Can You Save Money Building Your Own Kitchen?
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- Опубліковано 29 чер 2024
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![Cabinetry Basics Part 1 [video 435]](/img/n.gif)
Please read the blog entry that goes along with this (it actually helps to support the work I do making these videos):
ibuildit.ca/blog/save-money-building-your-own-kitchen/
Here are some ways that you can help support the work I do in making these videos:
Plans for sale:
ibuildit.ca/plans/
Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=865843&ty=h
#ibuildit
Website: ibuildit.ca/
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John, thank you for the statement regarding the length of time involved in making those eleven doors. So often "do it yourselfers" will see videos on UA-cam and say to themselves "that's easy, I can do that" not realizing that the video of how to build a cabinet door was ten minutes long but there was two days of shop work and film condensed into that ten minutes to get to that point.
This is a valuable addition to my woodwork collection ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxbnOKZBE4evMO5V2vroHeCjq6d_MV6wJO I still will rate this woodwork plan as the best in my reference library. It always seem to stand out from the rest whenever you go through the library. This is a masterpiece.
Good post. Just confirming from my experience what you are saying here: Working at it part time, I needed about 6 months to completely build all of the cabinets for our kitchen. It's a fairly small kitchen, about 12 x 14. I used a basic shaker cabinet design with a clear brushed on finish. First the basement--where I have a pretty complete small shop--and then our garage where used to store the cabinets and then mock up the kitchen. Once the cabinets were done, I could start the actual renovation; that took about 3 months of part-time, consistent work--including upgrades to plumbing, electric, lighting, etc. Cost of the cabinets for materials (baltic birch plywood, glue, sand paper, hardware) was under $2,000, but we're talking close to 12 months in total of working on it every free moment. Upside is high quality, custom design with a lot of cost savings for the cabinets (counter tops, appliances, etc done by professionals). Down side: for close to 12 months I did pretty much nothing else but real job and the kitchen. You have to enjoy the process and be willing to take the time. I think it's easy for people to get a false sense of the challenges and then get way in over their heads.
I’m two years deep on a home rehab by myself. Fun times!
John, you are a huge inspiration. We recently bought a house that needs a lot of work. Many of your videos I have refferred to because it specifically pertains to what I'm doing. My dad wasn't handy with this sort of thing but thankfully there's people like you who takes the time to put your knowledge out there for all of us. :)
This is a lifetime of expertise condensed to 9 minutes. Thank you for generously sharing John.
Great video, John! I love the way you speed through everything, but still give tons of detail!
You are so right! I'm building cabinets for our kitchen out of pre-finished birch ply with poplar trim, clear coated with lacquer, and it still takes f o r e v e rrrrrrrr! I may kick the bucket before I finish! ;) But it's something I wanted to do. Thanks!
I have been considering doing this for my kitchen. This video was very helpful and highlighted some things I haven't considered. Thanks!
this is by far the best video I've seen about diy kitchen renovation...I think people have to be realistic about what they can do...in my renovation I will leave in place most of the cabinets...I will take doors out and I will put drawers instead...I will build a walk in pantry...whole new lighting...all recessed lights..new switches...move the water pipe for the new refrigerator...
John, awesome video! I’m been following your progress for a while now and I’m actually somewhere along the same road as you, just a few steps back. Everything in my renovation is done but the kitchen and I’m really feeling the lack of a sink!
Anyways, great job on sharing with others the information you and I have learned the hard way 😝
Wow I really loved this one John nice job grabbing all the details
Thanks John. Great timing. I’ve been weighing this very question. I really want to do this myself, but as you say, it’s all about my time... and my wife’s patience.
BTW, your kitchen looks great!
Amazing overview! thnaks for this huge amount of information on this topic!
We decided to re-do our kitchen. We liked the layout but wanted upper cabinets that went to the ceiling. We also wanted to replace a base cabinet with a floor-to-ceiling pantry. I’m the end, I kept the base cabinets and built the uppers and the pantry. Then I made the doors for all cabinets. It took a month working most days. I cost a little more than 1/3 of what I was quoted by a company. I decided to hire a painter to guarantee a nice finish, and that cut into my savings. However, in the end, I ended up at under half the quoted cost, and that included the new counter top. But yeah, I’ll never do it again! Haha!
