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Building a set of cabinets, whether for the workshop or the kitchen is a project that requires previous woodworking skills. Building cabinets is the ultimate test to a finish carpenters ability. The builder should be well versed in taking and relaying accurate measurements, in the operation of shop tools, such as the table saw, router and using a circular saw, both freehand and with a guide.
The design of cabinets depend on the hinges used. The old style cabinets, with a face frame, used the classic hinges mounted on the face frame. Some inset into the door, others so the doors overlapped the hinge and the frame. The concealed pin hinges were popular for a while. With these hinges the doors were flush with the frame. The doors were held shut with spring and roller catches. Finally, the magnetic catch emerged. Hinge design evolved into a self-closing style, including artistic shapes and colors that forced everyone to re-do their cabinets. Our globe got smaller and European hinges came onto the marketplace. The design of these hinges revolutionized the cabinet industry. Frameless cabinets were born. Doors could be adjusted three ways, drawers rolled easily on steel drawer slides, and there was no face frame to contend with.
The cabinet style today relies on the design and shape of the doors themselves rather than the framing of the doors. Most doors were rather plain, one piece, made from solid core plywood instead of the veneer and multicore ply we have today. Their hinges were visible adding to the decor and ambiance. Today we see no hinges from the outside, no face frame, just the doors overlapping the sides of the modules they come in. Mass production has come to the cabinet industry. You can buy a set of kitchen cabinets in a box and assemble them yourself. In the old days carpenters used to come into a home and build the cabinets in place. Now a millwork shop will send out an estimator, measure your kitchen and design the cabinets to fit. They are still in modules, but fit your particular space, taste and budget.
The difficult thing for the do-it-yourselfer in building cabinets is making the doors and drawer fronts. Most shops make their own panel doors of oak and exotic woods or MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) routered out to look like a panel door and painted with laquer. One can purchase these fine doors and build cabinets to suit the size of the doors or buy the router bits to do your own. The router bits come in 1/2" shanks, so a 1/2" router is necessary to run them. These are expensive bits, but saves the cost of store built doors.
With the European cabinets came the multicore plywoods and fibreboards, melamine being the most popular. Since the cabinets are made in modules, every door has its own gable on which the doors are attached. The gables, shelves, tops and bottoms are usually 5/8" melamine. Melamine with its hard finish does not take glue well. I prefer to dado my shelves for two reasons: support for the shelf and to remove the melamine surface to enable glue to stick. I also use course drywall screws to hold the shelf in the dado, as well as the parts together. Basically, a set of cabinets today consists of a series of modules or boxes comprising two gables, the sides, a top and bottom and shelves. The base cabinet, the one with the counter top, usually doesn't need a solid back as does the wall or upper cabinets, which depend on the back for support through screws on the wall. The base cabinet has a ledger strip under the counter top, which attaches to the wall. Since the base cabinet has a counter top, it doesn't require a solid top such as the wall cabinet. For the base we use strips, again to save on the cost of material and have a fastening surface for the counter top. These modules, fastened together, form our set of cabinets.
The base module, as shown, is intended to use a standard counter top of 25 1/2" wide, so the width of the gable is 23 3/4" . For a 24" top, homemade or without a splash, the gable should be adjusted accordingly. The parts are cut out on a table saw and assembled according to your pre-determined plan. I use #6x1-1/2" drywall screws and glue. Pre-drill and countersink for the screws.
On the gables, layout the position of the drawers, shelves and cut out the kick space. The edges of the gables and shelves are covered with a white melamine tape which is "ironed on" to activate the glue. I slide the hot iron along the taped edge, followed by a small block to press the hot tape down onto the melamine. It dries almost instantly, the excess tape is removed from the sides with the use of a sharp utility knife or tool specially made for this purpose and sanded lightly with 120 grit paper on a sanding block.
The drawer slides come in matched pairs, with one for the drawer and one for the gable. They are marked LH and RH for left and right hand. The drawer mounts install on the bottom of the drawer with the roller at the back. The gable mount slide is shown in this drawing. The end with the roller goes to the front and is flush with the outside of the gable and rests on top of the rail. Screw these in position using # 6 x 5/8" screws, 3 per slide. Make sure they are installed square across the gable.
