r/cabinetry

If you were just starting out, what would be the first 5 things youd buy to build cabinets?

I have basic DIY tools like a Skil Saw, table saw, drill, etc, but want to start building cabinets. What are the first things I should be on the lookout for?

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u/gundam2017 — 10 hours ago

Climb under-mount drawer slide help

BLUM undermount help! Need help figuring this out, I bought 500mm slides (not full extension) and the instructions say for overlay drawer installs to mount the rails flush with the cabinet front, and to build the boxes 500m deep…but if these orange mounting clips are flush with the slide, the the drawer box sticks out the thickness of the material. All YouTube instal videos only set them back by 3mm…I donthave the space to set them back by the thickness of the material.

u/mont5000 — 11 hours ago

The only kitchen I ever designed, factory-built in Italy, installed in New York, no changes needed. Sharing the shop drawings.

8 years ago a family asked me to design their kitchen. First and only kitchen I ever did.

I trained as an architect in Minsk 40+ years ago but never practiced professionally. Moved into graphic design instead.

I designed the layout, picked the appliances (Wolf rangetop, Miele double oven, panel-ready Bosch dishwasher), specified natural oak finish, worked out the dimensions to fit the space. Then I sent it to a custom furniture factory in Italy. They produced the shop drawings you see below. 13 pages, every cabinet dimensioned to 1/8 of an inch.

The kitchen shipped to the US in a container. Installed with no changes. Not a single cabinet had to be trimmed or re-ordered.

Sharing this because most homeowners never see what a real shop drawing looks like. They see 3D renders from big-box store planners, or rough sketches on graph paper from contractors. This level of documentation, the kind you get from a real custom shop, is invisible to almost everyone remodeling a kitchen.

I'm retired now. This year I spent 10 months teaching myself modern coding tools and built a small free planner for homeowners at the very beginning of the process. Not shop drawings, nothing close to what the Italian factory produced. But it does what most free planners don't: side-by-side cost comparison across cabinet, layout with dimensions, a rough elevation view, a 3D perspective view, and a basic cabinet schedule you can hand to a contractor or cabinet shop instead of a Pinterest board.

Happy to answer questions about the design process, the metric-to-imperial conversion, working with an overseas factory, appliance selection, or anything else about how a custom kitchen actually gets specified.

u/Money_Professor_8717 — 9 hours ago

Mismatched cabinets - no stickers

Hello, trying to find a matching cabinet door to the one on the left. We just purchased this house and wanted to match them but can’t find any identifying marks of the maker.

Thank you!

u/CheffyOfficial — 10 hours ago

I made a big mistake...

As you can see the worktop is to short.

The plan was to have a cover side that will close the finger pull gaps and also be the same color as the fronts. But I cut the Worktop to short, forgot to coun in the pkus 18 mm on both sides... Is there a aolution for this or do I need to buy a new worktop ...

Meybe use the vmxut of pease to split it i to 2*18 mm peaces and somehow glues them back to the ends...?

Thx in advance for ideas and help...

u/iggorr252 — 1 day ago
▲ 3 r/cabinetry+1 crossposts

How to finish/fix my diy cabinet

This is my first project and furniture woodworking. I am building a stronger and bigger cabinet for my fish tank!

All was going well until I varnished the cabinet!
The varnish dried bubbly not as nice as I would’ve liked. I believe I used the wrong brush and roller.

I tried sanding it back but clearly I’ve made it worse. Is the recoverable or should I sand it right back and start again?

u/Formal_Tadpole_2488 — 22 hours ago
▲ 185 r/cabinetry

My first go at diy built ins.

I purchased the drawer boxes to save some time as I only had a week off work to handle the project. I did replace the slides though, which makes them feel higher end. Overall I'm satisfied with the final results and learned a lot for my next attempt. I definitely think a table saw would have helped, or a proper track saw. But the kreg accu-cut did pretty well.

u/Dapper-Care128 — 1 day ago

Trying to find out what type of cabinet doors I have. Oak?

