Throwing back to how I Built all of my Kitchen Cabinets

This was one of the biggest “I don’t have any idea what I’m doing” moments I had during the renovation. A kitchen cabinet is really just a box with doors on it… right?…. right? Well I set out to build our kitchen one cabinet (and 2×4) at a time and I am still pretty happy with how it turned out to this day. Wish I had a LOT more pictures of myself during the process but back in 2015 I had a crappy cell phone and a rather nice camera that I also didn’t want anywhere near construction work… So I will always lament how many more pictures I always wish I had taken! See the kitchen today by going here.

Its pretty amazing to read back and realize how much has changed here at Grandma’s house! Here is the original post:

Welcome to the final wind down to my full kitchen reveal! You’ve seen my kitchen island (and how I built the butcher block on top of it) and my kitchen sink base that I also built.

Today we’ll be moving on to the big post about how to build your own kitchen cabinets.

The kitchen cabinets turned into my own little project, it was something I was equally stressed and terrified about and, don’t get me wrong, they are NOT perfect, but I’m very happy with them.

(8/1/2019 A lot has changed in my life since this post came out four years ago. I’m a single gal now and have completely transformed my home making it truly my own. I am still so totally thrilled with the kitchen cabinets I built, since this post they’ve gone through their own transformations and I just finished remodeling my entire kitchen! CHECK IT OUT HERE!)

Doing so much of the work here alone actually saved me on material in some places. I couldn’t build actual cabinet “boxes” because I wouldn’t be able to lift them into place myself.

So, I built all of my “cabinets” in place.

Just about everyone in my life questioned my choice to build my kitchen cabinets when I could certainly find decent cabinets used that I could modify to work. I would normally have leaned that way (we all know I’m a refinisher and not a builder!) but I wholly expected that trying to get premade kitchen cabinets to work on my very crooked walls and in my specific kitchen would have been far more trouble.

On top of all of that, I had my heart set on using three old windows for cabinet doors. In my mind there wasn’t any choice and it was what I had my stubbornness set on and Lord help anyone who would try and stop me when that happens.

Here is a closer look on exactly how I built each cabinet. With the kitchen basically done the over the refrigerator cabinet (and rolling pantry) was just screaming to be built. Just look at how empty that spot is! So, after work one day, I told Diesel (my dog) that it was time to get to work!

No, the bottom of the cabinet is NOT sitting on top of the refrigerator, the angle of the picture makes it look like that a little bit but I built the bottom frame a good two inches above the top of the refrigerator.

Just like with the rest of the kitchen cabinets I started on the outside and worked my way in one board at a time. I measured and secured a board across the back and cut two more identical boards for across the front. From there I secured the outside boards (four of them) and then secured the two front boards that were identical to the board across the back.

Everything I leveled as I went. This turned into a four foot wide by two foot deep cabinet so I didn’t mess around when it came to getting it WELL SECURED. I used 3 inch long deck screws liberally. The board in the center across the top of the cabinet is screwed directly up into floor joists.

Now I connected the top and bottom frames together with boards running vertically across the front in three places on the cabinet.

These I cut the same length and forced the top and bottom frames to match. If this had not been a 100 year old house with nothing level there would not have been any “forcing” but nothing here is straight so I improvise and work with how things are.

I then had to crawl into the cabinet to cover the bottom of it with scrap 1xs. (Which I had a ton of leftover from trimming out the whole house.)

I covered the entire cabinet with 1x4s (the same boards I used on all of my trim etc) and you can see the end where I used leftover bead board that I put on all of my ceilings.

I painted it with two coats of my flat white trim and ceiling paint and then put two coats of a semi gloss poly acrylic. From there I took some measurements and, after work the next day, stopped at my local lumber yard and had them cut my doors from a piece of smooth 3/4″ plywood. (You can also try adding cut to size glass cabinet inserts to your door panels.)

All of my painting had to be done inside because my temperatures are now dropping below freezing at night now so I just said “forget it” covered the floor in a bunch of towels and got to work in my entryway.

I don’t know if your dog immediately has to sit or lie down on anything you put on the floor but Diesel is entirely that way so, I laid down extra towels for him so he could “help”.

The doors got the same white paint and poly treatment as all the rest of the cabinets. Then, my shiny knobs and hinges!

It is absolutely wonderful to have the cabinets in the kitchen FINALLY all complete!