I have renovated kitchens for the last 38 years. This video is full of great information. I personally don't think this is a project you would want to learn on the job with.
Brian Binns agreed. There's diy. There's contractors. There's general contractors.
And then there are cabinet makers.
Thankyou for the useful information as i was planning to build my kitchen myself as a starter.
For a nine minute video you managed to get a hell of a lot in there John. Many home-build kitchens projects have been started before floundering on one or other of the problems/considerations you listed. Really, to build a kitchen successfully, you have to be proficient enough a craftsman that you don't need to watch this video, 'cause your already know it all. Thus the conundrum. However, I loved the video and I've built two of my own kitchens as well as several for other people.
Hi John, I've been a big fan of your channel for quite a while. Could you perhaps make a video discussing the tools you need for basic building and carpentry - and what they are for. I'm currently planning on re-fitting my kitchen from scratch so I have full control of the finished product. I'm unsure which tools are worth investing in as a beginner and which are a waste of money. Your insight would definitely be useful!
Great breakdown and overview of building a kitchen!
Build my own kitchen 2 years ago. imgur.com/a/UxINL
Construction took me 4 fulltime weeks (weekends too). Decoration finish took a few more weeks but that was due to the fact that I had no more vacation and had to get back to work.
Total cost was around 6500€ (7500$) with appliances, of course not counting the hours. Buying a kitchen of that size would have set me back about 35-40.000€ here.
It's people like you, Steve and Mathias that inspired me to go for it. Thank you.
John, this is a very good video and you hit all the major points to consider! Thanks! I’m looking forward to the companion hardware considerations video (especially hinges since there are so many choices and work for installation).
My cabinets are fine after 27 years but my maple doors and drawer faces have warped.
That was a very thoughtful discussion. Thanks. (I am off to your blog.)
Thanks for the thoughts John.
Good tips. I am presently building my kitchen cabinets in place, squaring and leveling everything as I go. That is mainly because my shop is 150' away from my house and I am unable to carry the prebuilt units to the house. Also, I am using cedar for all my face frames, doors, and drawer fronts. And here in Arkansas nice wood is very expensive. Poplar, oak, ash; they are all the same price. Doesn't matter what species you get. So I bought cedar exterior carpenter trim work. With a bit of planing it looks rather well. Then I will seal the raw cedar with shellac.
Thank you John, excellent as always.
Quality video and article combo on the website.
Another gem of a video. Valuable information and clearly explained.
I'd like to add that you can think up a fine looking design but you'd also have to have constructional knowledge so that, for example, your melamine sheets aren't going to sag or warp.
My dad made a wall mounted cabinet of melamine and after a few years the shelves and the bottom sagged of the weight put on them, haha...
This is a great video! A lot of folks believe that doing it yourself will save money. Sometimes that is true but knowing the full process and calculating time can quickly change things.
Awesome shirt! My fav Rush album.
Another great benefit of building it yourself is that you can make exactly what you want to fit your specific needs. You don't need to compromise your design to meet the limitations of using standard cabinet sizes based on what you can buy at the box store. That by itself is worth the extra time in my opinion.
True enough. You can order custom doors made to the size you want, but those are much more expensive.
Great video, thanks. If you live with someone else you have to consider how they will feel about the time it will take. That was one reason why we decided to buy our cabinets and have them installed professionally. The guys did a good job but it took them nearly four weeks. Of course, this included some electrical work, tiling of the walls and floor and plumbing. If I had tried to do it all myself it would probably never got finished and my wife would not be a happy lady!
when partial board kitchens first came in they were more expensive than solid wood kitchens, and people were scraping their solid wood kitchens to put in these new particular board kitchens, as they were the future. Also a table saw is a big help in projects like this. Great video, though I don't think a lot of people would have the patience for this. I found using a CAD program is very useful, you can design the room then design a kitchen into it, helps people make a better choice.
Thanks for the video.
A lot of time and work for sure. Nice shirt!
Fantastic!
I wish everybody could hear this. Custom built me a couple kitchens and have installed many.
People then ask me... "Can you help me build mine?"
"No. There are a bazillion things you must have, know and do."
"Oh, Well, it doesn't look that hard. It's just a bunch of boxes and doors.. right?"
"Hmm... Then have at it."
D Kennedy i get a little crazy inside when people say that, too
They ask because they get quotes for 5k+.
