Synopsis: Making your own kitchen cabinets is a rare chance to get more by spending less. A woodworker can spend less than buying cabinets from a showroom, but with the opportunity to choose materials and tailor cabinets to suit your needs, you can get a better end result than anything money can buy. Scott Gibson is an old hand at cabinetmaking. His technique blends a quick assembly method using biscuits, glue, and screws to make the boxes, with fine-furniture details such as inset drawers and doors for the look of fine furniture.

Making your own kitchen cabinets offers one of those rare chances to get more by spending less. It’s far less expensive than ordering cabinets from a showroom, yet the result should be better than virtually anything you can buy. Think of a set of cabinets as a room-size piece of furniture. You choose the materials you like and steer the project wherever you want creatively. In the end, you get a kitchen that’s been tailored to suit your tastes and meet your needs exactly.

Building cabinets isn’t complicated, although it can seem repetitive at times. It requires only the tools that most home woodworking shops already have.

I have three or four books that explain how to make cabinets, all of them a little differently. My approach is a mixed bag that includes some fussing over details but also relies on assembling cabinet boxes and drawers quickly with biscuits, glue, a few screws, and pneumatic nails. I use inset drawers and inset doors with butt hinges for a fine furniture feel.

I’d never argue that my approach is the only way, but it will give you strong, durable, and attractive cabinets that are easy to adapt to kitchens of different architectural styles.

Planning early…