second project... Laundry room

[JEFF JOHNSON]

Slippery slope... First the mudroom now the laundry room...
Finally got around to finishing the laundry room..
Slicing up Cabinet Parts on my "cutting table" was a dream... used 6 sheets of prefinished maple ply.... 90$ a sheet..  A shame it only took a few hours!!
Face frames are 5/4 s4s poplar...
Wish I had a joiner and planer.... to get straighter truer boards.. next purchase...
Shelf fronts were routed out of maple and finished with minwax wipe on poly.
Middle two upper cabinets were bumped out 1 1/2" to give some interest...
Inset Doors are made from same 5/4 poplar... routed with amana tools instile beaded bit set... allowed me to use 1/2" mdf for the flat panel..amazing router bit set...
Mdf because I could glue up the whole thing and eliminate most of the movement...
Face frames were kreg jigged together... and doors were fitted  on my table before hanging...Basically a 3/32 gap for the hinges and around all sides...
Used no mortise hinges in matte black from classic brass.
Spring roller catches...
Bottom band is actually a stock back band..

My wife is pregnant.. Used Ben moore Aura Satin paint in White Dove... The paint is completely odorless.. yet it dries crazy fast.. I couldn't even finish one small door without part of it already drying..cant go back and feather out your work..  I just bought a hvlp sprayer that is amazing... wish I  had it last week when I was painting this project.. Used the Aturo r200 to spray balusters and posts for my stairs... amazing with only a small pancake compressor.. thats another story..

Anyway all is in... don't have a lot of pics from the process... but here are a few... if I can fit them...
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[johnsonri]

Very nice indeed!!

 

[JEFF JOHNSON]

vtek... lol... love those Germans... wish I had them design my washer and dryer!!!

 

[honeydoman]

nice job the doors look great.  and I have used that benjamine moore paint also and it does dry fast....  congraulations on the new baby, when is your new helper due?

 

[fshanno]

Beautiful job.  I've got some questions if you've got time.

Did you rip the rails and styles to width?  Some of the pro cabinet makers around here say that they buy poplar and other species already ripped in various widths, 1 1/2", 2" 2 1/2", s4s ready to crosscut. 

I assuming you did the crosscuts on that great table of yours.  If so did you gang crosscut?

Did you have to seal the edge where the panels meet the frame in your doors before painting?  If so what did you use?

People think painting is easier than staining/varnishing but I've found it to be more time consuming and in some ways more challenging.  Having done this project, and obviously done it right, what do you think?

I've experienced the need for a jointer.  Full inset doors are unforgiving aren't they.  Holding every board up trying to pick the straightest to use for the doors.  Are doors the reason you want a jointer?

I noticed also that the bottom shelf is flush with the top of the bottom rail.  Personally I think that looks better than raising the bottom to become the door stop but it does necessitate installing stops, as you did.  Was that a hard decision?

Love the profile on the shelves and that Minwax is sweet, I'm doing a whole kitchen with it.  A FWW contributer rated it higher than more exotic products that cost 4 times as much, and you can get it at Walmart.  Go figure.  Anyway, I'm thinking you've just increased the value of your house far beyond the cost of the materials.

 

[JEFF JOHNSON]

Thank you fhsanno,

So Let me do my best to reply....
I did rip the stiles and rails to width... Since these was my first experience with stick and cope... definately with some trepidation.... the s4s poplar was all 5/4x6 material...didn't know about the ability to buy them pre-ripped... would have been nice... but not that big a deal to rip on the table saw...

I did not gang crosscut on the table... gang crosscutting on the table takes a little setting up.. probably not a big deal.. but the stop on my table really only allows for one piece as the stop just marginally protrudes from the front fence.. could have use the festool for this but it just seemed as easy to do it with my mitre saw with a stop....If someone really wants to make an outrageous cutting table they could set it up with a bissemer fence to the left of the rail... then gang croscuuting would be outrageous.. there is a guy that has that setup using the eurekazone stuff...

Never even thought of raising the bottowm shelf for the stop.. just copied my kitchen cabinets.. and the spring catches do a great job of alignment.. also if I used the bottom sticking up I would have had to edge band it as it is pre-finished maple ply.

The joiner would

I did prime the mdf panel before glue up... but I didn't seal the edges... should have I?  I did glue all edges of the panel.. figuring its mdf and not having to worry about expansion and contraction there...

Staining versus painting... I have very little experience staining...varnishing etc... The only thing I've stained was the tops of my mudroom bench seat and cubbies...Painting this project was a nightmare especially with the aura paint.. Two days after I finished the project I ordered an asturo hvlp sprayer that is amazing....first experience spraying... sprayed 40 balusters and posts for my stairs before the guys came to install... If I had more time.. would have tried the install myself.. but didn't want to risk takcling that one without any experience.. but the hvlp sprayer would have saved many hours painting up the doors..face frames etc... and the results would have been better...
Also, I love the look of White painted cabinetry and built-ins..My inspiration for all of this was my kitchen.. my brother-in-laws brother built them in his shop in vermont... said to me ... "All you need is a festool and a Kreg Jig and you can do all of this.."  Needless to say I have been on the phone with him daily...regarding router table... bit setup...etc... he is an amazing communicator and very helpful...

The Jointer would definately be for getting straight stock for the face frames and doors... 2 of my doors are slightly bowed... flush everywhere except for a little flare out  maybe a 1/6th toward the top... not a big deal... but I was looking for perfection...

As far as fitting the doors to the face frame... actually laid the kreg jigged face frame on my table and individually fitted the doors using finish nails that fit in the gaps...Actually shaved down the doors using festool table and table saw to fit perfectly... 3/32 gaps... used no mortise hinges from classic brass...

I loved doing the shelf fronts.. just had an old profiling bit that worked... the wipe on poly was a breeze.. just glued it up.. and I started using 23 guage pin nails.. but half way through realized the glue would be enough... and it was without the need to fill the holes...

Thank you for the feedback... This forum is amazing because everyone here knows how much fun the process is and when the project is completed it is kind of a let down in a way because I had so much fun building it... fortunately I have a lot of projects left...
By the way the inspiration for my Kitchen and built-ins is the movie "Somethings gotta give"  check it out... I freeeze framed every second of the movie to try and duplicate many of the details... amazing house!!! and the neat thing is it's all Paint grade.. and I hope you are right about adding value.. I'm pretty sure that there will be a great return some day on these projects... thanks again

 

[fshanno]

I wasn't clear.  I was talking about any gap that may exist between the panel and the sides of the groove in the door.  On my painted doors I always have to fill or caulk after gluing before priming.  If I don't there will always be a little air gap here and there.  Paint alone won't seal it everywhere.  It's not a big gap, it's tiny, just barely visible but visible nonetheless.  On stain and varnish any such gap is not noticable and couldn't be fixed anyway.  It's only light paint thats as problem. 

 

[JEFF JOHNSON]

Gotcha..
So far no gap... only positive side that I didn't spray.. brushing that bead and that joint between stiles and rails and panel is probably easier to brush.. I will let you know if  it opens up...

But the really nice thing about the instile rail bit set is that you can fine tune the size of each bit with shims to make a nice tight fit... mine was very snug.... hopefully ...

I did just look at them.. there is an ever so slight gap in a few spaces.. but it is really hidden by the way the shadows are cast with the light..
You are right though... with any expansion and contraction could get worse... maybe then I will have to caulk... then I can have the excuse to spray em...!

 

[Deke]

Outstanding job Jeff. I can't see you ever paying for a contractor ever again!