Author Topic: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?  (Read 6148 times)

Dicey

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Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« on: April 01, 2018, 10:59:18 PM »
DH and I are about to embark in our next flip project. This house is Spanish style on the outside, 1968 on the inside. It has foundation problems. The kitchen and baths are pure gut jobs. We don't love them personally, but we've decided to go with Shaker cabinets. We are willing to try Flat-Pack cabinets and build them ourselves. There's a company out of Illinois called Aline that a friend used, but their website prices don't look that great. Everything comes from China, which we're kind of resigned to but not thrilled about.

We are not fond of IKEA, or the big box stores. Anyone have any suggestions? You can PM me if you don't want to broadcast it. And just because I've scored some killer deals with these guys, I'll share it again here. Looking for door hardware? Try this:

https://www.99centknobs.com/search/hardware/knobs

lthenderson

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2018, 08:07:35 AM »
I bought a book that showed typical cabinet dimensions, bought several sheets of plywood and some boards and spent a few weekends building my own. Overall, it cost me about a fourth of buying it at a custom cabinet shop and maybe a little less than what IKEA ones would cost but of much much better quality.

Miss Piggy

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2018, 05:15:12 PM »
We got some sample doors from www.kitchencabinetkings.com a couple of years ago. They were all nice, but just not the color we were going for.
www.RTAcabinetstore.com is another one I've looked at and would consider (again, no purchase experience with them).

Papa bear

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2018, 05:42:07 PM »
I've been working with a couple of wholesale places in both northeast And central Ohio. I'm sure you can find something in your area. 

Northeast factory direct
Cls direct




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robartsd

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2018, 05:56:58 PM »
I bought a book that showed typical cabinet dimensions, bought several sheets of plywood and some boards and spent a few weekends building my own. Overall, it cost me about a fourth of buying it at a custom cabinet shop and maybe a little less than what IKEA ones would cost but of much much better quality.
I can see that it wouldn't be hard to make better cabinet boxes yourself with plywood; but I'm curious what you did for faces and doors?

TheWifeHalf

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2018, 06:10:31 PM »
Our cabinets were built by a woodshop across the corn field. When he builds the kitchen cabinets, it's stated in the real estate listing, because his reputation is so good. We paid a lot, but not more than we knew we were paying. He and his wife are the most pleasant people to work with.

I found out his cabinets come in 3 prices : custom, semi custom, and (can't remember the term he uses but) I think it's 'stock.' Looking back, I think the stock price was reasonable.

My suggestion is to look around in your area and find an independent cabinet builder.
Honestly, we thought buying local was the way to go.

It's fun looking at the projects they've done, if only for ideas.  http://www.snowswoodshop.com/

Dicey

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2018, 09:31:24 PM »
Thanks for the tips. We live in a HCOLA, so there's kinda no such thing as that mythical cabinet maker anywhere in these parts, shop rents are too damn high, not to mention a general lack of available space.

I bought a book that showed typical cabinet dimensions, bought several sheets of plywood and some boards and spent a few weekends building my own. Overall, it cost me about a fourth of buying it at a custom cabinet shop and maybe a little less than what IKEA ones would cost but of much much better quality.
Good for you, but it doesn't make sense for this flip. We need too many cabinets and the time = money factor puts more pressure on us to maximize efficiency. We do have enough space that stock cabinets will probably work.

True story: when we bought our current house, the cabinets in our laundry room were Home Depot off the shelf stock. We wanted to add more upper cabinets to make the space more useful. Alas, HD no longer carried them. DH had them custom made locally to match. The cheapest cabinets in the least-seen room in the house (well, except for me and the cat) cost the most to augment. We saved money by ordering MDF doors and DH finished them himself. And the guy who did the cabinets? Closed the shop and retired. I think it's a tire shop now, whomp, whomp.

Okay, I'm off to follow all of your helpful links... Thanks again. If anyone else has ideas, feel free to pile on or PM me.

Another Reader

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2018, 10:02:39 PM »
NoNonsenseLandlord recommends RTAcabinetstore.com.  Other folks have been happy with them as well.  I'm not a DIYer, so I have no personal experience or recommendation.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2018, 02:12:59 AM »
Re-use the cabinetry you have, if it's modular. Seriously, re arrange and just replace the doors. Otherwise, you can buy whole second hand modular kitchens on ebay and craigslist. Any kitchen style is just the frickin doors. Doors are not hard to make. They're bits of ply, painted and maybe routered. Why people spend thousands on cabinetry, I'll never know.

index

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2018, 04:57:12 AM »
Barker cabinets out of Oregon. Semi custom and great quality.

