Source for decently fitting kitchen cupboards?

[Poohbear]

We had a local small cabinet shop build our new kitchen cabinets last year. . Soft close drawers & hinges. NO PARTICLE board. Price wasn't much more than store bought. This shop is owner & 2 employees that build then install the work. Put quartz countertop ( it's actually a man made top ) on & that was pricey but has proven worth the cost

 

[NCL4701]

My kitchen project is nearly done, and I ditched the previous contractor who was wedded to the one cupboard supplier and wouldn’t deal with any custom designed cupboards. Lucky to find someone who has been in the construction business a long time and knew what I wanted and how to do it. He ordered cupboards with thin Formica linings from one source (easily washed), doors from another source, and made and painted the styles, rails, kick plates, end panels etc himself. It has been great because he would ask me how I wanted something and it gave me a lot of flexibility. For example I started out assuming I wanted all the handles in the middles of the inset panels for symmetry, but when it came time to put them on he pointed out that on the lower drawers on the refrigerators that would mean bending down another 8 inches, so I changed my mind. This kitchen is all about making things easier. Two doors arrived warped and have to go back, but by and large the design provides the snug fit I wanted.

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1) Very nice! Obviously a custom, or at least customized, job by a skilled cabinet maker.

2) I used to do some stuff like that and custom furniture. Got to the point it was either quit my day job and go into business or quit the carpentry so I don’t still do it. The problem with getting the style cabinets you wanted is all because of that little rabbet around the edge of the door. A “modern” door sits entirely outside the cabinet opening on European (i.e. “cup”) hinges. Those hinges, unless they’re really cheap ones, can be adjusted all over everywhere. With the door just sitting on the outside of the cabinet, there’s no way a mis-sizing or mis-alignment can cause the door to stick or drag. Precisely sizing and aligning the door isn’t required. With your cabinet’s little rabbet, it will seal much better but if it’s mis-sized or mis-aligned it will cause dragging, sticking, or not shutting at all so more skill and care is required of the builder and installer. It’s not so much that the style of cabinetry is out of fashion, skill and care are out of fashion probably because few people are willing to pay for them.

 

[BAP]

My kitchen project is nearly done, and I ditched the previous contractor who was wedded to the one cupboard supplier and wouldn’t deal with any custom designed cupboards. Lucky to find someone who has been in the construction business a long time and knew what I wanted and how to do it. He ordered cupboards with thin Formica linings from one source (easily washed), doors from another source, and made and painted the styles, rails, kick plates, end panels etc himself. It has been great because he would ask me how I wanted something and it gave me a lot of flexibility. For example I started out assuming I wanted all the handles in the middles of the inset panels for symmetry, but when it came time to put them on he pointed out that on the lower drawers on the refrigerators that would mean bending down another 8 inches, so I changed my mind. This kitchen is all about making things easier. Two doors arrived warped and have to go back, but by and large the design provides the snug fit I wanted.

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Looking good. Glad you were able to find someone who was able to do what you wanted and not what they insisted you should have.

 

[Magicman]

I love the personal touch on a very professionally done renewal project. It appears very user friendly and you should really enjoy it.

Now how 'bout a couple more pictures showing the sink area?

 

[ACDII]

If I still had a 24 x 24 work shop I could make all the cabinets for my kitchen and spend maybe half as much for materials, but I don't, my big tablesaw got wet from a roof leak so the cast iron top is ruined, the wings are ruined, so I would have to rebuild the saw. I have a large router table on the left wing and a dual purpose Incrajig setup for the saw and router. I just don't have the room to do anything unless I kick all the cars out of the garage and set it up there, but that would require building a new work table. I miss my old shop.

 

[NCL4701]

If I still had a 24 x 24 work shop I could make all the cabinets for my kitchen and spend maybe half as much for materials, but I don't, my big tablesaw got wet from a roof leak so the cast iron top is ruined, the wings are ruined, so I would have to rebuild the saw. I have a large router table on the left wing and a dual purpose Incrajig setup for the saw and router. I just don't have the room to do anything unless I kick all the cars out of the garage and set it up there, but that would require building a new work table. I miss my old shop.

I retained all my tools when I stopped the custom furniture stuff. All on rollers so I can shove them off to the perimeter of the shop. Made enough to pay for the tools plus some so I don’t feel too bad about the $ tied up in equipment. Once in a blue moon I’ll roll them out to do something or other. Pretty disappointing to have the skills and equipment, then relinquish the equipment and lose the ability to do things you know would be cheap and easy if you just had the equipment. Most of the time they just sit there gathering dust with the raw cast iron waxed to prevent rust. Drill press, bandsaw, and miter saw are the only things that see much use.

Last time I did anything semi-serious we somehow busted a cherry raised panel door in the kitchen (kids still in the house at the time so too many suspects to know how it happened). Dusted off the shaper, planer, and table saw. Picked up some #1 cherry and didn’t take long to whip up a replacement door, countersink for the Euro hinge, stain, and spray varnish. No clue what it would have cost to have a cabinet shop do that.

 

[skeets]

That looks very good sheepfarmer,, ya done good !