Thoughts on building kitchen cabinets

[chrisphr]

My wife and I don't want to dump a lot of money into our current house (plan on moving in 5+ years) but we would like to update the kitchen cabinets. Our plan was nice, but cheap. Mentally I was budgeting about $10-$15k for the whole project with backsplash, tops, etc.

What I'd like to get some opinions on if I should attempt to build them on my own. I'll do some research on building methodologies, but it doesn't look like there is anything to it, just plywood boxes and face frames.

Here is where my head is at for the project:

-Cabinets just replaced, no additional embellishment

-Island would be extended with custom features likely with butcher block top. This would be the fun part of the project.

-Right now I am thinking of ordering all the door and drawer fronts, this will cut out a lot of time and repetitiveness and also having to treat the router table like a shaper.

-finish will be some sort of paint (that is the look she wants)

-I would complete and install in sections, starting with the center island.

Tools:

-I've got all the standard woodworking tools plus a domino. If I take on this project I'll add a track saw.

Motivation:

-The center island might be a fun project, but the main motivation would be to save some cash. If I could take our budget of $10-$15k and cut that to $6k, that would be a win.

Am I delusional on saving money? Anyone been through this that can share their experience? Is this the kind of project that you lose motivation for in the middle?

Here is a picture of what the kitchen currently looks like.

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[wtnhighlander]

Chris, I'll first say it sounds like an interesting project. Saving money is only going to happen if you have loads of otherwise non-productive time. A kitchen full of cabinets is a big job for a DIY, especially if you aren't experienced at building them (and fitting them to the room!). There are some cabinet shop guys here to advise you, but keep the money saving expectations realistic, and don't let that be the only motivation driving you to tackle this.

[estesbubba]

Since your existing cabinets look to be in good shape and you're going to paint the new ones, how about just spraying paint over the existing? I did that to our bathroom vanity using GF Milk Paint but any high quality acrylic should work. I then sprayed a water-based poly over that for additional protection. You don't have to strip the existing finish - I just scrubbed good with 50/50 DNA/H2O using a green Scothbrite pad. That would save a lot of money and time plus allow you to get a nice HVLP system if you don't already have one. 

[wdwerker]

I agree with estesbubba scrub and paint the existing cabinets and have fun building the island. Order the doors and drawers is smart to save a lot of time.

I am a small custom cabinet maker. A lot of my clients choose to make the new island a feature and not match the existing cabinets. So you could paint the cabinets and build the island in a nice hardwood with a clear finish. You could even choose a different type of countertop material to use there.

The amount of time you spend on prep work (cleaning,scrubbing ,masking etc.)  is well worth it. Using a quality primer and paint (enamel type) is also worth the money. If you don't have a sprayer or the skills to use one this is not the place to learn. If you want to spray anyways get the sprayer and practice quite a bit before you tackle an entire kitchen !

[Eric.]

Yeah, I don't see the point in doing the whole remodel since you plan to move in a few years.  The cabinets you have don't even look that bad to me...are they maple or red oak?  Tough to tell from the pic.  Either way I agree with the guys...might as well just paint them and save your 15K for the new house.

I just went through this decision process myself for our basement.  We're putting a bar area and most of a full kitchen down there which includes a number of cabinets.  Not quite as many as you have there but probably 2/3rds.

After crunching the numbers and then factoring in the insane amount of work to build them, buying became a no-brainer.  You can certainly build higher quality cabinets than you could buy for the same price, but it just wasn't worth all the labor to me.

We found some very decent cabinets, "semi-custom," for right at $4,000.  Ply boxes, hardwood (cherry) raised panel doors and drawers, dovetails, soft-close hardware.  Nice stuff.  For that price, was it really worth my time?  No way, not even close.  And that doesn't even factor in my lack of space...trying to build all those damn things in my tiny shop would be a nightmare.

If you were so inclined to buy partial and build partial, I'd do it the other way around...the doors and drawer fronts are the easy parts...the boxes, to me, would be the huge PITA.