Hey John, good info. I also did a natural maple mitchen made my boxes from shop grade birch and maple ply where there was exposed end panels kept cost down and clear finish on the birch inside cabinet is almost not even noticeable that it's birch and not maple. Also in researching quality hinges and drawer slides got those from eBay in "lots" of 50 for hinges and saved a bunch as opposed to buying this at a box store.
Also maple face frames and last kitchen I made the doors this time I bought them but as you pointed out it's time consuming and it was worth buying doors.
I paid for custom cabinets which costs over $22k. The expertise and craftsmanship that was involved, simply rocked my thinking of how easy it was. I've built a few cabinets and was amazed at how wonderful they came out. I must admit, videos like yours and good tools, were very instrumental in my success. These skills are quickly fading away, as our youth no longer want to learn the trades.
Thank you very much
Master. I've learned so many things watching he's videos.
Time to apply it.
Thank you sir.very important factors to consider. I am motivated to buy a $250 Ryobi table saw the fold up kind. Do you think that it's good enough to build base cabinet with? I'm not a carpenter I'm a trucker but I'm fascinated by people like you who work with wood it looks satisfying.I know I don't have any experience building cabinets but I also want the saw for other smaller projects.thank you for the treasure trove of information that you take the time to share with us👍 cheers from Brownsville Texas😇👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you.
Love that door design. Some just don’t understand how much time things take.
I did build my countertop (from walnut) and cabinets and doors drawers from poplar I’m stuck trying to build the two shelves for the lazy Susan (that spin going for kidney shape) but I saved a tremendous amount of money building and painting them
IMO - the biggest issue is time - do you have the time to do the work (and, as you mentioned, a place to have the cabinets when complete) and then the time to have the kitchen down for the install.
I just went from a "stick built" kitchen that was done when the house was built to a "pre-fab box" based kitchen as a reno - both designs had/have pluses and minuses.
Twenty-three solid plywood cabinets (2 of them being 96" tall pantry units) with full crown and kick moulding and end trim panels (and stick-built sink base) cost me $17,900 installed. Of note - that install price also included full install of the sink with disposal (my plumbing was a fucking joke), a dishwasher, the backsplash (some 80 sq ft), a new fully vented range hood, and hanging a microwave. All required electrical work was part of all that. One other thing I got for my money was someone to blame when something wasn't as I wanted it - something worthy of consideration IMO.
Assuming I have the skills required for all that, I am guessing for that amount I could have gotten all the materials and ended up at the end of it with a decent table saw and planer to boot. But I think for all but the most experienced "makers" like yourself that is a huge assumption. And again - for me, with a day job in IT, it would have taken a full year to make it happen. A couple years ago a house on my street sold and the new owners had a chop saw, table saw, and planer in the driveway for a month - I know from the refuse that he thrashed the interior from top to bottom. I was super jealous - but he also had a crew of friends that helped him every week...
I'm envious of the job you were able to do 'cause it looks great. You don't ever really boast about your projects - but it's gotta feel pretty good to sit back and look at your place and know that you did it all. Maybe someday I will be able to tackle something of this scope.
Here's pics of my kitchen if anyone is curious what I got for my money... drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ex2Udi-fJzrfffN3x4vYlNOEA9inOu5m?usp=sharing
Nice kitchen and thanks for taking the time to tell about your experiences with having it done :)
I counted 15 separate steps when I built my doors but hey there nice. I like your design john
Good advice some people don’t have a clue specially nowadays
thanks for not bashing hardwood too much
I for one would be interested in learning what you did for your temporary cabinets. I need to rip out mine as I need to replace the subfloor. Time and money being what they are, I think I'll have to have temporary for a few years... at least one, anyway.
Enjoyed your discussion on cabinets. Found it interesting and informative!
John, Did you make a video of the construction of those doors?
Great informational video. I worked in the furniture industry for 12 years and taught furniture manufacturing at the community college level for 13 additional years. My wife still works in the industry. Labor intensive. You can save lots of money if you have the time and patience to build your own cabinets. I don't.
I'd also add to the list a question whether one lives alone of with other people who depend on that kitchen to be done. Singles can afford making pauses to rethink or just wait for another inspiration period. And that person perfectly understand what inconvenience of not finished kitchen is a result of ones own decision. While other should hope that their family members will accept such rules of a "DIY game". Otherwise after some time project will turn in regular reminders and work without passion. But that's not why we start doing something on our own. IMO main result should be not saved money but fun and satisfaction.