Dicey

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2018, 07:07:10 AM »
NoNonsenseLandlord recommends RTAcabinetstore.com.  Other folks have been happy with them as well.  I'm not a DIYer, so I have no personal experience or recommendation.
Thanks! This tip led me to a blog called "the Spruce", which appears to be a great resource, so I thought I'd share it. Quite the lovely rabbit hole...

Jon Bon

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2018, 07:20:08 AM »
Why not ikea if it is a flip?

They are cheap, available, look halfway decent and easy to install. IMO they are the perfect flip cabinet.

Unless this house is extremely expensive that is how I usually do my kitchens. I kind of feel your pain though there is really no middle market, it is either big box or specialty.

Good luck out there.


Dicey

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2018, 08:25:47 AM »
When we do flips, we studiously avoid big box stores for anything visible. It's too easy to calculate what was spent. We also avoid looking too cookie cutter this way. Did I mention that I hate IKEA and only shop there if there is no other reasonable choice? And we reasonably expect the house to go out for over a million, based on neighborhood comps.

lthenderson

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2018, 09:26:07 AM »
I bought a book that showed typical cabinet dimensions, bought several sheets of plywood and some boards and spent a few weekends building my own. Overall, it cost me about a fourth of buying it at a custom cabinet shop and maybe a little less than what IKEA ones would cost but of much much better quality.
I can see that it wouldn't be hard to make better cabinet boxes yourself with plywood; but I'm curious what you did for faces and doors?

I made face frames for the cabinets to cover the ends of the plywood boxes and everything was joined using pocket hole screws and glue. The nice thing about cabinets is that they are joined side by side covering up all the pocket screw holes except for the end cabinets which I covered with a simple 1/4" plywood panel glued in place. For the doors which I built using a shaker style, I used traditional dados and tongues to join the frame with a 1/4" panel on the inside so you don't see any holes when you open up the doors.

robartsd

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #14 on: April 03, 2018, 11:28:52 AM »
I made face frames for the cabinets to cover the ends of the plywood boxes and everything was joined using pocket hole screws and glue. The nice thing about cabinets is that they are joined side by side covering up all the pocket screw holes except for the end cabinets which I covered with a simple 1/4" plywood panel glued in place. For the doors which I built using a shaker style, I used traditional dados and tongues to join the frame with a 1/4" panel on the inside so you don't see any holes when you open up the doors.
So solid wood for face frames and door frames, but plywood everywhere else.

wildbeast

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2018, 04:49:59 PM »
Dicey - can I pick your brain for kitchen cab advice? 

I've never remodeled a kitchen so everything is a learning curve for me.  Maybe you can share your wisdom with a newbie?

I have a small kitchen and it's narrow (under 10' wide), we took down a wall to open it up to the living room and now I'm going to install upper cabs along the wall that faces the living room.  My plan has been to use all glass doors to make it more open and airy.  I'm now concerned that having that much open shelving with stuff inside will make it look cluttered and kinda cheap.  The uppers that match my existing lowers is this: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/bodbyn-glass-door-white__0549449_PE657858_S4.JPG

I know you don't like Ikea, but it's what we can afford.  Honestly, I'm not crazy about these glass doors.  I think they look cheap.  Would you go with solid doors for a more clean, crisp, classic look?  Or do glass?  I've thought about painting the back wall of the cabs to make them look better with the glass doors, but I don't know if they are paintable.

I think I'll be doing quartz counters in a dark gray with veining in it: https://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/a5-366UhFWYlWMdHLVgxVA/o.jpg
Backsplash will be subway or mosaic tile in a shade of light blue/green, though it's subject to change depending on what the counters look like once they're installed.  Floor will be dark oak in a LVP. 

Any advice you can share would be hugely appreciated.

Another Reader

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2018, 04:58:17 PM »
Dicey - can I pick your brain for kitchen cab advice? 

I've never remodeled a kitchen so everything is a learning curve for me.  Maybe you can share your wisdom with a newbie?

I have a small kitchen and it's narrow (under 10' wide), we took down a wall to open it up to the living room and now I'm going to install upper cabs along the wall that faces the living room.  My plan has been to use all glass doors to make it more open and airy.  I'm now concerned that having that much open shelving with stuff inside will make it look cluttered and kinda cheap.  The uppers that match my existing lowers is this: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/bodbyn-glass-door-white__0549449_PE657858_S4.JPG

I know you don't like Ikea, but it's what we can afford.  Honestly, I'm not crazy about these glass doors.  I think they look cheap.  Would you go with solid doors for a more clean, crisp, classic look?  Or do glass?  I've thought about painting the back wall of the cabs to make them look better with the glass doors, but I don't know if they are paintable.

