not much plumb or level. particularly frustrating for inset doors. Do the planning, build the cabinets and order appliances, then gut the kitchen and start over.. I didn't because my wife wanted to keep a functioning kitchen and keep the unique backsplash, so I've been doing a wall at a time and kind of making it up as I proceed. Oh, don't trust carpenter squares Installing the Blum undermount slides and the soft close hinges are a skill unto themselves. I love the soft close hinges but feel the Blum face frame mounts are not real strong. Love love love the Blum undermount glides but drawer dimensions are critical. It takes a while studying the Blum catalog to figure out what hardware you need

[Forest]

Made my first kitchen also.
Just my thought:
I liked using the blum feet to have the toe kick feature.
Easy leveling and you have access later for plumbing or wiring.