Customer Reviews

Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great book. I just finished building 27 face frame cabinets using 3/4" melamine and oak face frames. This book truly made the whole process simple. After receiving estimates from cabinet makers and going to major hardware stores, I decided to get this book and go for it. The lowest quote for cabinets only by a contractor was $18,000 and major hardware store $10,000 (I install). It will cost about $5,000 total for cabinets, hardware & doors doing it myself. I was a little skeptical at first but have no regrets now and would do it all over again. In fact, some of my wife's friends are already telling me what they want, and I'm not even complete with my kitchen. With the money I saved by doing it myself, I bought a new table saw, joiner and rewired my garage. I am a novice woodworker at best, with construction background. This book guides you clearly from beginning to end. I read and studied the book for a few weeks before starting (I had to wire my garage) and assembling the cabinets was easier than I thought. Cut lists are provided for several cabinet sizes (widths) along with easy to read and understand instructions and sketches that make the whole process very simple. From the information I learned from this book I was able to design and build a very big pantry that my wife loves. When I had a question or if something was't clear to me, I would email Danny and he always responded within 1 day. As with any project, it helps to have a plan and this book provides planning methods with enough flexability to make changes easily. Another advantage is you have time to make changes and incorporate them without cost. If you did this with a contractor the bill would start to grow. I would recommend having a good tablesaw (I bought a Delta Unisaw), 2 drill guns, a joiner, a planer would be nice but I did without, sander, etc. I did build a workbench 7' x 2', the same height as my table saw, on wheels for about $50. You can use this for a place for wood to land after pushing thru the saw as well as assembling cabinets.
I did look at other books before getting this one and they didn't seem as 'user friendly'. The sketches and diagrams are very helpful also.
Overall, the book was great for me, I'd recommend it to anyone who know how to swing a hammer. It was definitely money well spent.
Buy it.
Ed Jaworski edski@eagleiron.net

The book makes me think of garage grade cabinets. These are the low end of the scale but the color pictures look good. I would never buy these types of cabinets or make them for my home.

If I could give more stars, I would. I've never built anything out of wood before, and I just finished building all my kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I did not use melamine (the author is a fan of this material), as it would not be good for resale value in my particular area. I used polyurethaned birch plywood for the kitchen cabinets, and painted MDF for the bathroom cabinets. Using the author's instructions, they turned out very well, with very little hassle. The author has a no-nonsense approach to building cabinets (e.g., using screws in a butt joint, rather than time-consuming dados/rabbets). This saved me a lot of time and hassle. Since I was a beginner when I started this project, it was especially appealing. Certain other books were overwhelming to me because of the amount of space dedicated just to joinery. I've nothing against these other methods, but it was refreshing to see that they weren't actually necessary. Given the limited amount of time I had to build quality cabinets, it was the obvious choice for me.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to build his/her own cabinets, regardless of experience level.

Also, I emailed the author to make sure the cabinets/cabinet legs would support my concrete countertops, and received a reply within 24 hours. A lot of authors will forget about the little people once they are published, but not this guy! (BTW, there was no support problems.)

From the reviews and writeup I thought I had found something interesting. Was I disappointed. Amateurish; Not well presented; Not well explained. Use of door stops, cheap materials and plugging visible screw holes is not my idea of quality. Wish I could get a refund.
Mark Walsh

This is my very first book about the
kitchen cabinet and I like it a lot.
The book covers a lot of details and
displays a lot of pictures. It's simple
and easy to follow, that's what you really
need. Danny is also very good in replying
your emails if you have any questions. Great
book and great customer services.

Keep up with the good work Danny!!!

This is my first book and I will use it
as a referrence book to rebuild my kitchen
cabinets. The book is very well explained
and covers a lot of details. This is what
you need to rebuild, remodel your kitchen.
Danny is also very good in answerring any
questions you would have. Great customer services.

The book does an OK job especially if it is the first one on that topic that you are reading. It is clearly written and the pictures are nice. However, there is too much duplication of the same theme, as well as details of construction and methods of assembly, which are described many times in the book un-necessarily. I have found reasonable amount of free information on the web as well as by looking at pre-built cabinets in retail stores. It provides very scant information about making doors.

I would not use a 5/8" melamine PCB (as recommended in the book)to make the sides and bottom of drawers, which increases the weight, decreases its effectual height and storage capacity. I was somewhat disappointed by the "rigidity" of the "system" described which restricts you to use the "cut list" only with little insight to customize it to your needs.

Proulx does a great job of explaining a hybrid cabinet style--how it works and how to build it ... with an attention to the brass tacks. This book is a general guide for all kinds of cabinet making. Particularly it describes a half euro/half US cabinet style. Simple boxes with euro hinges, doors of many varieties, drawer construction, tooling, assembly and installation are all covered. It serves as an all-in-one guide to making cabinets _as_ as professional with close attention to adjustability, versatility, and modularity. Highly recommended if you are interested in how to build your own kitchen cabinets.

Proulx teaches a conventionalized form of cabinet design, but it's simple and it works, which is very hard to argue with.

This book should be called "Build European Style particle board cabinets" or "Build My style kitchen cabinets.." I'm sure this is a great book if that's what you want to do. If not, it's pretty much useless. Doesn't make it a bad book, it just doesn't have any range for a broadly titled book.

I am going to install new kitchen cabinets in the coming month. I ordered this excellent how-to book to begin my research. It contains detailed pictures of the construction process and a system that can easily be applied by the do-it-yourself homeowner. Mr. Proulx shows an easy construction and installation system based upon the modern European technology applicable to cabinetry. With modern European hinges, cabinet legs, and construction materials, cabinetry is within the grasp of the homeowner. This book is not for a seasoned cabinet craftsman of the old school, but, rather, a nuts and bolts how-to book for the homeowner and woodworker with average skills and a shop with the necessary tools such as a table saw, drill, jigs, etc. The harder cabinet door and drawer construction can be avoided, if needed, by outsourcing the same. Definitely worth the money--Thanks Mr. Proulx.