Ordering doors can be less expensive than making your own if you factor in your time. I have done kitchens and I have installed custom kitchens and flat pack kitchens. When I did the math, Caron in Quebec offered the flexibility, choice at a price that I could not match.
build it yourself?? are you kidding! how many people can actually do that? very few, and I mean very, very few!! you are a very exceptional person. you have a gift of vast knowledge of about everything. there are very few people like yourself. I admire you a lot. 99.5% of people have there cabinets done by someone else. they just can't do what you can.
Tons of truth in this video. I've ventured down some of these roads and regretted it after the fact.
Nice t-shirt!
Gives answer right away. Me: doesn't click away. Thanks for not holding it out. We're all adults here.
what I have found from building furniture for the places I've lived in, is that I had to design the cuts and joinery while keeping in my mind what tolls I have.
If I wanted some type of joints, profiles or cuts and I did not have the right tolls for the job - I had to change the design or buy new tools to finish the project so it took longer and cost more money than I've planed
And also I had to be honest with myself and be real about my knowledge and abilities, so I wont find myself in the middle of a project with half of the materials already cut, but I'm lost because something is not right and I cant find what I did wrong...
If you want to hang what you're building on a wall it's also important to understand what is the wall made of, in what areas of the wall can you load weight on, so you won't build it in a way that the point you can connect to will be behind parts of the furniture that you don't or cant drill through them
Usually part of saving money is buying cheaper material so it's important to choose the best looking parts in the sides that you'll see in the end
I used to build from dimensional lumber but taking off the round corners was always part of the project that I had to take to account while planing so after a while I just went with other materials that required less prepare work before the projects
The most important thing is to always test cuts and joints on scarps so you wont find yourself throwing away parts that you already did a lot of work on, just because a wrong cut that you could avoid if you have tested it before...
And the most important part of any project is to seat with a bear in one hand,a coffee in the other and just watch what you have made...
People calling it "Working with your hands" but there never was a project where only my hands were working... First, my brain do most of the work. Second, I will use what ever part of my body to get to where I want to be - Ill stand with one leg on a table and one hand on a ceiling if that will be the position that will make sure that I'm drilling the wright whole in the right spot... We've all done that and that's the fun part of any project... The part that sucks while you're doing it but the best memory after...
Why not do both sides first and then line up the jig with holes at each end? No measuring needed.
Nice work. Why do the doors have elongated tongue and groove joinery? The tongues look like they are almost 1.5 inches long. Usually I see tongues that are about .75 inches. Cover this in another video? Thanks. Glen in Minnesota
That's not T&G, that looks more like a spline joint, with grain opposite to the join. Strong stuff, and easier to make (I'm guessing they are table saw cuts for the groove) than tenons and mortises.
Wait... so there is a lot of time, money, skill, planning, work and aggravation involved ? And a million other things will sidetrack you ? Damn. So that's what happened to my last six months !
When my kitchen is done the quality will be a known thing, and I won't second guess some potentially shoddy install of dubious over-priced cabinetry. Well worth it in the long run.
Oh yeah, and 9 months 22 days without water in the kitchen sucked. That was year 1 in this house.
lol, hook up the sink and move it when needed.
Screw that, leave it to the masters like this guy
Love the tee shirt.
seriously going to look at Lowes or Ikea for our kitchen... :-(
(Would like to build our own, but the amount of time is probably just not doable)
Say it ain't so :(
Actually, I don't blame you. It is a TON of work and time.
Since I've never done it before and I'd be learning as I go, I could see needing several weeks for me to do this. Wait let me check: Am I a retired man of leisure? nope, darn it. Still got that pesky day job. Come on UA-cam viewcount, get up there!!! :-)
IKEA isn't the worst choice. Even in a self built I would consider using their drawers and hardware. The better stuff they have on offer is really good quality and the price is spectacular.
That's why you find someone ( like me ) with a CNC that will cut and edge tape all your cabinet parts and ship it out so all you need to do is assemble and install...and you get to still say you built the cabinets and did the kitchen yourself....haha
Yes, certainly in the UK they use BLUM fittings. And the stuff is accurate and durable: ours is 15 years old at least and shows little signs of wear.