I think I'll be doing quartz counters in a dark gray with veining in it: https://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/a5-366UhFWYlWMdHLVgxVA/o.jpg
Backsplash will be subway or mosaic tile in a shade of light blue/green, though it's subject to change depending on what the counters look like once they're installed.  Floor will be dark oak in a LVP. 

Any advice you can share would be hugely appreciated.

lthenderson

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #17 on: April 04, 2018, 07:07:26 AM »
I made face frames for the cabinets to cover the ends of the plywood boxes and everything was joined using pocket hole screws and glue. The nice thing about cabinets is that they are joined side by side covering up all the pocket screw holes except for the end cabinets which I covered with a simple 1/4" plywood panel glued in place. For the doors which I built using a shaker style, I used traditional dados and tongues to join the frame with a 1/4" panel on the inside so you don't see any holes when you open up the doors.
So solid wood for face frames and door frames, but plywood everywhere else.

Yes the face frames for the cabinet and the frame for the doors were solid wood, oak in my case, and the rest was made from cabinet grade plywood, 3/4" for the cabinet and 1/4" for the door. I also used 1/4" plywood to cover up the pocket holes at the end of the cabinet run and made sure to overhang my face frame a 1/4" in that area to cover the edge of that piece of plywood.

lthenderson

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2018, 07:13:38 AM »
Would you go with solid doors for a more clean, crisp, classic look?  Or do glass?  I've thought about painting the back wall of the cabs to make them look better with the glass doors, but I don't know if they are paintable.

It's a matter of personal preference but most kitchens I have seen with glass doors, only do so for those cabinets that will house their finer glasses and china. For all the rest, they generally go with solid doors.

Glass doors with muntins can still be painted but it takes a bit more effort to get a professional look. These days it is a bit easier as you can buy a liquid mask that you paint on the window ahead of time, then you paint the door, use a razor blade to trace the interface between the wood and glass and then peel the masking off. This prevents you from accidentally scratching the glass by scraping overlapped paint on it with a razor blade.

Dicey

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2018, 07:33:59 AM »
@jane x, I love that this community has already chimed in with help. I have done glass front cabinets in a budget kitchen remodel and loved them. There are still pictures from the listing floating around on the RE sites.  Does anyone know - If I pull them from Zillow or similar, will they have location info embedded? The family who bought the home have small children, so I'd like to respect their privacy, and still help jane x.

As to glass cabinets and the stuff inside them, my dishes are white. They're all thrifted, so they don't all match, but behind glass it looks like they do. One cupboard held all the white stuff and the other had all my drinkware and other clear glass pieces. Both cupboards always looked neat, and it was easy to find stuff. The doors added light, and a more spacious feeling to the long-ish, narrow galley kitchen (sound familiar?).

wildbeast

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #20 on: April 04, 2018, 10:27:47 AM »
I found some doors on the Ikea catalog I like better, and I think that will make it easier to do some glass.

This one has frosted glass and no panels on the glass: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80294428/

This has a patterned glass, no panels either, and door frame might be easier to paint:  https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80313525/

This would not require any painting, just pop on and done, though probably the least attractive: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70266548/


Khaetra

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #21 on: April 04, 2018, 12:42:15 PM »
I purchased mine from the RTAStore.  They aren't difficult to put together and I find them to be pretty well-made.  I have put two up so far and the rest of the uppers are assembled, just waiting for my big burly men this weekend to help me.  You can see pics of the two of them here on my blog:

https://makeitnewer.blogspot.com/2018/04/

cheddarpie

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #22 on: April 04, 2018, 01:01:56 PM »
Haven't done this myself, but a friend of mine just got Shaker-style cabinets from Lowe's that she said were at a price point comparable to Ikea (take this with a lot of salt, she is a spendypants). They look really great and don't have that 'big box' feel to them (they got fancier hardware somewhere else, and some kind of fancypants countertop).

wildbeast

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #23 on: April 05, 2018, 10:25:50 AM »
I purchased mine from the RTAStore.  They aren't difficult to put together and I find them to be pretty well-made.  I have put two up so far and the rest of the uppers are assembled, just waiting for my big burly men this weekend to help me.  You can see pics of the two of them here on my blog:

https://makeitnewer.blogspot.com/2018/04/

@Khaetra - I really like your new cabinets!