The base unit is supported on the floor, the base is scribed, if needed, to fit the floor and screwed into the wall studs along the back rails.
The wall or upper cabinet is screwed into the wall studs through its back near the top and the bottom. The modules are screwed together, in place, with 1-1/8" screws, special for this purpose. I just start a 1-1/4" screw, then pinch off the point with pliers. I pre-drill and use a countersink bit before screwing in any screws. The distance between the top of the counter and the bottom of the wall cabinet is 18" for an 8' ceiling.
The counter top is installed after the cabinets are in place. Lay the top in place scribing to fit along the wall and the ends, if necessary. Screw up into the top from below, through the top rails. Watch the length of screw so it won't penetrate the top surface of the plastic laminate.
The hinge for this type of cabinet is the European Blum brand 5/8" overlap 100° hinge (see it at Amazon.com). It is drilled into the door with a 1-3/8" Forstner bit (see it at Amazon.com), to a depth of 7/16" deep. I use a drill press to prevent the bit from going through the face of the door. Before drilling, mark the door with the center of the hinge at 3" from the top and bottom of the door and 13/16" in from the edge , and centerpoint with an awl.
Notice that the hinge comes in two parts, the mounting plate and the hinge itself. I like to mount the hinge and plate together on the door, then mount the door onto the inside of the gable after the modules are installed, securely. When making the doors for a double door unit, be sure to allow space between the doors. I allow 1/16" between the doors and on each end of the doors. The height of the doors allow for the door and a drawer sharing the same rail and flush to the bottom of the kick space. Allow 1/16" for the space between doors and drawers. The hinges on the doors are adjustable, so leave enough room for adjustment.
The drawer boxes can be made of 1/2" or 5/8" melamine or plywood. The sides are rabbeted to receive the front and backs, which are the same size. The outside width of the drawer must be 1" less than the opening between the gables, to allow for the drawer slides. You'll notice that one slide mounted on the drawer is flat on top and the other side has a rounded top which grabs the roller. There is a bit of adjustment with this design, better to be a bit too wide on the 1/2" gap rather than too tight. I'm talking a maximum of 1/16". At 1/2" on each side the drawer will slide nicely. The bottom is simply screwed to the sides, back and front since the slide supports the bottom, anyway. For melamine, since glue won't hold too well, except at the raw edges, I prefer to screw the box together. I use # 6 x 1 1/2" drywall screws. With plywood, glue and nails work well. Install the melamine tape on the top edges of the drawer box. Don't fasten the drawer front onto the drawer box yet, install the drawer first.
Insert the drawer box into the slides. Tip the drawer down to engage the roller and lift up again and slide the box in.
Tip: If the drawer box fits too tightly in the slides remove one slide from the drawer itself, and remove a sliver of melamine along the side of the drawer with the table saw blade set up about 5/8" to 3/4". Replace the slide again.
Start by drilling 3/16" holes through the front of the drawer box in the center of the front and near the sides. With the drawer fronts, line them up with the doors below. Clamp the drawer front into place with the drawer open with the use of spring clamps or c-clamps. Don't mark the surface of the front. From the inside of the box, screw through the two holes into the front. Careful with the length of screws, you don't want to go through the face of the front. Remove the clamps and slide the door in. When happy with the position, install the pulls by drilling with the same bit through the face of the front as well as the box front to match the spacing of the holes in the pulls. Most times the pulls come with a 3/4" machine screw as well as a longer one. You may have to cut off the screw to fit the length having to go through the two pieces or buy a longer screw to fit.
Tip: When cutting a machine screw to length, thread on a proper size nut first, cut the screw and back off the nut, which cleans the threads in the process.
Drill and attach the pulls onto the doors.
Tip: When drilling through a finished frame, as when installing door pulls, hold a scrap block of plywood on the inside to prevent the drill from chipping the wood as it goes through the other side.
The next article will continue with how to build a face frame cabinet. I'll discuss how the home handyman can make a few different styles of doors, as well.
