Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets

but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater! The late Danny Proulx was an EXTENSIVE contributor to cabinetry schools and magazines for many years before succumbing to a heart attack at a woodworking convention, but his passion lives on in this wonderfully simple and comprehensive book. If you want to learn how to build high end custom cabinetry with all the nice details then look at udo schmidt's or jim tolpin's books. If you want to learn the basics to building a solid face frame cabinet with raised panel doors or frameless cabinets, this is an amazing introduction into the world of cabinetry as the author not only describes the steps but also gives you ACTUAL DIMENSIONS for both 5/8" and 3/4" materials for cabinets that are in the standard 3" widths. Not many people realize the merits of proulx's hybrid face frame/frameless cabinet which enable you to save yourself a lot of grief and pain in attaching european hinges and drawer slides to the cabinet sides directly without having to shim out to accomodate the inner lip of the face frame. This is the first book that I've encountered that describes this process. Finally, his section on frameless (or FULL ACCESS) cabinetry is invaluable for folks who don't want to buy a jointer and a planer (both are required) for machining solid wood for face frames. This is also one of the first books to explore this area of cabinetry. Lest you think that european frameless is junk, I recommend poggenpohl or omega cabinets as references. Yes, the pictures of the cabinets are rather hideous because they utilize low grade plywood slab doors, but you can easily build cabinets that rival those that you see at home depot with SUPERIOR case construction methods but using raised panel doors. I would recommend using pocket screws to attach the face frame to the carcase instead of nails as well as using either confirmat screws, biscuits or assembly screws (NOT drywall screws) for assembling the carcases. Realize that if you are serious about building your own kitchen cabinets and you want them to turn out good, you are going to need to INVEST some money in good tools including a table saw. You can forgo the slider by building a cheap miter sled but if you're going to be doing this in the future, I would strongly recommend the sliding table attachment by delta or jessem or dewalt or purchasing a guided circular saw rail like eurekazone or festool. Lastly, I would strongly recommend using prefinished material either plywood or melamine as the finishing process for my eleven kitchen cabinets easily consumed just as much time as building them.

This is a great book. I just finished building 27 face frame cabinets using 3/4" melamine and oak face frames. This book truly made the whole process simple. After receiving estimates from cabinet makers and going to major hardware stores, I decided to get this book and go for it. The lowest quote for cabinets only by a contractor was $18,000 and major hardware store $10,000 (I install). It will cost about $5,000 total for cabinets, hardware & doors doing it myself. I was a little skeptical at first but have no regrets now and would do it all over again. In fact, some of my wife's friends are already telling me what they want, and I'm not even complete with my kitchen. With the money I saved by doing it myself, I bought a new table saw, joiner and rewired my garage. I am a novice woodworker at best, with construction background. This book guides you clearly from beginning to end. I read and studied the book for a few weeks before starting (I had to wire my garage) and assembling the cabinets was easier than I thought. Cut lists are provided for several cabinet sizes (widths) along with easy to read and understand instructions and sketches that make the whole process very simple. From the information I learned from this book I was able to design and build a very big pantry that my wife loves. When I had a question or if something was't clear to me, I would email Danny and he always responded within 1 day. As with any project, it helps to have a plan and this book provides planning methods with enough flexability to make changes easily. Another advantage is you have time to make changes and incorporate them without cost. If you did this with a contractor the bill would start to grow. I would recommend having a good tablesaw (I bought a Delta Unisaw), 2 drill guns, a joiner, a planer would be nice but I did without, sander, etc. I did build a workbench 7' x 2', the same height as my table saw, on wheels for about $50. You can use this for a place for wood to land after pushing thru the saw as well as assembling cabinets.I did look at other books before getting this one and they didn't seem as 'user friendly'. The sketches and diagrams are very helpful also. Overall, the book was great for me, I'd recommend it to anyone who know how to swing a hammer. It was definitely money well spent. Buy it.Ed Jaworski [email protected]

If I could give more stars, I would. I've never built anything out of wood before, and I just finished building all my kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I did not use melamine (the author is a fan of this material), as it would not be good for resale value in my particular area. I used polyurethaned birch plywood for the kitchen cabinets, and painted MDF for the bathroom cabinets. Using the author's instructions, they turned out very well, with very little hassle. The author has a no-nonsense approach to building cabinets (e.g., using screws in a butt joint, rather than time-consuming dados/rabbets). This saved me a lot of time and hassle. Since I was a beginner when I started this project, it was especially appealing. Certain other books were overwhelming to me because of the amount of space dedicated just to joinery. I've nothing against these other methods, but it was refreshing to see that they weren't actually necessary. Given the limited amount of time I had to build quality cabinets, it was the obvious choice for me.I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to build his/her own cabinets, regardless of experience level.Also, I emailed the author to make sure the cabinets/cabinet legs would support my concrete countertops, and received a reply within 24 hours. A lot of authors will forget about the little people once they are published, but not this guy! (BTW, there was no support problems.)

Modern materials and methods means particle board and particle board screws with solid wood face frames and solid frame and panel doors that overlap the cabinet opening, and modern hidden hinges and modern european plastic feet and modern drawer slide hardware. If you want to optimize the look of your kitchen with minimum cost, this is the book for you. Step by step, very good writing, solid construction teaching. If you're into more traditional frame and panel construction using solid wood and/or high grade veneered plywood, rabbet joinery, mortise and tenon joinery or dovetail joinery, butt or knife hinges with flush fit doors, then this book is NOT for you. This book will teach you how to build cost effective cabinets using modern techniques and modern materials and it will teach you very effectively.

This book is a great how to guide to get started building kitchen cabinets. With this book and a saw you can quickly be on your way to building your own cabinets. It's not a do all end all tomb of cabinet knowledge, but it will give you all you need to build cabinets that compete with any of the prefab cabinets on the market today. A great way to using your woodworking skills and create something you will be proud of. Danny has done a great job of taking a complicated task with a lot of variables and chunked it down to simple, easy to follow steps.