WNY Handyman

My wife and I had a wonderful trip planned on our 15th anniversary.  We were going to head to IKEA and purchase materials (cabinets, countertop, portable island) for our cottage kitchen.  Since the closest IKEA is a few hours away, I called ahead to be sure the items were available. Boy, am I glad that I did.  As it happens, weather and tight inventory management by IKEA, resulted in ZERO stock for the 3 primary items that we were after.

Because of this, I decided that I should build the cabinets from scratch.  After all, I am a handyman with a leaning toward finish carpentry.  I have assembled enough RTA Kitchen Cabinets to have a better understanding about the various construction techniques than most.

The cabinets that we needed weren’t going to be installed in a traditional way. I am going to use wall cabinets as a base cabinet and customize a platform to bring the counter up to the standard 36″ height.  A 30″ wall cabinet combined with a 4″ base and a 1 1/2″ countertop would get us close to our desired height.

Since the IKEA cabinets are out of stock, I decided to build the base cabinets as a traditional base cabinet would be built and simply make the depth at 12″ instead of the traditional 24″ depth of a base cabinet.  To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to making the factory built upper cabinets look proper as base cabinets. Building from scratch gives me the opportunity to play with the toe kick set back depth and my counter overhang so that the shallow cabinet doesn’t look like it wants to tip forward.

The reason we are using the shallow cabinets as the base is due to the fact that our cottage kitchen is only 6 feet across! (see picture)

Cottage Kitchen - Before

About 20 years ago, when a member of a handyman book club, I purchased a book that detailed the construction of your own cabinets.  Looks like I will be breaking out the book and finding some time this winter to build the cabinets.

I’ll post the after (or during) pictures when the time comes.

If you are looking to build your own cabinets, you might consider the following book (PS: We get a small commission from Amazon.com if you purchase the book)

For many, the search for inexpensive kitchen cabinets draws them to the Internet. If you are like me, you LOVE a bargain (don’t we all). I had some idea of what I wanted when I started searching for my project. I was happy to hear that one of my favorite suppliers of RTA cabinets had the color and style that I was searching for. The RTA Cabinet Store was able to supply me with my cabinets.

Disclaimer: I am an affiliate of the RTA Cabinet Store. If you order from there (after clicking through from WNY Handyman) we will receive a commission on your order. Because of that, we are happy to answer any questions that you have regarding your RTA cabinet purchase. Obviously, the company has its own support system, but if you would like some advice from someone who has used a variety of suppliers I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. Please post in the comments so that others are able to benefit from your questions.

Step 1: Kitchen Cabinet Layout

Step 2: Confirm inventory

Step 3: Place order

Step 4: Receive order

Step 5: Assembly

Step 6: Installation

Enjoy.

Who doesn’t like before and after photo’s?  Where would HGTV and DIY Network be if we didn’t love them?

The following picture is a before and after shot of a kitchen that we recently renovated.  It isn’t a complete “before” shot since this was taken after an interior wall was removed, but you get the picture.

Before and after kitchen

We opened up a bedroom to expand the kitchen into a modern, eat-in kitchen space.  The cabinets were replaced with a Harvest Maple RTA Cabinets from the RTACabinetStore.com.  Our counter top was custom built (u-shaped) using laminate from Wilsonart (Madura Gold 4923).

The sink was a great option for a tight space.  Our kitchen was a bit narrow and we weren’t able to go with a full size double basin sink.  This Moen top mount provided 2 basins, but didn’t have a full sized 2nd basin.  It was a 25″ wide double basin which makes it ideal for a smaller kitchen (or a kitchen with a 30″-33″ sink base cabinet). The sink was less than $115 to boot (Moen Sink at Lowe’s).

For the appliances, we purchased Kenmore units for the range and microwave along with a Whirlpool dishwasher. The total appliance cost came in just under $900.

The flooring was a great find for a less formal eat-in kitchen look. We located an oak hardwood that was a builders grade product that was much higher quality than most flooring products in that price range.  The boards were true and the installers loved the product. Ask most installers to put in a tavern or builders grade product and they probably won’t be happy.  Many installers will refer to tavern grade flooring as “fire wood”.    However, this product was far above its grade. The lower grading had to do with the color variation in the product. However we were after a casual feel and it pulled every wood tone in the space together. The hardwood came from Georgia Carpet Outlets and came in at around $2.80 a square foot plus $2 a square foot for the install.  Well worth the money.

The wall color has gotten a lot of compliments and is a warm neutral tone.  The color is from Sherwin-Williams and is called “bagel”.   The back splash tile was done with a relatively inexpensive 2″x2″ tile from Lowe’s.  It is a stock item that runs just under $4 per square foot.

