Kitchen Cabinets

[Derek Latimer]

I have attempted to make kitchen cabinets myself, mostly because of the cheap crap that is offered out there as cabinets.

They are completely made of pine and I have routed the doors myself. Again, this is my first time and I am no where near a professional. I have always been interested in woodworking, but this is really my first attempt at any real "project".

The last pic is the breakfast bar that I have added to the kitchen.

All of these have been made with a Kreg jig.

[justin waldron]

That's because your autograph is worth money!!!  HAHA!!

Jens Jensen said:

I use a black marker   haha

Name , Date

justin waldron said:

I have to agree with Jens and Jay on this one.  I take pride in everything that I make, I don't cut corners and I am certainly much more less expensive on my cabinetry that Merillat/Thomasville etc., I also only use the best products that I can get my hands on.  My cabinetry also gets a burnt stamp that says handmade by Justin Waldron, so my name goes on every product that I sell. 

[Mike Atencio]

Nice. Did you use any plans?

[Steven Reynolds]

I agree with most of your points, unfortunatly thiere are professionals that just work for production instead of for the love of the finished article, some of these are "wood Butchers" and some just trying to make a living till they are able to get work where they can produce Quality crafted woodwork,

I have seen students quallify and just work and work for companys making furniture day in day out (good quality too) but not love what they are doing as it's time sensative, than have watched them change jobs and work for family company that make hand crafted furniture and I see the change in not only the stunning furniture they make but thier attitude to thier job, they are happier and love going to work and no-longer clock watch for clocking off time,

Me I love making furniture, I never rush anything, I love the challange of making something new, I make a lot for family as have 11 grand-children to make xmas presents for, I am retired so Wood working for me is not just hobby but part of my life,

My wife and children only buy me woodworking tools for birthdays and xmas so I now have good collection of Festool and Kreg tools, these do help me make better projects, saying that still use my older tools as they are part of me,

I still teach the local Scouts who wish to learn my craft, this is so rewarding when they finish a project and you see thier parent faces when they give it to them,

anyway keep working on the wood as I will and hope we all strive to be the best we can

Steve

Jay Boutwell said:

How do you class the ones like me? I may do this as a profession but I don't do this as a profession just to make money. My first love in life was law enforcement and once that was done I needed something to do to fill my idle time. I turned to woodworking as a hobby and that hobby turned in to necessity to step it up to a profession. The reason was demand from a group of customers that came to me requesting cabinets and other custom wood working. When this happened there is overhead expenses so you have to pay for overhead. Yes I charge money for my work as a way to pay for my expenses however the amount I charge is not prohibitive for a customer whom requests my services.

In reality there should be no difference between the intent of a hobbyists and a professional in how you perform the working of wood. If there is then you are neither a hobbyists or a professional but fits the term called a "wood butcher".

So being called a professional does not class me into someone who has no thoughts of craftsmanship or intent of making the project sub-standard by taking short cuts just for the sake of making money.

Therefore when a beginner picks up his tools and applies it to wood his thoughts should not be aimed at building a sub-standard project but doing it the best of his knowledge and ability. When a professional picks up his tools and begins a project his intent should be the same and should be actually, in most cases, produce a better product than that of the hobbyists due mainly because of experience and equipment. If this is not the case then the term "wood butcher" comes to mind.

Just something to think about when you begin to put labels on a "professional" and a "hobbyists"

Jay Boutwell said:

Since this such a broad statement, I certainly would like to hear what the differences are. 
Steve said:

There is a difference between someone who does woodworking for a hobby out of love of creating beautiful furniture and someone who thinks s/he thinks they can make money doing it.

[Jay Boutwell]

Hi Steven,  It looks like you said about the same thing that I said and yes there are the labled professional whom does exactly what you said, but there are also the hobbyist that do the same thing.  The difference in my line of how I do things is that I do not cut corners and I use the best materials that I can buy and use the best construction techniques that is out there.  

 

One thing that is of major diffference is that I build truly a custom cabinet as I do not use production style production meaning that I do not cut parts that are the same of a dozen or more cabinets but carefully cut a part for each cabinet as I build it.  All of my work is truly custom as I sell it as just that and no two pieces are alike.  You go into a big box and or a cabinet dealer and you will see different styles of cabinets and some are more dolled up with features that they class as a custom cabinet and it cost more the the others.  If you start looking the only real difference is the gagets that are in the cabinet box.  The measurments are the same size as the cheaper ones and the construction is exactly the same method.  Yes some will have the dove tailed drawer but the quality is such as done cheaply with loose gapped joints.  There is no custom work here as the next cabinet called custom will have the very same thing with the same joinery.  Whys is this?  Production where mass parts are made by someone who stands at a station and his or her job is to pull a lever and or push a button and a part is made in mass production.  Mass production is just that so where is the custom in the products that they are eventually assembled in?   Joe, Dick, Mary and Jane will all have the very same cabinet, and it is just in a different house up the street.  

