In the past, one of the best
compliments that I have received from my clients is that my cabinets emit a
sense of strength.
There are an almost endless number
of ways in which to assemble a cabinet but, since you are designing and possibly
building and installing these cabinets, and since your client is paying you to
design custom cabinets then the distinguishing factors will be wood selection,
aesthetics, and construction techniques.
While the typical off-the-shelf
stock cabinets are most likely designed and manufactured using the minimum
amount of materials and labor to produce them, custom cabinets require advanced
joinery methods.
DOOR FRAMES - STYLES, RAILS, & PANELS
To separate my door frames from
stock or semi-stock cabinets, I usually specify a style and rail width of 2 and
1/2 inches. I know that 2 1/2 is almost 3/4" wider than the typical stock style
or rail, but since my designs focus partially on aesthetics then, I want my
cabinets to appear beefier than stock or semi-stock cabs. The doors and drawers
are the focal point of any cabinet so I want mine, rather my clients cabinets to
stand out. Joinery for the door styles and rails is always biscuits because of
their immense strength and their nature to be hidden from view. If my design
incorporates the use of a center panel then, the panel is always fitted to the
styles and rails (no glue ever). If the door design incorporates the use of
glass fronts, then I typically use one piece of glass per door and install the
glass from behind the mutton rails. True divided panes are only used at a
client's request. This is not a matter of cost or labor but rather a matter of
logic. Glass gets broken from time to time and the labor and cost to replace a
divided light can be extreme. I use a single glass pane which I simply lock in
place using framers pins which are easy to install and replace (even by the
homeowner).
CABINET BOXES
My boxes (cabinet carcasses) are
assembled with joinery that "locks" all of the pieces together creating an
extremely strong cabinet. I use rabbits, pretty exclusively to create a "locked"
cabinet. Very few nails are required. To attach the face frame to my boxes, I
use biscuits exclusively. Most of the stock and semi-stock manufacturers are
still using pocket joints (screws) to assemble their frames. While this method
has been around for some time, its extremely expensive, not to mention that
pocket joints are extremely ugly and certainly not what any consumer wants to
see in a custom cabinet. Pocket joints are very expensive to manufacture. For
every pocket screw that a manufacturer uses (2 to a joint), I can buy 14 FF
Biscuits. It also takes me about half the time to cut a biscuit joint and
assemble as compared to a pocket screw.
DRAWERS
I cringe every time that I see a
frameless cabinet design that uses drawer fronts. What a waste of time and
money! I use half-blind dovetails on frameless cabinets and either full
dovetails in combination with a drawer front or T Slot Joints on framed cabinets
without a drawer front. It really all depends on what the client wants.
Stay
tuned for Part III