c/cabinetmakers

Can we stop acting like plywood is always better than MDF?

I heard a guy at the lumber yard last week tell a homeowner that MDF is junk and plywood is the only choice for cabinets. That's just not true for every situation. I built a set of utility cabinets for my garage out of 3/4 MDF three years ago and they still look fine with zero swelling. Has anyone else had good results using MDF for the right job?

The change in veneer quality over 15 years is kind of wild

I was going through some old shop scraps from a job I did back in 2009, and the paper-backed veneer from then felt way thicker. Now, the stuff I get from the same supplier in Portland feels almost like tissue paper. I think it's just cheaper production to keep prices down, but it makes glue-ups trickier. Anyone else notice this shift in the last decade or so?

Discovered a trick at IWF Atlanta that saved me hours on face frame assembly

I was at the Blum booth last week watching a guy demonstrate their drawer slides and he casually mentioned using shims to preload face frames before glue-up. Tried it on my last kitchen job and my joints came out way tighter than usual. Any of you guys use this method or am I late to the party?

Old timer at the shop told me to stop using pocket screws for face frames and switch to dowels

I blew through three jobs last year with gaps at the joints before I finally tried his method on a hunch and my last kitchen install in Denver had zero callbacks, has anyone else dealt with that shift?

Before and after upgrading to Festool Domino: my joinery time dropped by 60%

I spent 6 years doing mortise and tenon joints by hand with a chisel and router jig. Last month I finally bought a Festool Domino DF 500 after watching one too many videos. First project was a set of 8 cabinet doors. My old method would have taken me around 4 hours per door. With the Domino, each door took maybe 45 minutes. The fit is way more consistent too. No gaps I had to fill with glue and sawdust. Has anyone else made a big switch like that and seen a similar jump in speed? Or do you still prefer hand cut joints for certain things?

The customer who taught me to stop rushing drawer slides

Had a guy come into my shop in Portland about a year ago, really picky about his kitchen reno. He watched me install a soft-close slide and said, 'You're moving too fast, the bracket needs a second to seat.' I was like man it's fine, but he made me stop and redo it. Turned out he was a retired cabinetmaker with 40 years in the biz. Any of you ever get a lesson from a customer that actually made your work better?

Tried pocket screws vs dowels on a kitchen cabinet project

I finally ran my own test after 10 years in the shop and dowels won by a long shot for alignment. Used 50 cabinet doors with MDF cores and had zero blowouts with dowels compared to 7 with pocket screws. Anybody else switch methods after thinking one was better for years?

Old timer at a shop in Portland taught me a trick for scribing that I still use

I was working at a custom cabinet shop in Portland about 6 years ago and this guy named Frank must have been 65. He saw me struggling with a scribe for a built-in that was off by a quarter inch. He handed me a little block plane and said "let the work do the talking." He showed me how to run the plane along the wall edge instead of marking and cutting separate. Frank retired a year later but that tip saved me hours on jobs since then. Anyone else pick up a trick from a seasoned cabinetmaker that just stuck with you?

Before and after on pocket hole screws - huge difference after switching to coated ones

I've been building cabinets out of my garage in Portland for about 3 years now. For the first year I just used whatever cheap zinc screws I found at the hardware store. They worked okay but I kept getting stripping and breakage, especially in plywood. Then about 6 months ago a buddy at the lumber yard told me to try the coated cabinet screws with the self-drilling tips. Man what a difference. They grab way better, don't strip out, and I haven't broken a single one since switching. The coating seems to reduce friction so they sink in smooth every time. Has anyone else noticed this big of a change just from swapping screw type or is it just me?

Warning: that "perfect" glue-up day where everything went wrong anyway

I had a day last spring where I thought I planned everything right. The humidity was low, the wood was acclimated, and I had my biscuits and clamps all laid out. But then I realized my glue was too cold because I left it in the unheated garage overnight... the beads were thick and stringy, not smooth at all. My buddy Tom stopped by and said "you gotta warm it up in a water bath first, man" and I just stared at him. So I tried to rush it by pouring hot water over the bottle, but then the glue got too thin and ran everywhere. The whole panel ended up with gaps on one side and glue squeeze-out I couldn't clean up fast enough. It took me two extra days to sand and fill those joints. Now I keep a thermometer next to my glue station, but I still wonder if there's a better way to handle temp swings in a non-climate controlled shop. Has anyone else had a glue-up go south because of temperature?

Talked to an old timer at a lumberyard and he changed how I think about plywood

I was picking up some birch ply for a built-in last week and this guy in his 70s loading the same stuff stops me. He said stop buying the big box store stuff and go to a specialty supplier instead. I always figured plywood is plywood right? But he showed me the difference in the core layers on some offcuts he had. He said the voids and glue gaps cost him a job once. Has anyone else noticed that much difference between suppliers?

