DIY kitchen cabinets

How to Build Cabinets

When looking how to build cabinets, they comes in essentially four parts.

The box that makes up the sides, back, top, bottom and shelves.
The accessories inside the cabinet, such as spinning or movable wire or plastic shelves and such.
The front door.
Accessories for the front door, such as hinges, and door handles.
I found that about one third to one half of the cost sits with the first part, the box. Now if you look at the box, it’s normally made from laminated chip board. Why is it so expensive? It’s really tough to make and have it all line up properly. Hold onto that thought for now.

Between one third and one half of the cost lies with the door cover. Here’s one place that I decided purchasing the cover would be more economical as it’s really tough to make a nice consistent door finish and I don’t want an amateur looking job when done. So I decided to bite the bullet here.

Finally, all the accessories are definitely easier to purchase then make, so enough said.

Making the Box

As we just discussed, one of the cheapest in material costs, but still accounts for close to one half of the purchase cost when buying it precompleted, is the actual cabinet box. This has been mainly because companies can create an automated jig system that accurately drills all the necessary holes in exactly the right spot for a perfect build and fit. If you tried to do this yourself, I can tell you from experience, a hole 1mm out will be no good. But now, let me tell you how to build cabinets without this problem!

Here’s where a revolutionary new tool comes to light. It is created by a company called Veritas Tools Inc. It’s their Veritas System 32 Drilling Jig. With this baby, you can create dynamite accurate drill holes with just a little practice. I intend on creating a video series on how to use this tool, as it is quite inexpensive, (less then $400), and really makes cabinet making super easy! Here’s a couple of pictures curtsey of Vertias Tools Inc.

To the left is an example of a drilled cabinet ready for final assembly.

I was fortunate enough to go on a live course with a local dealer to learn how to build cabinets using this ingenious jig, but I will warn you, without help, you will struggle! Without help, you won’t even see that necessity of such a tool when learning how to build cabinets.