Frame Less Kitchen Cabinets Help!

[jeeves]

I Have A Customer In The Middle Of Planning Her Kitchen Cabinets, Now Wants Frameless Cabinets. I Have Never Done This Type. It Seems Like They Would Be A Pain Building And The Installation..any Infor Will Be Appreciated. Thanks In Advanced. Dwight

 

[woodguy1975]

I hate framelss cabinets. Just be sure to not use iron on edging. The carcass construction is still simple. You just need to be sure that your pieces are square.

Good Luck,

John

 

[McRabbet]

I'd recommend you buy a copy of Danny Proulx's book Build Your Own Kitchen Cabinets, which covers both face frame and frameless cabinet construction. The book has all of the details you'll need, including cutlists for a broad range of standard size cabinets and plans for corner cabinets. I bought my copy on Amazon.com, but check Buy.com as well for reduced prices.

Rob

 

[Joe Scharle]

When I was building I would sometimes have customers specify frameless when they actually meant "no center stile".

 

[Steve D]

Frameless cabinets with full overlay doors are quite popular right now. They are geared more to the larger shops with edge banding machines. They are cheaper to build because they require a lot less hardwood. Putting a hardwood edge on all of the cases and shelf edges will take a lot of clamp time but will last much longer than edge banding.

 

[woodguy1975]

For edging solid wood to plywood for frameless edging I wouldn't be afraid to use a cyanyoacrylate glue. I've used it before on shelf edge banding. It just as strong as yellow glue. The wood will still fail first if you apply it right.

 

[Steve D]

For edging solid wood to plywood for frameless edging I wouldn't be afraid to use a cyanyoacrylate glue. I've used it before on shelf edge banding. It just as strong as yellow glue. The wood will still fail first if you apply it right.

Doesn't that get a little spendy WG? I'm assuming you're talking about the thicker stuff right?

I don't have any experience with them but those matched bit systems for plywood edging may be a good option too.

 

[woodguy1975]

Doesn't that get a little spendy WG? I'm assuming you're talking about the thicker stuff right?

I don't have any experience with them but those matched bit systems for plywood edging may be a good option too.

I buy it by the large bottles for a lot cheaper than what you pay in the woodworking stores. It saves you a lot of clamping time and has easier glue cleanup.

I do like the edging systems. I've done my own with a groove in the plywood and tongue on the solid wood edging. That worked really, but does add time. Acutally that is the preferred method for me. It would give you the best ancorage and would look great too.

John

 

[Travis Porter]

Been there, done that, didn't get a t-shirt though.

To me, it takes a lot more planning to get all the drawers and doors the same size, but adjustments are a lot easier with the euro hinges. You just have to know how many full overlay and half overlay hinges you are going to need.

Decide what hardware you are going to use first. Layout your boxes, and determine sizes of doors and drawers from there.

 

[jglord]

Another thought on hardwood vs. edge banding. If you are doing full overlay doors, the cabinet edge behind the door gets very little wear; edge banding would the least expensive. On the edge of the cabinet at the bottom, there can be a lot of wear as things are put into and taken out of the cabinet. It seems hardwood makes the most sense. It may be hard to match the hardwood edges with the edge banded. So hardwood edges probably should be used throughout.
If your customer wants inlay doors, then, imho, hardwood is the way to go.
Blum makes hinges for both applications and I agree with Travis, you should get at least one set first, since the hardware will dictate some of the cabinet design.

 

[DavidF]

I buy it by the large bottles for a lot cheaper than what you pay in the woodworking stores. It saves you a lot of clamping time and has easier glue cleanup.

I do like the edging systems. I've done my own with a groove in the plywood and tongue on the solid wood edging. That worked really, but does add time. Acutally that is the preferred method for me. It would give you the best ancorage and would look great too.

John

I have occasionally used both cynoacrylate and yellow glue at the same time if it's a particularly tricky glue up. The "super glue" acts as a clamp while the yellow glue goes off. Put the super glue in a few stratigic places and put the yellow glue everywhere else.

 

[Splinter]

Dwight, I have built two full sets of frameless kitchen cabinets for the LOML and myself. One with double sided melamine carcasses and white iron on edging. The second was plywood with real wood iron on edging. After the second set I vowed to never use iron on edging again. :BangHead: I applied the edging correctly and used the corret tool to trim the excess. The wood edging doesn't trim as good as the white for the melamine. But if I ever build another set it will have some type of REAL wood face NOT iron on. Just my $.02.