Still miss the old way of cutting dovetails by hand some days

I started out in this trade back in the late 90s in a little shop outside Seattle, and we cut all our dovetails by hand with a chisel and coping saw. Took forever but there was something satisfying about it. Now I use a Leigh jig for production work and it's way faster, but I feel like I lost some of the feel for tight joinery. Anyone else feel like power tools took some of the soul out of cabinetmaking?

Just ran the numbers on my last 3 jobs and the waste is killing me

I got curious and added up all the offcuts and scrap from my last three cabinet jobs. Turns out I threw away nearly 200 board feet of good hardwood, mostly maple and cherry. That's like $400 bucks just sitting in my dumpster. Found out by tracking every scrap piece for a month. Anyone else ever weigh their waste like this or am I just making work for myself?

That one drawer that almost broke me

I spent 6 hours trying to fix a single drawer face that wouldn't close right. turns out the bottom panel swelled just enough from a tiny water leak and pushed everything out of square. Has anyone else had hidden moisture damage mess up a simple fix like that?

That time a master carpenter told me to stop using glue on dovetails

I was building a set of drawers for a kitchen remodel over in Oakville about 6 months ago. An old timer, Frank, who's been at this for 40 years, saw me spreading Titebond on my dovetail joinery. He told me to stop, said if my joinery was good enough, I didn't need glue. I thought he was crazy, like the joints would fall apart in a year. So I tried a test piece, just dry fit some dovetails on walnut, and after clamping it up and beating on it with a mallet, the joint held perfectly. The glue is still there on my actual drawers, but now I'm wondering how much work I've been making for myself over the years. Anyone else ever skip glue on joinery like that?

Had a customer last week who insisted I use reclaimed barn wood for his kitchen cabinets

Used to think Blum soft-close was worth the hype, now I'm over it

I installed Blum soft-close hinges on every job for like 5 years straight. Then I did a kitchen in Austin where the client wanted standard close and I realized I was way overthinking the whole thing. Those hinges add $3-4 per hinge and honestly most people don't even notice the difference unless you point it out. Anyone else ditch soft-close and go back to basics?

Swapped prefinished ply for post-form and never looking back

Did a kitchen in Nashville last month. Tried prefinished plywood on the insides of the upper cabs. Looked okay but the edges chipped like crazy during assembly. Switched to post-form laminate on the next job. Cleaner finish, no chip out, and saved me 2 hours of sanding touch ups. Anyone else ditch prefinished for this reason?

Chipped a brand new bit on a hidden screw last Wednesday

I was routing out a dado for a bookshelf using a brand new 1/2 inch spiral bit when it hit a drywall screw buried in some MDF. The bit chipped bad and ruined the whole groove. Has anyone else dealt with hidden fasteners in old shop furniture?

Went to a custom shop in Portland last week and noticed something about their assembly line

I visited Anderson Custom Cabinets on Tuesday and saw they use a track saw setup for all their panel cuts instead of a table saw. They had zero tearout on melamine and moved through 40 sheets in 3 hours. Has anyone else switched to track saws for production work and seen a real time savings?

Overheard a homeowner say 'just use drywall screws' for a cabinet install last week

I was at the lumber yard grabbing plywood and this guy was on the phone telling his buddy to put up some kitchen cabinets with drywall screws. I almost dropped my sheet of maple right there. Said he was trying to save $15 on a box of cabinet screws. Has anyone else run into folks who think all screws are the same? I had to bite my tongue.

Overheard a customer say countertops don't matter and it got me thinking

I was at a hardware store last Saturday picking up some new drawer slides and I overheard this guy telling his friend that countertops don't really matter for cabinets because nobody looks at them close. That got me thinking about how I spend so much time matching grain and making sure my face frames are perfect, but maybe the real focus should be on the simple stuff like drawer boxes and hinge placement. I had a job last year where the customer loved the woodwork but complained about a sticky drawer, and that's all they remembered. So now I spend more time testing the hardware and less time obsessing over the outside look. Has anyone else changed what they focus on after hearing something like that from a customer?

Put a drawer front on backwards and didn't catch it until the client pointed it out 2 days later

I was finishing up a built-in in a kitchen over in Maplewood and somehow installed the upper drawer pull side facing the cabinet. Client laughed it off and said it looked like modern art, so I flipped it around for free and bought her a plant as an apology. Has anyone else had a brain fart that obvious mid install?

Showerthought: That $200 Blumotion soft close kit I bought was a nightmare

Thought I was being smart. Upgrading all my old cabinets in the kitchen. Picked up a full set of Blumotion dampers and hardware. Cost me about $200 for the whole setup. Took me a whole weekend to install them. Half of them didn't even line up right with my existing hinges. Ended up having to drill new pilot holes and mess with the mounting plates. Now three of them are already sticking after 4 months. Should have just stuck with my old mechanical hinges. Anyone else get burned by aftermarket soft close stuff?

Figuring out how to cut dovetails by hand after 4 years of using jigs

Last week I finally sat down with some scrap walnut and a set of $20 chisels from a garage sale and somehow managed to cut a full set of dovetails that actually fit together, what method did you guys use when you first learned?