Overall the kitchen remodel turned out terrific. The space works well and the colors are warm and inviting.

Kitchen before and after

Kitchen before and after 2

Here is a recent discussion that I had with someone on a real estate investors message board. (REIClub.com). I felt that it would be helpful for others who are considering a purchase of ready to assemble kitchen cabinets (RTA cabinets). The poster, Tony, had a few good questions that many others will probably share. Consider this a kitchenyourway cabinet review.

I saw your post on the Kitchen Your Way Cabinets. I am very interested in these cabinets. I have priced my entire kitchen, received samples, I even ordered a single cabinet (unfortunately UPS destroyed it when delivering it). I was also impressed with the drawers (the dovetail joints are standard) and doors. I was a little concerned with the box, actually the cams, they seam a little weak.

I was hoping to get a little insight from you. Are the cabinet boxes strong enough once attached to the walls? Are you having any problems with weight inside the cabinets? The hardware seams to be sturdy, have you found the same thing?

Any information that you could provide regarding your experience with these cabinets would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, for your time I will be looking forward to hearing from you. You can either reply to this message or email me at ——

Thanks,

Tony
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Re:Kitchen Your Way Cabinets on: Wed. Apr 19, 2006, 07:04 AM

Tony,

The boxes are strong enough when attached to the walls. The cams might seem a little weak, but they do the job. I considered stiffening the cabinet up by running a bead of construction adhesive where the cabinet sides meet the face frame. This would really solidify the carcass and would eliminate any concerns. However, as the project when on, I didn’t take that extra step. It really wasn’t needed. There is so much stiffness added when the cabinets are attached to the wall and to each other, that you gain a lot of strength.

I can understand your concern about the cams holding up under the weight of cabinet contents, but it shouldn’t really be an issue because of all the points that share the load. If you do have a concern, construction adhesive will do the job. I had to cut down a pantry cabinet to fit around a chimney in a corner. I cut the cabinet down and had to remove the cams. Try removing a cam if you want some assurances of the strength they have. A couple didn’t have much adhesive, but the ones that did were a real bear.

The hardware seems sturdy enough. The dovetail drawers were a bonus. Because the drawers are dovetailed, the drawer box will be more stiff and the drawer slides will last longer. The hinges and drawer slides seem like the standard issue ones that you find with most mid level cabinets. Even if they gave out, changing those doesn’t in the future affect the integrity of the cabinet and would only add to the quality.

I did order a side panel (refrigerator) and it was essentially a 1/2″ piece of plywood with some edge banding. There was no 1″x2″ face frame on it. On top of that, the panel really warped. In fact, it warped in 2 directions. I made my own face piece and also added one at the top to stiffen the whole thing up. I used 1″x2″ poplar (my stain matched up better on poplar than on maple) and routed a dado to accept the 1/2″ panel. There was no trouble after that. I would not pay for a side panel again. I would make my own if needed again.

I was able to match up the stain pretty easily. I am not a finish guy, but it was pretty easy to get a match with the honey spice maple.

Which cabinet color/style did you order? I am working with someone on a garage and he wants to use these. I have only used the HSM. He wants to go with white to save some money. However, there is no face frame on those cabinets (the carcass is 3/4″ instead of 1/2″ though). Let me know what you used and how the finish looks.

I hope that this helps. Don’t hesitate to ask some follow ups.

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Thanks for your response, the information that you provided is very helpful. I have selected the sunset maple cabinets. I was planning to use wood glue on the face frames during the assembly process, it is good to hear that you feel that these cabinets are strong enough once attached to the wall and each other.

I was also planning to get a divider panel, and was concerned with what it was going to be like. Based on your information I think that I may remove the divider panel from my design.

What was your impression of the side panels of the cabinets? Two base cabinets and two top cabinets will have their sides exposed in my kitchen. Did you have any sides exposed? How do they look to you? The sample that I received didn’t look like the plywood sides were finished very well. I was wondering if a couple coats of poly would bring out the finish on the sides.

How did you finish the base cabinets at the bottom? Did you put some sort of full length kickplate in?

Thanks, again for your response.

Tony
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Re:Kitchen Your Way Cabinets on: Wednesday Apr 26, 2006, 08:24:29am

Tony

I did have some exposed sides, but they weren’t too bad in my case. There isn’t too much pattern to the wood because of the species used. You could really dress them up with 1/8″ or 1/4″ plywood (stained birch would probably be an OK match and the most economical). In my own kitchen (not the rehab), we have beadboard panels covering any exposed side panels. It looks great. You probably noticed that the cabinets from Kitchenyourway have an end that extends about 3/16″ – 1/4″ from end allowing plenty of room for a panel. Depending on the value of the home, I would determine my course of action. In then end, about $15-$40 for end panels would really dress things up for you.