Nice 2112 shirt 👍
What is a window insert?
I built a kitchen because we wanted it to fit into the available space without being constrained by standard cabinet sizes (e.g. we wanted the upper units to go up as far as the ceiling). It is now finished and we are very happy with it - but it did take a long, long time. We chose Oak doors which were then painted. We like the look and it is easier to disguise any small errors when the doors are painted.
David Bailey oak is an expensive material to hide with paint
I agree - but the grain is visible through the paint which we like.
That's an important point that a lot of people miss. Sure, you can build your painted projects out of mdf and hardboard and finger jointed pine, but you can always tell what it's made of under the paint. A nice heavy textured wood like oak can look really sharp with a good paint job.
A big yes to saving money if you’re handy but it’s got a heavy cost in time and skill.
A fitted kitchen is what it say's and not a load of unit's with an infill panel on the end or, a dubious wine rack infill.
You shouldn't use poplar in the kitchen. Paint or no paint it will rot fast. Well, maybe for high wall cabinets it's ok, but not around the sink or whereever you cook. I haven't seen another wood that rottens as fast as poplar.
On a raft at sea, maybe, but the normal kitchen is not perpetually flooded with water. Reality, anyone?
Wouldn't it be more efficient to drill hinge holes before spraying polyurethane, just in case you mess up the door.
Actually, yes, and I have a video on that coming up. Much better to not only drill the holes, but to hang the doors as well to check for clearance problems before final sanding and finishing.
I thought about redoing my own kitchen but im under no impression that it will be any kind of easy lol only reason is to brag that I MADE THEM. Yeah....pray for me yall lol
One thing that must be taken into consideration is time. Time costs money
There is always a chance that you realise midway that you are in over your head and just don't have the time to see it trough. In that case you end up paying nearly double.
PS: I want a powder coated steel kitchen. It want to do this for years now. I always chicken out.
I've seen enamel steel kitchen cabinets from the 70's. They didn't look good, like lockers in a school.
I think I know what you mean. Curved surfaces and such. I'm not thinking of "sheet metal" more like having the boxes all 5mm thickness and some structured powder coat on it. Drawer and door faces 5mm as well. Drawer sides 3mm and the bottoms 1mm. All hard 90° with just knocking off the edges. That should avoid the locker room look. If you buy it it is really stupidly expensive. At those high end furniture places there are always some of that style around. It really seems not so hard to just order all that laser cut. Then just weld it and have it coated. But it is waging a lot of money on material alone.
So what you're saying is: YES, but you have to be a special kind of crazy...
Idk. I am always looking for the best look at the lowest price. That was a lot to digest.
I can't afford to create a decent shop to make cabinets.
If you don't already have the tools it's a pretty big bite out of a budget.
Is that everything? Nope, Ikea!
Tried to explain all of this to my ex when she asked me to 'redo' her kitchen. She assumes I'll do it for free and the materials will be free and it will all come together in an hour or so.
I just bought 5 carcasses, a tabletop, 15 drawers, 2 doors, 4 shelves, along with hinges, handles and other needed hardware in IKEA. It was delivered to my door, and all together it cost me less than the wood alone would have cost me (in the UK) had I opted to build it myself. Agreed, the bought version comes in standard measurements, and even if the IKEA quality is getting better and better it does not compare with the hand and homemade equivalent. In other words I could not have built it any cheaper myself, unless I had been willing to go down the up-cycling of pallet wood road, which was not an option. In my opinion the real benefit of building it yourself is that you can customise as much as you like, produce carcasses etc. to fit the available space and so on, not forgetting the option of a much superior build quality if you put in the time and effort to do proper joinery, or even basic joinery.........it seems that IKEA 'joinery' still consists of mainly 2 dowels and 2 screws per joined side, but then it is all assembled and ready for use in less than 1 day, so it is really all about your expectations and immediate requirements really.
😁👍🏻
Building a kitchen or anything boils down to personal motivation and skill level. A well motivated skilled craftsman could save money building a kitchen himself. He might lay in his kitchen project with paid jobs to maximise his time, material use, labour, transport etc. Whereas an unskilled DIY hobbist would do well to pay a professional to build his kitchen.
In other words, if your a millionaire.......
¿... Y ...?
Is it me or is he getting hotter by the video?