 

In the business world where money is the object words are used to entise the buyer who falls for the fancy words and wanting to buy a high grade cabinet will fall for the word "Custom" when in reality it is the very same cabinet box that just has a greater amount of gagets installed.  So what you are buying is a box with custom logo stuck on it and filled with gagets that sit on a shelf that can be added to an apple box and you get basically the same thing.  A custom apple box.  They will all be a standard width and height.

 

When I put the work custom on my work it means that it is a piece of custom work with each part built individually to fit just that cabinet.  That way it fits and you do not need the wood filler can or a tube of gap filler.  If the cabinet needs to fit a location where there is 27&1/2 inches in width the cabinet box is build to fit 27&1/2 inches and not a standard box from a pile of that are all 24 inches wide and you make up the difference by adding 3&1/2 inches of filler pieces.  It is just like the old trick of saying the cabinet is made of "all wood product" when it is said to make the customer believe that it is solid wood.  Well the statement all wood product includes paper and sawdust by the customer does not hear all wood product, but in his mind he hears what he thinks is it meaning it is all wood.  That is the same as saying a dolled up box taken from the cheaper pile becomes a custom cabinet because it has now a few gagets installed.  You still have the cheap box.

 

Going back to the comment that some do woodworking as a hobby out of his love of creating and some that  do it to make money, yes there is a difference and it depends on what is the motive and work ethics of the person building it.  There are some who build quality and others who build nothing but junk.  It is just as offen in the novice or hobbist woodworker as it is in the professional.  Some of the poor quality stuff build by the hobbist and or novice is due to knowledge and tools  but again some is just "bang it out theory" but this is also found in the professioal.  The main difference here is that the professional should know better and should not have an excuse for doing it.  Some times it is also that the person calling himself an professional in really not quite ready to be called a professional and or not yet developed his ethics to be a professional.

 

I also teach a class of woodworkers here every saturday morning starting at 9 AM during the late summer to just before Christmas and I see the difference in each persons work methods.  That is why I am teaching them not on just how to build but how to build their style into how it should be built.

  
Steven Reynolds said:

I agree with most of your points, unfortunatly thiere are professionals that just work for production instead of for the love of the finished article, some of these are "wood Butchers" and some just trying to make a living till they are able to get work where they can produce Quality crafted woodwork,

I have seen students quallify and just work and work for companys making furniture day in day out (good quality too) but not love what they are doing as it's time sensative, than have watched them change jobs and work for family company that make hand crafted furniture and I see the change in not only the stunning furniture they make but thier attitude to thier job, they are happier and love going to work and no-longer clock watch for clocking off time,

Me I love making furniture, I never rush anything, I love the challange of making something new, I make a lot for family as have 11 grand-children to make xmas presents for, I am retired so Wood working for me is not just hobby but part of my life,

My wife and children only buy me woodworking tools for birthdays and xmas so I now have good collection of Festool and Kreg tools, these do help me make better projects, saying that still use my older tools as they are part of me,

I still teach the local Scouts who wish to learn my craft, this is so rewarding when they finish a project and you see thier parent faces when they give it to them,

anyway keep working on the wood as I will and hope we all strive to be the best we can

Steve

Jay Boutwell said:

How do you class the ones like me? I may do this as a profession but I don't do this as a profession just to make money. My first love in life was law enforcement and once that was done I needed something to do to fill my idle time. I turned to woodworking as a hobby and that hobby turned in to necessity to step it up to a profession. The reason was demand from a group of customers that came to me requesting cabinets and other custom wood working. When this happened there is overhead expenses so you have to pay for overhead. Yes I charge money for my work as a way to pay for my expenses however the amount I charge is not prohibitive for a customer whom requests my services.

In reality there should be no difference between the intent of a hobbyists and a professional in how you perform the working of wood. If there is then you are neither a hobbyists or a professional but fits the term called a "wood butcher".

So being called a professional does not class me into someone who has no thoughts of craftsmanship or intent of making the project sub-standard by taking short cuts just for the sake of making money.

Therefore when a beginner picks up his tools and applies it to wood his thoughts should not be aimed at building a sub-standard project but doing it the best of his knowledge and ability. When a professional picks up his tools and begins a project his intent should be the same and should be actually, in most cases, produce a better product than that of the hobbyists due mainly because of experience and equipment. If this is not the case then the term "wood butcher" comes to mind.

Just something to think about when you begin to put labels on a "professional" and a "hobbyists"

Jay Boutwell said:

Since this such a broad statement, I certainly would like to hear what the differences are. 
Steve said:

There is a difference between someone who does woodworking for a hobby out of love of creating beautiful furniture and someone who thinks s/he thinks they can make money doing it.

[Steven Reynolds]

I agree with what you say, and like it that you teach your craft, Yes I say "craft" as you apear to put as much love into your work as I do so it is a craft, when you care about it that much,

I to build only custom work I do get repeat orders for things like book boxes that hang on the wall, I make them to the size I am asked to and don't think I have made the same size twice, they do look good when you see them on the wall full as they were intended to,

anyway must go I have a Kitchen to build for my Autistic granson, His xmas present.

Happy Wood crafting keep teaching as I will, (hope we manage to enspire some epic wood workers)

Steve

[Suzy]

I love what you did there, and that breakfast bar is awesome.  The top is beautiful.  Love it!