I am trying to find out what type of wood my cabinet doors are. We are looking to add an extra base and top cabinet to our small kitchen. I know the cabinet manufacturer the cabinets came from (in the early 80's), however they aren't responding to my inquiry. Can anyone tell me what they are? And do I have to find a custom cabinet maker or could I get this style at Lowes or HD for example?

u/Luxembourger1 — 1 day ago

Mozaik

Hi all,

Can I please ask how many of you guys have used Mozaik and if you would recommend it?

I have had it for a while now and I am finding it really hard to get along with tbh.

It all seemed so promising when we signed up for it, but honestly it seems like 14 versions in there is still some really basic stuff like how it calculates which length of drawer guide to use still doesn't work correctly.

We are trying to develop our own library of parametric cabinets and I keep running into a wall with it and whenever I ask anyone to explain to me the actual logic behind how the software works all I seem to get is totally stonewalled.

I get the feeling that the only way I'm ever going to get answers is to pay for hours of training and frankly at the price it costs I am not spending another penny on it.

If there is anyone on here who knows more about the software who could help me understand the logic (or often seemingly lack thereof) I would be greatly appreciative.

I don't want to drop it now if I can avoid it as we have spent a lot of money on it and now literally hundreds of hours trying to get it all set up correctly but I am really starting to get totally disheartened with it.

If anyone has any recommendations for other software that works parametrically and can handle angled cabinets (these are a lot of what we do) then I would be interested in that also.

Many thanks in advance

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u/Slapbackjack — 1 day ago

Lines appeared in walnut door when wiping with mineral spirits. Tried sanding it out but it’s not working

I really don’t feel an indent when I rub my fingers over it. Only really noticed it once I threw the mineral spirits on. Anyone see something like this before?

u/Designer_Ad_2023 — 1 day ago

Hinge Question - how to release?

Working with some RTA Cabinets - how do you release these door hinges from the cabinet? No instructions anywhere with the cabinets.

u/CP-8872 — 1 day ago

Upper Cabinets Secured

I’m hanging two sets of RTA double door upper cabinets. The wall is 68 inches wide and each piece is 33 inches, so I’ll have about 1 inch on each side if I align them to center (green line). Issue is that I only hit one stud each if I do that. The studs are the red lines, and well, it might look like I’ll hit the far ones, I won’t be able to attach to the stud because the end panel on the cabinet is lined up with the stud, if that makes sense.

So my question is, how do I securely hang these? Options I am aware of and considering are:

  1. Add French cleats.
  2. Move them adjacent to the outer walls and instead have a 2 inch gap in the middle that I will use filler board on.
  3. Anchor to the one stud and then use drywall anchors.

Which of these are my best options or are there better ones I have not considered?

Note: My plan was to use the storage for cleaning supplies (good amount of liquids) and extra paint cans at the very top, but if I can’t secure it well enough, I’ll have to find another option for the paint cans.

u/BabyMiller10 — 1 day ago

What in the.. are these Rev-A-Shelf 5PD Pulldowns that Temperamental?

The thing is perfectly square, plum and level, but with the slightest weight on it it refuses to go upward. Nothing is binding or touching.

I purchased 3 at the same time and they all do this. Work great when nothing is on it, but applying 4 pounds or more and they cease to function.

There are no adjustment screws or bearings or any markings on the shocks to determine part number.

Anyone use these before and know what exactly is the tweak here?

u/Merpchud — 2 days ago

Plywood or MDF cabinet?

I recently joined a training session at work focused on cabinet materials, especially plywood and MDF, and it changed how I look at material selection a bit.

Before this, I honestly thought plywood was just “better” and MDF was more of a budget option. But it turns out it’s not that simple in real projects.

From what I learned:

Plywood usually gets used when:

-Moisture resistance is a concern (kitchens, humid areas)

-Long-term structural durability is the priority

-Clients expect higher perceived “premium” material

MDF is often chosen when:

-Painted finishes are required (smoother surface)

-Cost control is important for larger projects

-The design is more standardized and less exposed to humidity risks

What surprised me is that MDF is not just a “budget downgrade” — in many factory settings, it’s actually preferred for consistency and finishing quality, especially for painted cabinet doors.