[Chet]

I built my kitchen cabinets a number of years back, I enjoyed doing it but it took over nine months because I was doing it in my spare time which wasn't all that much when you factor in work, little league with the kids, yard work that need to be done and on and on.  Then like Eric said you need a fair amount of space because as you build them you need some place to store and stack them until they are all done and before they get installed, we ended up using the living room    Then there is the tear out and installation.  I think that if everything went perfectly (mine didn't we found some stuff that need repair) two or three days would do it and again this is while you are holding down a job I am assuming.  I enjoyed it but it took a LOOoong time.

[rodger.]

I did exactly what Steve suggested.  A few years back we bought a home with the idea of redoing the kitchen.

I took all the cabs down and painted them out a modern off white.  Replaced all the pulls, and reused all other hardware.

Because we were painting out the golden oak cabinets,i took the opportunity to add a light valence, and i even added two new open faced cabinets.

I built an island from walnut, and ordered a granite top for it.  We treated the island as a show piece, and wanted it to look like a piece of furniture as opposed to a matching cabinet.

Turned out great.  I'll see if I can dig up some pics.

[Cochese]

I'd kill for those cabinets in my house.

[chrisphr]

Thanks all, this is just the kind of feedback I was looking for. I am a terrible judge for how much work something is going to be or the time it will take.

Sounds like the result maximizing, money, work and divorce likelihood minimizing option is to paint the existing cabinets and build the island.

Some of you have commented that they don't look so bad, closer shots would show moderate finish and form damage from 20 years of use and abuse. There are also three different shades of maple: actual maple, and two different other materials that are supposed to look like maple but have all faded into different colors. One of those colors is pink. Lastly, the wifey pooh thinks they look dated.

Just confirming, DNA=denatured alcohol?

I own an earlex hvlp, but if there is a brush application that will get professional looking results I would prefer that so I don't have to mask off the whole house. Steve and Estesbubba, sounds like between you the suggestion is acrylic if spraying and enamel if brushing. I get that right?

Then maybe top coat it with poly?

Pug if you can find those pictures, love to see them!

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Id listen to Steve also...The only other thing I was think after Cocheses reply was if they are going to sell why not just leave it..Will you get more from the sale of your home with whatever you decided to do?

Probably, if I were a prospective buyer I'd say the kitchen needs remodeled in the negotiation and estimate it at $40k. But the main reason is we want a nicer kitchen for the next 5 years.

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[estesbubba]

Yes DNA is denatured alcohol. I don't know about brushing but heard that a high quality acrylic is best for spraying. Go to a local paint store and tell them what you're doing as they have a better selection than big boxes. Like Mike said remove the drawers and doors and spray them in your shop. I had an Earlex for a month and it just wouldn't atomize that great and I returned it. I bought a Fuji Mini Max 4 and the 3M PPS system and it's night and day difference. The 3M system is pricey but has many advantages and is worth the money for a big paint job. I can spray GF Milk Paint full strength using the MM4 with a 1.8 tip. 

[Cliff]

On a much smaller scale, we painted the vanity in our bathroom. It was cheap fake wood. Looked horrid. So we used this stuff: http://www.anniesloan.com/annie-sloan-products/paints/chalk-paint/graphite-chalk-paint.html

I think my wife did two or three layers of that then 2 or 3 layers of wax on top. And they look friggin amazing. You can't tell that they are crappy cheap as you can get cabinetry. Only downside was the wax plus paint for a small amount was around $100. 

[Lftam]

On December 19, 2015 at 6:26 AM, chrisphr said:

My wife and I don't want to dump a lot of money into our current house (plan on moving in 5+ years) but we would like to update the kitchen cabinets. Our plan was nice, but cheap. Mentally I was budgeting about $10-$15k for the whole project with backsplash, tops, etc.

