The Horticulturalist

I am looking at options for a new kitchen. I would like wood cabinets (plywood or MDF would work) as opposed to the usual laminated chipboard that comes standard from Lowes/Home Depot/IKEA etc.

My reason for this (the wood) is that when if/when it starts to look worn in the future it can be cleaned and painted again and the door style changed to match if we want to. I also want 'European style' where there is no lip behind the cabinet doors, I don't know if that will make it more or less expensive.

Has anyone used a cabinet maker rather than from a box store? Did you find the price to be competitive? Any tips for going this route?

Bob

Some cousins did, for a couple of cabinets, using a local place. He then basically copied how they did it for the rest of the cabinets.

Price was good apparently, but he was able to get the wood from a local lumber yard and got a discount some how.

Down our way, there's a vocational school that is very good and if speed isn't a primary concern, you can ask them and the teacher comes around for measurements and students make them for pretty much cost of materials and not much else extra and from what I've seen of some of the work else where, it was really very good stuff.

So that might be a idea but the thing about speed, it's all got to be in term time and they do it on a first come basis so it might not work for everyone.

Michael

I made my own custom cabinet, countertop, and everything else for a nook in my family room to turn it into a computer area. The only reason that everything was custom made was that the size of the nook was non standard so was custom made in order to make everything fit perfectly in the space. The doors to the cabinet would be too expensive and difficult to make so I first looked for doors that would approximately fit in the space and then built the cabinet around the doors.

The doors were maple but I couldn't find maple at the lumber yard so I used another wood that had a similar grain and color to maple. After it was stained, it was very difficult to tell the difference between the different woods. Making cabinets from scratch is very time consuming and the wood is expensive since it is not purchased in large quantities so it would be much less expensive going to a home decorating center and ordering custom made cabinets since they have various sizes that are mass produced in many different types of wood purchased in large quantities and they have small filler pieces to make up for any possible gaps making everything fit together perfectly.

The difference between European style doors and American style doors are the hinges. American style doors have simple hinges that are exterior where you can see them where as the European style doors have the hinges on the inside. European style hinges are significantly more expensive and can be adjusted to move the door to eliminate any gap but unless the cabinet is built to exact specifications, there will be a gap at the edge of the cabinet once you eliminate the gap between the doors.

Usually high quality cabinets have high quality wood on the front of the cabinet (doors, trim, etc.) but cheaper wood on the inside to keep the price down. The cabinet that I made probably cost twice the amount just for materials than a similar completed cabinet from a home decorating center but since they didn't have the correct size, I didn't have any choice but to custom make the cabinet.

The Horticulturalist

Thanks Bob and Michael,

Making them ourselves will not be an option, though I wish we were more handy. I am game for painting them and the doors to save money if that part will add a significant cost. I have done a bit of research on websites and blogs from people who have painted using various methods.

current kitchen in an old Victorian house has the lip type cabinet, but the doors are hinged on the inside and it has gaps and crooked doors but it's pretty old. I don't really want to see gaps, I didn't have that in previous kitchens with that style and I guess I would look to see examples of the cabinet persons work.

King Gimp

If you have one of these places nearby you might be able to get a great deal on used stuff which can be painted.

http://www.habitat.org/restores

Most of the stuff in my local store has been pulled from houses that are a couple of years old, very lightly used. We have found plenty of euro type stuff (internal hinge/no lip)

Michael

There are several different European style hinges but they are all big and usually countersunk into the door and look something like this. These types can be adjusted to line up the doors.



If they are small like the following, those are also mounted on the inside but you can see the part where the hinge comes together at the edge of the door and those are American style and are not adjustable except by drilling new holes in the cabinets and doors and remounting the doors.



I suspect that if the cabinet is old and they are using American style hinges, the door may be sagging and the only way to correct that would be to drill new holes and remount the hinge slightly higher or lower but in the same place for all cabinets if the hinge can be seen with the doors closed.

Michael

You could replace all the doors and drawer fronts if the frame is in good shape and you are going to paint them as well as the cabinets. If you measure correctly and use American style hinges, they shouldn't be very difficult to install. If you are not comfortable installing them yourself, you could hire a handyman to install them. You can use the following link to estimate the cost of the doors and door fronts (they are sold by the square foot to your dimensions) and some can be made of MFD to several types of wood (maple, oak, or cherry) for all depending on the price you are willing to pay.

Use the following link to calculate the prices for your kitchen and to determine if you think that may be a reasonable way to go.

http://www.cabinetdoorworld.com/cabinet-doors/

You'll probably save 80% or more than the cost of new wood cabinets. If this site was available when I painted my cabinets about 10 years ago, I would have replaced all the doors and drawer fronts since my doors were warped and I would have likely used European style hinges (I have the tools to countersink the hinge).

Mummy in the foothills

Ours are Oak custom, the builder had a local cabinet guy come in an lay out the kitchen for him. So he built cupboards to fit the space, they are huge. The doors and drawer front are all solid wood, so can be sanded, we've already done all the bottom doors as they were getting nasty looking. Definitely a better look than home depot. But seeing the sizes aren't standard we can't just go an buy any replacement anything or add more matching cupboards without find a new cabinet maker as the one who did ours is no longer about.

The Horticulturalist

Michael,

We are in the process of buying a house, alas, the one we are offering on has a peach (!) colored laminate kitchen, so no hope for restoring it really.

We had offered on another house but the survey was not good. It had a wood kitchen and I had looked at the website you mention for the doors, I might use something like that in combo with a carpenter if his door costs are high for a new kitchen. There is a place local to where we are moving that makes wood and MDF doors at reasonable prices.

Michael

I know exactly the ones you mean. Some developers call them European style cabinets and believe it or not, advertise those as upgrade cabinets but personally I think they are ugly. Sometimes they are gray or some other color but to me they are not attractive no matter the color.

The Horticulturalist

They are grim, and not in great shape round the floor. I won't be sorry to see them go if we buy this house.

Orangepants

We also had ours custom made when we built our house 6 years ago and they are gorgeous but I agree with you - any changes you have to go custom again. But you can have all sorts of features etc and it is well worth it.

Michael

How does it look for your financing since you stated that you didn't have any credit score previously?

The Horticulturalist

Ah yes, that It's a long and rambly story, but we know the president of a local bank and he will give us a bridge loan to allow us to buy, the interest rate is the same as a mortgage.
We will build a credit score in the meantime (we have a car loan and now credit cards) and when that's at a level that will give us a decent enough score we will get a traditional mortgage with them. We have been approved for the first loan.

If we had 20% or more for a deposit then the credit score would not have been an issue and I think they would have loaned to us with zero score, but we only have enough for a 3% deposit.

Michael

Your credit score should rise quickly to over 700 and maybe as high as 800 (possibly in a few months) but it will take about 18 months to develop the history for a conventional or FHA loan. Hopefully housing prices will rise during that time giving you more equity and interest rates remain low.