It also seems like many manufacturers recommend MDF not just for cost, but because it reduces machining variation and can improve production efficiency.

I’m still pretty new to this, so I’d be curious:

How do you guys decide between plywood and MDF in real projects? Is it mostly client-driven, or do you have a default material approach?

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u/ShinichiDrb — 3 days ago

Something of an academic design question on inset cabinet doors… keeping or removing the center face-frame stile between adjacent doors?

Nerd alert. It’s a lazy Thursday and this has something that’s been nagging me for too long. Is the center stile chosen purely on design and not cost? What does having it “say”?

u/icysandstone — 3 days ago
▲ 239 r/cabinetry

Almost finished

How much would you charge for an 8’x8’ 3-wall closet like this? Baltic birch, finished with Rubio monocoat. Did these for a friend for a decent but somewhat competitive price. Curious what you’d charge. Developing a business.

Not looking for “I’d charge market rate”. Yes, I know you would. What’s your market rate?

Not looking for snarky or critical feedback again. Yes, the baseboards are at 4” next to 5.5” in the bathroom. Client-buddy didn’t want to waste space. And yes, the top edge will get cleaned up. Also, needs magnets and pulls. Yes! I know there’s a wall there! Thank you, the door will open enough to hang clothes.

u/An-Elegant-Elephant — 4 days ago
▲ 2 r/cabinetry+1 crossposts

Awkward Kitchen Cabinet Shelf Issue

Hey all. We're in the process of moving into our new home, and the shelves in our kitchen cabinets have an awkward situation going on.

I noticed that each shelf had a single screw in one of the four pins that was holding them up. I wasn't sure what the purpose was, so I unscrewed one to get a better idea of what was going on. When I took it out, the shelf moved freely, but I realized that I could pull it forward enough so that the back was no longer supported by the pin and the entire shelf fell out. This could be pretty disastrous when the shelves are fully loaded.

So...I guess I figured out what the screw was for.

It seems like all of the cabinet shelves are about an inch too short, so the previous owners needed to find a way to lock them into the cabinets.

The problem is that this seems like a pretty sloppy solution, and we'd love to fix these to be a little more clean, reliable, and sturdy. Another issue is that the shelves are made of particle board, as you can see in one of the images where the face is literally chipping, so I don't love the idea of screwing anything else into them.

What are the best ways to remedy this? Is there a better type of pin that can support the shelves? Should we just build better/deeper shelves, or have them built? I think we're looking at about 14 or so shelves throughout the entire kitchen.

Any insight would be much appreciated!

u/FrankLepore — 3 days ago

Mystery Cabinets

Help us solve the mystery, what brand and model are these cabinets? Here's what we know:

• Cabinets were installed in February-ish by the previous owner who is no further help.

• White, shaker (with slightly rounded bevel) soft close, framed.

• 3/4" thick doors with ~2⅞" rails/stiles.

• Dovetail solid wood drawers.

• Full-extension undermount soft-close slides with orange release clips (see photo).

• SH-ABC soft-close hinges.

No manufacturer labels anywhere. Yes, we've checked the sink base. Yes, we've checked inside the drawers.

We are trying to match what is currently in our kitchen to make an island. Closest match we've found so far is the Thomasville Eden in Polar Cap, but it's still slightly off.

u/Sglenn55 — 3 days ago

I level my base cabinets, but sometimes on the side of the fronts is like 1/8 + out of plumb and can cause problems with doors lining up nice

I usually do the laser level w piece of wood on top of the cabinet to get my bases leveled nice that have adjustable feet, I then double check with the bubble level everything and the level runs smooth as butter on top. But some times the front side left or right of the cabinet isn't plumb like more than an 1/8" which throws off my drawers and doors what gives? I'm sure I'm not alone on this..

Solved: thanks guys wrote what my problem was down below

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u/Dangerous_Dish_3192 — 3 days ago