Kitchen Cabinet Work

[earcaesar1]

Hey all,

I've trying to get in the planning stage of doing some kitchen cabinet remodeling. I am just a home owner and like to build things myself. I have the extra space at the top that I plan on turning my normal cabinets into full cabinets to the ceiling. The house was built in the mid 80's so matching the doors will be hard I think. I was looking to make a new door just a full cabinet length.

I was trying to find out a couple of things out. I am just trying to figure out what type of material to make the cabinets out of. They are stained and not painted. What type of plywood is used etc. The doors currently have raised panels. I am not sure 100% what design the wife will want, but what type of material is the panel typically made out of, same thing with the face frame parts. Looks like on the sides of the cabinet they have a 1/8 inch sheet of ply to cover up the screws.

I might can reuse the drawer fronts, not sure if I have to remake the drawers or not.

Tools I currently have is MFT, Domino 500, TS55, OF 1400, ETC 125, and a MIDI.

Edit:  I am looking to see opinions on if you would just try and add a new face for the part I am adding on to at the top or try and remove the old face on all the cabinets and make a new one for the whole thing?  The top cabinet I would make is top to bottom about 11.5" tall and spans the whole top of my kitchen. I would guess it would be around total worth of cabinets to make 30ft worth or so.

Thanks in advance for the feedback

 

[tjbnwi]

[member=68711]earcaesar1[/member]

I assume your reusing some of the existing cabinets? If not let us know.

You do not want to go to the ceiling with full height cabinets. Few ceilings are flat enough to allow this. Trims may need to be floated in.

Pictures of what exists please. Take a clear close up of the rail and stile profiles.

A photo showing the existing cabinets from 4-5’ also.

Thanks

Tom

 

[sancho57]

New cabinets I make the boxes out of 3/4 shop birch. Use end panels on the end of a run if the ends are exposed.

If you want face frame cabinets, what ever your wife decides best to use a hardwood.

The basics are Maple, Oak, Cherry, Alder, Hickory and Poplar for painted.

 

[Billedis]

If you are making new full height uppers, make the top rail 4 1/2" so you will have a good nailer without getting into the doors.

 

[starplankitchensbedrooms]

If you need some design Inspiration, why not take a 360 tours of our Belfast kitchen showroom which has been newly renovated. All Starplan fitted kitchens & fitted bedrooms are made in our very own factory in Dungannon. This means we can build to your own personal specifications and requirements.

 

[cubevandude]

If I were tackling your kitchen I would leave the existing cabinets alone and add new cabinets to the tops to fill in the  space.  You could face the old cabinets with 1/8-1/4" material.  This way you could still do your one pc door or do separate doors.  Depending on whether you decide to stain them or paint, them will determine your material selection.
It is usually less expensive to order doors if you don't have the proper tools to make them, at least here in Canada, if you are going with wood doors.  If you choose to do a painted door, you can make them from MDF.  Do a search on Peter Millard on Youtube.  Peter shows different ways of making doors out of mdf and how to paint mdf.

 

[earcaesar1]

I've been meaning to get back to this post with pictures.

My thoughts were to either do a 3 sides box and attach to the top piece maybe with a sliding dove tail joint or to just make a new 4 sided box. I would loose 3/4 of an inch of storage.

My thoughts were to reface the whole thing and stain a new door that covers all of it with 1 panel.

Staining might be difficult though because I would have to try and match the existing stain. But it might blend well if the doors at least all match I'll get some more pictures in a bit.

 

[tjbnwi]

That door is an easy match.

Color appears to be fruitwood stain over red oak, best guess at the sheen-25.

3 sided box with 3" trim screws through the upper rail to hold things together.

Tom

 

[Pnw painter]

A lot of paint and finishing stores can custom match stains. Ask around your area and hopefully you’ll get a few good recommendations of where to go.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kodi Crescent]

I'm curious.  What's the issue with what you have already?  You can use the top of your cabinets to store seldom used cooking equipment or decorations.  No shame in it being visible.

While extra storage is nice, we can only reach so high without getting a stepstool.  That gets old after awhile.

 

[earcaesar1]

Major dust collection up there and it looks bad in my opinion to have all that stuff up there visable.

 

[earcaesar1]

[member=4105]tjbnwi[/member]

How would you attach the 3 sided box to the existing cabinet?

 

[tiralie]

[member=4105]tjbnwi[/member]

How would you attach the 3 sided box to the existing cabinet?

3 sided box with 3" trim screws through the upper rail to hold things together.

Tom

Alternatively, pocket hole inside the top stile into the top of existing top cabinet(s) and or screw through the back of the new cabinet to the wall.
Tim

 

[earcaesar1]

I'm not 100 percent with cabinet terms yet. But I'm guessing to attach it to the face. Will that hold it together and not want to fall over?

 

[tiralie]

I'm not 100 percent with cabinet terms yet. But I'm guessing to attach it to the face. Will that hold it together and not want to fall over?

A butt joint of the new stile to the old rail/stile will hold it in place but  you should put a screw through the back in to the wall so it does not rock or tip forward.
Tim