Khaetra

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #24 on: April 05, 2018, 11:11:01 AM »
Thanks jane!

shelbyautumn

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #25 on: April 06, 2018, 08:30:10 AM »
And just because I've scored some killer deals with these guys, I'll share it again here. Looking for door hardware? Try this:

https://www.99centknobs.com/search/hardware/knobs

OMG this is incredible. I've been wanting to switch from Brushed Nickel to Oil Rubbed Bronze. I'm still going to wait for a while, but this site is getting bookmarked.

bacchi

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #26 on: April 07, 2018, 02:00:25 PM »
We used RTA cabinets. They're plywood, look great, and are 1/4 the cost of semi-custom cabinets.

Given that they're standard size, you'll need some play to fit them. We could shrink or increase the room around the fridge and oven so that there wasn't a huge gap anywhere.

LadyStache

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #27 on: April 07, 2018, 02:46:02 PM »
We used thertastore.com. The cabinets are good quality and we got them on sale. (They have really good sales a few times a year.) We gave them the measurements and one of their kitchen designers created a design based on our budget and what we were looking for, which made things a lot easier for us.

pecunia

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #28 on: April 08, 2018, 07:08:06 AM »
There is a lot of waste in the world.  People change stuff not because it is no longer functional, but often for style.

The Restore takes old stuff and resells it.  There may be one iin your area.  It has been said that yours is a high cost of living area.  This may mean that there could be recyclable cabinets that are discarded with only a few years of use.  They could need refinishing.  So,.....refinish them.

There may be some creativity involved in that the recycled cabinets may not be the exact shape and size that you had hoped for.  Life does create challenges.


Dicey

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #29 on: April 08, 2018, 12:15:35 PM »
There is a lot of waste in the world.  People change stuff not because it is no longer functional, but often for style.

The Restore takes old stuff and resells it.  There may be one iin your area.  It has been said that yours is a high cost of living area.  This may mean that there could be recyclable cabinets that are discarded with only a few years of use.  They could need refinishing.  So,.....refinish them.

There may be some creativity involved in that the recycled cabinets may not be the exact shape and size that you had hoped for.  Life does create challenges.
We're huge fans of ReStore. When we flip, we save and donate everything we can. We despise those "Demo Days" where perfectly good stuff gets sledgehammered. Grrrr...

It might help to note that this house will sell for $1M+. That colors our decision. In every case, we look for the most value for our dollars. I am not looking for the cheapest cabinets on earth. I am seeking the best value for the money, that is appropriate for the price point of the house. We have mad DIY skills, so RTA seemed like a good option. We have no experience with them, because we have saved the cabinetry in every house we've owned

If this were our own house, we'd be fine with re-using and/or making do. But this is not our house. It is terribly outdated and not very functional. The cabinets are some kind of laminate and not paintable* even if the layout made sense otherwise. It has original everything, including carpet. Think about that for a moment. The carpet is fifty years old, and she has a cat.

*DH is a painting contractor and his job involves specialty surfaces. If he says it can't be done with good results, I believe him.

Miss Piggy

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #30 on: April 08, 2018, 03:54:18 PM »
The Restore takes old stuff and resells it. 

Not only that, but with enough advance notice, and for the right materials (50 year old laminate cabinets probably wouldn't qualify), they will send people to the house to "deconstruct" the old kitchen and take it away to be re-used somewhere else. I really wish I would have known about this before we demolished our previous cabinets. They went into a dumpster, but were perfectly usable and only about 12 years old.

Here's an article about it (it's not done in every city, but might be done in yours): https://www.habitatstl.org/support/restore/deconstruction/

Dicey

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Re: Do You Have A Good Cabinet Resource?
« Reply #31 on: April 08, 2018, 10:42:13 PM »
The Restore takes old stuff and resells it. 

Not only that, but with enough advance notice, and for the right materials (50 year old laminate cabinets probably wouldn't qualify), they will send people to the house to "deconstruct" the old kitchen and take it away to be re-used somewhere else. I really wish I would have known about this before we demolished our previous cabinets. They went into a dumpster, but were perfectly usable and only about 12 years old.

Here's an article about it (it's not done in every city, but might be done in yours): https://www.habitatstl.org/support/restore/deconstruction/
Hmmm, if we remove them (easy) and they pick them up, that would be sweet! They would make good garage cabinets for someone. Thanks for the tip!