Replies

1. 
   mikerooney | Mar 23, 2009 11:37pm | #1

   1/2" and 3/4" what?
   Plywood is much better than particle board.

   Hard work is damn near as overrated as monogamy.
   - Huey Long

1. 
   mattt19 | Mar 24, 2009 12:58am | #3

   Plywood, either 1/2" or 3/4". The Kitchen/bath issue of Fine Home building shows most of the cabinets (from of the shelf to custom) as being 1/2" . My concern with using two suppliers (Scherrs and Waltzcraft) is having the frame and box fit correctly.

1. 
   mikerooney | Mar 24, 2009 03:29am | #5

   1/2" is the standard. No advantage (that I know of) to 3/4", may be to do with their method of joinery.After rereadin' your post, I picked up on "inset doors and drawers" -
   those are the hardest kind of cabs to get right. What is your skill level?

   Hard work is damn near as overrated as monogamy.
   - Huey Long

1. 
   mattt19 | Mar 24, 2009 05:08am | #6

   Hi Mike,I've built face frame cabinets before (drawers and doors included). Fitting the doors and fronts shouldn't be a problem. The Scherr's cabinets are listed as 3/4". 1/2" seems rather flimsy. It also looks like someone had a problem with Conestoga .

2. 
   homohabilis | Mar 24, 2009 12:06am | #2

   Matt:

   My experience with Conestoga Cabinets purchased through kitchencabinetsystems.com was an absolute disaster. The cabinets are rather flimsy and I am really glad that I did not choose to use them. I cannot recommend either the cabinets nor the seller. Perhaps things have improved by now or you will have better luck than I did.

   I was going to use these cabinets for an entire kitchen. I decided to try just two cabinets for use in the laundry room. The order was placed on November 6, 2006. I finally gave up getting these and other problems resolved that manifested themselves throughout the "adjustment" process that ended (since I gave up) on February 6, 2007.

   Here is first of many emails that I sent in an attempt to get the shipping and manufacturing problems resolved -

   The cabinet order was received in five boxes over two days. One of the boxes was badly damaged and the UPS driver noted that on his delivery log. After opening the boxes and checking for damage, here is what I have found.

   1. Door - one stile is split and unglued from its tenon and has separated from the rail. The other stile of the door is dented on its outside edge. This package did not have any apparent physical damage.

   2. Cabinet - sides of the carcass, packed in the badly damaged box, has cracked and missing pieces. These are on the corners where the dadoes intersect. One of the sides has the two corners on the back edge missing. The other side is missing one of the corners from the front dado and the other corner is cracked. By "missing corner", I mean that the plywood has de-laminated to the depth of the dado and that piece has fallen off. I assume that they will not show when the cabinet is assembled and I'm guessing that it will not compromise the strength of the assembled cabinet. The dimensions of the shipping box for this cabinet is approximately 31" x 40" x 4" and was strapped on the outside.

   3. Cabinet - one side of the other carcass has one cracked corner on the back edge where the dadoes intersect. The other side has about a 5" scratch on the finished interior that is too deep to touch-up and would require filling sanding and refinishing. The dimensions for the shipping box for this cabinet is approximately 50" x 25" x 24". The parts were just left loose in the box, no additional packing material, and only the face frame was wrapped with foam.

   Here is the next exchange when the replacement pieces arrived -

   I have received the four replacement damaged sides for the two cabinets but no replacement door. Unfortunately, one of the side sets is for a standard 12" deep wall cabinet, not the 15" depth, so only one of the sets is usable. There are two pink packing slips with the order, one showing 14-7/8 and the other an 11-7/8 assembly.

   A more serious issue is the size difference between the 15" cabinet top/bottom and its sides. I attempted to dry-fit one of the cabinets since I have enough pieces to complete an assembly. The problem is that the distance from the front edge of the cabinet's side to the dado for the cabinet's back is 13-7/8", but the distance from the front edge of the cabinet's top/bottom to its rabbet for the back is 13-13/16". So, if I have all of the front edges align, then the back panel will not fit. If I align all of the dados so that the back will fit flush in the groves, then there is a 1/16" gap on the top and bottom of the cabinet where the face frame is attached.

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   Edited 3/23/2009 5:11 pm by homohabilis

   
   

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   Edited 3/23/2009 5:18 pm by homohabilis

3. 
   USAnigel | Mar 24, 2009 01:02am | #4

   Most RTA cabinets are frameless. If your using full overlay fronts don't bother with face frames, they only make the access to the cabinet smaller.

   If you have an IKEA near you, you could use their boxes and get doors from Walzcraft. No kidding the slides are great from Blum, hinges are Blum, soft close on every thing (only 1 soft close per door is needed).

   Plywood is lighter and will last longer when getting wet but thats about it over particle board.

   I just re-read. From walzcraft you could attach the inset fronts to the cabinets with pocket screws from the cabinet. Just place where they would be hidden. Make the inside of the frame match the inside of the cabinet so you can use standard hardwear from Blum for the hinges.

   I would make my own boxes, its not hard to do!