I don’t think that a couple of coats of poly would help a lot. In the end, there isn’t much of a grain to bring out. I am sure it would look better since you will add some shine to it. A little bit of light sanding (use a scraper if you are a woodworker) between coats will help.

I actually ended up custom fitting a pantry cabinet and removing about 10″ in depth from one side (had to wrap a chimney stack). This left me with enough material to use as a toe kick that tied all of the cabinets together with a matching piece. I then added some shoe molding to that. It really gives it a custom look for a very low price. If I were in your shoes, I would probably buy a sheet of 1/8″ or 1/4″ maple plywood (price dependent – or birch if I could choose the sheet to make sure it didn’t have the dark streaks that a lot of birch does) to finish my end panels and give me toe kick material. This would kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Look for a ‘good one side’ (g1s) plywood. This is all you need and it will cut your price. I can buy 1/8″ x 4′ x 8′ sheet of birch for $12.29. I can buy a 1/4″ maple sheet for $16.99.

Send me some pics. I would love to see the sunset maple cabinets. I wanted to use those, but my wife felt it was too dark for the size of the kitchen.

Tony

Hope this helps.

I was researching some kitchen cabinet options and figured that I would give a company that sells on Ebay a try. If you are doing a kitchen remodel or renovation yourself, the cabinetry will be one of your most expensive purchases. If you go into your Home Depot or Lowe’s, you could spend thousands on a 10′ x 10′ kitchen.

If you are looking to save some money, you might be tempted by the stock cabinets that they have. The stock products can end up looking good, but you will not have very many options in terms of finishes.

If you are considering a ‘knock-down’ cabinet (otherwise known as something you have to assemble), you should look beyond your local home center. Since these items are knock down, they can be easily shipped. Easy to ship means that there is probably someone selling online at a steep discount to what you would expect to pay.

Inexpensive Kitchen Cabinets

Most knock down cabinetry is made of ‘furniture grade’ particle board. Calling it furniture grade is kind of humorous. That might just be another way to say “It will fall apart with excessive use”. Knock down cabinetry is also referred to as ‘ready to assemble’ or RTA. The assembly was much easier than anticipated. Easier than putting together your typical piece of furniture.

When buying a cabinet that you will be assembling, be sure that the cabinet box is made of plywood. You don’t want something that will fall apart.

Another thing that you will find with some of the RTA cabinets is that they do not have face frames. The cabinet doors cover the entire carcass of the cabinet box. This is often referred to as ‘full reveal’. Full reveal cabinets look great, but if thy are only this way because there is no face frame, you lose stability with your cabinet. The face frame really adds a lot of stiffness to the box. Since the face frame is usually made of solid wood, you will have a nice frame for your cabinet door to hang from and for the cabinets to be joined to each other.

The Ebay seller that I used is kitchenyourway. They are based out of Texas and are importing their cabinets from China. I was very happy with the colors that they offered (only a couple but nice). The quality of the construction was nice. The assembly was simple. The one negative that I would have to mention is the quality of the finish. There are some imperfections that I wouldn’t put up with if these were at a higher price point.

The cabinets that I priced out were $1472.90. That included the price to ship our kitchen cabinets to NY. Since this retailer is based in Texas, there was no sales tax charged at the time of the purchase. To purchase a similar set of cabinets from a home center, the price would have been in excess of $2,200 (not counting the 8.25% NY sales tax). I feel that the quality is much greater in that it looks like a custom cabinet and is solid maple construction with a plywood carcass. The company generally ships within a few days.

It might be worth exploring this option if you are renovating a kitchen. Many of the companies in this business will sell you a low priced ‘sample’ cabinet to let you see the goods. The price for a 9″ base cabinet was around $50-$70 (including shipping) for the sample from the companies that I looked at.

Hope this helps. If you are in the Lancaster, NY area feel free to contact me if you want to take look at the cabinets in person. They are going into a renovation that will probably become a rental unit.

Bottom line is that there are many options when you get to the lower end of products with the local cabinet retailers or home centers. Do some searching. You should search on your favorite search engine for “rta kitchen cabinets”. Or, do the same search at Ebay. I think you will be pleased with the options available.

Another RTA cabinet seller that we have used is RTA Cabinet Store. They are located in Pennsylvania and offer a nice line up of RTA cabinets.   Since I am in NY state, the location helps to keep our freight cost low and allows for a very short lead time on our cabinet orders.