Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets by Jere Cary

[kmealy 13,459]

Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets by Jere Cary

 

Highly recommended.

A little background: This was one of the first woodworking books that I ever bought (1983).  While it was 1997 before I ever built some kitchen cabinets, and have done none since, I found this book valuable for general building of any sort of case goods.  Given the age, it's largely based on face-frame cabinets (cf., European frameless) and laminate (e.g., Formica) countertops, but that's OK.  I have been reading some old FWW magazines of that same era and ran across one of his early articles there.

 

Jere Cary was both a professional cabinetmaker and later a teacher.

 

Of particular general help is how to build carcases, doors and drawers.   For most items, alternative designs are presented, e.g., inset, half- and full-overlay doors and drawers.   At the end of the construction chapters is a section on how to recover from goofs (not that I've ever needed that).

 

Chapters are

1. Cabinets and Kitchens
2. Story Sticks (how to layout an entire kitchen on a few sticks, helps avoid errors)
3. Selecting and estimating materials
4. Preparing the Materials
5. Case Joinery
6. Sanding
7. Case Assembly
8. Face Frames
9. Door and Drawer Faces
10. Drawer Construction
11. Installing Cabinet Hardware
12. Toeboards
13. Countertop Underlayment
14. Cabinet Installation
15. Countertop Surfaces
16. Finishing Materials
17. Jigs and Fixture

Appendices

1. Appliance Sizes
2. Tools
3. Plan of Procedure
4. Forms for the Estimate of Materials, CUtting List and Panel Layout

 

[Gunny 59,454]

Looks like an interesting book.  Put this in my "to order" box and will see how it turns out.

 

Anyone looking for it, shop around but it is available here: Building-Your-Kitchen-Cabinets-Layout-Materials-Construction-Installation

Edited July 4, 2020 by Gunny

[kmealy 13,459]

available on the used market for a bit less than $5, eBay, discount book sellers, etc.