Michael Straessle
Michael Straessle has written professionally about the construction industry since 1988. He authored What a Strange Little Man, among other books, and his work has appeared in various online publications. Straessle earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in professional/technical writing.
By Michael Straessle, eHow Contributor
Do it yourselfer's everywhere tackle kitchen cabinet building at one time or another. Knowing the basics concerning kitchen cabinetry goes a long way in building the custom kitchen cabinet needed. Cabinets are usually no more than 84-inches in height with an 18-inch space separating the base cabinets from the upper cabinets.
General Knowledge
Regardless of the method used by a cabinetmaker, they all have common attributes. Kitchen base cabinets (the floor cabinets) with the countertop in place measure 36 inches from the floor. Without the countertop, the base cabinets are 35 and a quarter inches in height. The depth of the kitchen base cabinet varies a little, but 90 percent of the time, they are 24 inches deep including the face frame.
The wall cabinets, sometimes called "upper" cabinets, are constructed with two sides and four shelves. The most common height is 30 inches and the most common depth is 12 inches including the face frame. The same method for cutting the shelves is used on the wall (upper) and base cabinets. Using three quarter-inch material, the width of the shelves is one and a half inch narrower than the overall width of the cabinet. For example, a 30-inch wide kitchen cabinet has shelves measuring 28 and a half inches.
The backs of the cabinets are made from quarter-inch plywood. The top and bottom shelves in an upper cabinet have nailing strips on them allowing a way to secure the cabinet to the wall. The doors and drawers are one inch wider than the openings.
Base Cabinet Construction
Kitchen base cabinets sides are 23 by 35 and a quarter inches made from three quarter-inch material. The bottom shelf is four inches from the floor and the second shelf is 11 inches from the top of the bottom shelf. The front bottom corner of the ends have four-by-four-inch block cutout for the toe boards, which is the part of the base cabinet that meets the floor. It is recessed four inches to allow people to stand against the front of the cabinet without stumping their toes.
Cutting the shelves includes cutting a six-inch wide piece to use as a nailing strip. This piece is as wide as the shelves and is secured between the sides of the base cabinet at the top and back. When the cabinet is set in place, screws are used to secure the cabinet to the wall through the six-inch nailing strip.
The backs are cut at 30 inches in height to save material. This way, backs for the upper cabinets and the base cabinets can be cut at the same time. For example, several "blocks" can be cut at 30 inches. A block is some length by 48 inches wide. This means the upper and base cabinets that are 18 inches wide have backs that can be cut from the same block of material.
Upper Cabinet Construction
Upper cabinets are constructed with top and bottom shelves located three quarters of an inch from the top and bottom edge of the ends. The space between the shelving differs depending on the need for particular cabinets, but usually run about eight and half inches. When the shelves are cut to the width needed, two nailing strips are cut as well. Unlike the base cabinet nailing strips, these are usually one and a half to two inches wide. They are secured to the inside of the top and bottom shelves and are used to secure the cabinet to the wall.
For upper cabinets wider than 30 inches with no face frames, add nailing strips to the middle shelves as well to give them needed strength. It is recommended not to build frameless cabinets wider than 30 inches.
For cabinets wider than 30 inches with face frames, add a support block behind the stiles (vertical pieces of the frame that divide the door openings). Make the support narrower than the stile. For example, if the stile is two inches wide, make the support one and a half inches wide.
Face Frame Construction
The face frame is constructed from either plywood or solid lumber. The plywood face frames are the easiest to put together because there is no need for glue or bar clamps. The plywood frames are joined with a corrugated fastener and include two side pieces and three rails (horizontal pieces). Two of them are at the top of the face frame four and a half inches apart for the drawer opening. The third rail is located at the bottom of the frame and is the bottom of the door opening. Stiles are vertical pieces that divide the face frame opening into smaller holes.
For open frame cabinets (no doors), you can create a faux solid wood face frame by applying veneer edge band to the edges of the frame where you can see that it is plywood. To do this, cut the veneer with a utility knife to the needed lengths, and apply it to the edges with a hot iron. Edge band material is one inch wide, so you will need to sand the excess with a sanding block and 100-grit sandpaper.
Solid lumber face frames have to be constructed by gluing the parts together and clamping them with bar clamps. This is the method used for the best results. There is a fastener available to connect the pieces as in the plywood frames, but they generally split the solid lumber and the joints aren't as tight.
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