Building shop cabinets vs purchasing

Depending on how fancy you want you cabinets to be ,perhaps used cabinets are the answer,they would be the most affordable and readily available through craigslist or a recycling center.

-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos

If you want some base cabinets, Lowes usually runs 20% off in-stock kitchen cabinets once a month. You can use the 10% off coupon on top of it. If you don’t care about a matching set, you can scour a couple of the stores and usually get a good price on a damaged one or one missing a drawer.

For my 7’ wall cabinets, I ended up building them from scratch with melamine. Anything available that size was made of 1/2” MDF.

Suggest considering http://sommerfeldtools.com/professional-equipment-and-tools/router-bits-and-sets/router-bit-sets/3-pc-tongue-groove-cabinetmaking-set.

Utilizing this system is quick and accurate and can save a lot of money.

-- Roger M, Aiken, SC

I recently built my own. Mostly because I couldn’t get wall cabinets in the size I wanted without having them custom made.

I made five 36” tall, 30”, 16” deep wall cabs and a 10’ long set of base cabinets and laminated my own counter top.

I made them from pre-finished birch plywood for the cases and melamine door and drawer fronts.

They came out great, but it was close to 6 weeks of effort several hours or more each day. It was a great project, I’d do it again. But it was a lot of work.

Materials cost were probably in the range of what off-the-shelf cabs from the local BORG would have been. But I’m sure these are ultimately much better built. The cost was much lower the quality cabs and much, much lower than custom.

Only you can choose your battles. I started out where you are at, with the same issue, stuff I can’t use because I have no place to put it. So it is enticing to get off-the-shelf and be done with it. But as I said, I couldn’t find the size I wanted easily or even moderately priced, so I went for it.

-- Clin

I was in the same dilemma a few months ago. I got a hold of “Practical Shop Cabinets” by Tom Clark and in a few days I had an assembly table with 8 large drawers. It went a long way towards organizing my new shop. Tom has a very easy and fast system of cabinet assembly, I recommend his book highly. Link here. He is also a fellow Lumberjock.

-- Bondo Gaposis

Great book! Gives me a lot of good ideas. I’m gonna order it today. Thanks!

We are makers, so make them.

I didn’t want to spend time making shop cabinets since I was keen to start other projects. I picked up used kitchen cabinets someone was throwing away. Work perfectly and free, I don’t care what they look like

-- @craftcollectif , http://www.craftcollective.ca, https://www.etsy.com/shop/craftcollective?

(Sorry – dupe)

-- Madmark - [email protected] Wiretreefarm.com

You’re kidding, right? Only you know what you need to store and the space you need. Build them, its how you ‘stand up’ your shop. Its like building your bench. Its part of the joy of setting up your shop.

M

-- Madmark - [email protected] Wiretreefarm.com

My wife showed me some ideas on Pinterest so I’ll probably end up making them.

I was in the same dilemma a few months ago. I got a hold of “Practical Shop Cabinets” by Tom Clark and in a few days I had an assembly table with 8 large drawers. It went a long way towards organizing my new shop. Tom has a very easy and fast system of cabinet assembly, I recommend his book highly. Link here. He is also a fellow Lumberjock.

- bondogaposis

Glad you brought this up. I too bought a copy of Tom’s book. It does have some great ideas. I didn’t end up doing everything his way. For example, set the back directly on rather than recess it. This was because I used pre-finsihed plywood for the back, and that stuff doesn’t glue well if at all.

One idea of his I made use of was simply attaching drawer bottoms to the bottom edge of the box, vs the common small dado slot. Easier, and you get more usable drawer depth. Unquestionably strong enough. And in some aspects stronger. In that case I used unfinished plywood.

I also strongly recommend getting his book. Maybe even to help you decide if you want to try making your own.

-- Clin

You could always put up open shelves and as time and money allow build face frames and doors to enclose it all.

We have a recycled home tear down type place that has loads of housing materials, fixtures, etc. I went and bought some so I could get things in it’s place. I would have rather made them but it was cheaper to just buy ones they tore out of old houses. It’s also a charitable organization so it’s kind of a good thing too.

-- Dave - http://kelleycrafts.com/ - pen blanks - knife scales - turning tools

I didn t want to spend time making shop cabinets since I was keen to start other projects. I picked up used kitchen cabinets someone was throwing away. Work perfectly and free, I don t care what they look like

- Dabcan

I agree with dabcan, or rather buy second hand cabinets for a cheaper cost.

-- http://www.emir.co.uk/workbenches/