On the kitchen cabinet gables, layout the position of the drawers, shelves and cut out the kick space. Pre-drill and countersink for the screws. The parts are cut out on a table saw and assembled according to your pre-determined plan. For a 24" counter top, homemade or without a splash, the gable should be adjusted accordingly. The base cabinet module, as shown, is intended to use a standard formica counter top of 25 1/2" wide, with splash, so the width of the cabinet gable is 23 3/4". These modules, fastened together, form our set of kitchen cabinets. For the base we use strips, again to save on the cost of material and have a fastening surface for the counter top. Since the base kitchen cabinet has a counter top, it doesn't require a solid top such as the wall cabinet. The base cabinet has a ledger strip under the counter top, which attaches to the wall. The base cabinet, the one with the formica counter top, usually doesn't need a solid back as does the wall or upper kitchen cabinets, which depend on the back for support through screws on the wall. Basically, a set of kitchen cabinets today consists of a series of modules or boxes comprising two gables, the sides, a top and bottom and shelves. I also use course drywall screws to hold the cabinet shelf in the dado, as well as the parts together. I prefer to dado my kitchen cabinet shelves for two reasons: support for the shelf and to remove the melamine surface to enable glue to stick. Melamine with its hard finish does not take glue well. The gables, shelves, tops and bottoms are usually 5/8" melamine. Since the kitchen cabinets are made in modules, every cabinet door has its own gable on which the doors are attached. With the European kitchen cabinets came the multicore plywoods and fiberboards, melamine being the most popular. These are expensive bits, but saves the cost of store built cabinet doors. The router bits come in 1/2" shanks, so a 1/2" router is necessary to run them. One can purchase these fine doors and build kitchen cabinets to suit the size of the doors or buy the router bits to make your own. Most shops make their own raised panel doors of oak and exotic woods or MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) routed out to look like a raised panel door and painted with lacquer. The difficult thing for the do-it-yourselfer in building kitchen cabinets is making the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. They are still in modules, but fit your particular space, taste and budget. Now a millwork shop will send out an estimator, measure your kitchen and design the cabinets to fit. In the old days carpenters used to come into a home and build the kitchen cabinets in place. You can buy a set of kitchen cabinets in a box and assemble them yourself. Mass production has come to the kitchen cabinet industry. Today we see no hinges from the outside, no face frame, just the kitchen cabinet doors overlapping the sides of the modules they come in. Their hinges were visible adding to the decor and ambiance. Most doors were rather plain, one piece, made from solid core plywood instead of the veneer and multicore ply we have today. The kitchen cabinet style today relies on the design and shape of the cabinet doors themselves rather than the framing of the doors and fancy hinges. Cabinet doors could be easily adjusted three ways, drawers rolled easily on steel drawer slides, and there was no face frame to contend with. Frameless European kitchen cabinets were born. The design of these hinges revolutionized the kitchen cabinet industry. Our globe got smaller and European hinges came onto the marketplace. Hinge design further evolved into a self-closing style, including artistic shapes and colors that forced everyone to re-do their kitchen cabinets. The doors were held shut with spring and roller catches. The concealed pin hinges were popular for awhile, making the cabinet doors flush with the frame. Some hinges inset into the cabinet door giving a 3/8" thick overlap, others allowed the full thickness of the kitchen cabinet doors to overlap the frame. The face frame, used the classic Amerock hinges mounted on the face frame. The cabinet 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. Building kitchen cabinets, considered part of a modern home decor, is the ultimate test of a finish carpenter's skill. Building a set of kitchen cabinets is a project that requires woodworking skills.
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