What I'd like to get some opinions on if I should attempt to build them on my own. I'll do some research on building methodologies, but it doesn't look like there is anything to it, just plywood boxes and face frames.

Here is where my head is at for the project:

-Cabinets just replaced, no additional embellishment

-Island would be extended with custom features likely with butcher block top. This would be the fun part of the project.

-Right now I am thinking of ordering all the door and drawer fronts, this will cut out a lot of time and repetitiveness and also having to treat the router table like a shaper.

-finish will be some sort of paint (that is the look she wants)

-I would complete and install in sections, starting with the center island.

Tools:

-I've got all the standard woodworking tools plus a domino. If I take on this project I'll add a track saw.

Motivation:

-The center island might be a fun project, but the main motivation would be to save some cash. If I could take our budget of $10-$15k and cut that to $6k, that would be a win.

Am I delusional on saving money? Anyone been through this that can share their experience? Is this the kind of project that you lose motivation for in the middle?

Here is a picture of what the kitchen currently looks like.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We faced a similar dilemma and came up with a solution we're delighted with: cut out the faces of the upper cabinet doors to create "picture frames" and insert glass (or acrylic). Display pretty dishes. Then, as others suggested, we painted the island a different color. 

The two changes really opened up the kitchen and we get tons of compliments on it. It pops. 

A couple of caveats: our cabinets had solid oak doors, so we were carefully to cut them apart to leave the most amount of undamaged wood for other projects. We also learned that it's important to use the right glue for the glass inserts and the little metal "teeth" as well...the first round we used an epoxy super glue kind and the temperature changes in the kitchen caused several of the acrylic panels to fall out completely. We used a silicone sealant the next time, and we've had no problems. 

One thing I wish we had done was to install interior cabinet lighting. That would really polish off the look. 

Good luck!

 

[xxdabroxx]

After building a vanity cabinet, unless you have a big shop or lots of place to move stuff around while you work a kitchen of that size will be quite the undertaking.  Granted, I'm a noob and this was the biggest woodworking project I have done.  Also, be prepared to spend all that money you saved on fancy hardware because well, thats just how stuff works.  OOOHHH I'm saving all this money and building with better materials, I might as well upgrade from the standard hardware...  Yeah, I should've ordered a cabinet to fit my space, but I learned a lot and justified buying a table saw that will forever be useful around the house. 

Building just the island like you say will be fun and probably a learning experience too.  If nothing else, start with the island then decide if you want to take on building the whole kitchen.  I'm lucky and don't have anyone but myself waiting on my progress but if I had a wife that wanted her kitchen back in a timely manner I don't think it would be a great idea build them yourself. 

[Andy Wright]

I agree that space is a challenge with cabinets. I have a big shop and the bathroom cabinets I'm building seem to have consumed all of the free space.

Another challenge is dealing with all the plywood. I have used around 12 sheets of 4x8 plywood and if you don't have a good way to break it down, it can be a pain

[d8nk]

I am a contractor and take on commission Woodworking projects on the side. I thought the same thing as you 8 years and built my own kitchen cabs from scratch. Last time I do that! Took years to finish (in spare time, also remodelled rest of house) and I was burned out, took too much time, and a professional cab shop would have made them better. Just my 2 cents, oh that and what you think your budget is, add 25% and then you are only 25% under budget!

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[MikeHoncho]

I built my cabinets for my house about 8 years ago.  It was the first time for me making cabinets.  I figured painting compared to clear finish would be easier.  So go big or go home,  I decided on applied bead,  inset face frames painted white with enamel out of soft maple and mdf panels with craftsman door cutters.  I decided to also reuse the existing box's. 

Things I learned ; paint is way more difficult that clear,  reusing 70's boxes wastes alot of time,  applied bead sucks (I purchased the Kreg bead faceframe kit for the rest of my house and it's awesome), Blum hardware is a expensive but we'll worth the expense.  I saved about 2/3rd the cost and justified some great to purchases and a ton of experience.  The SW Proclassic enamel had held up well.