Replies

1. 
   oldusty | Dec 03, 2009 06:24pm | #1

     2,

         Your best bet would be to study what you have , and use them as a guide if that is what you want to end up with.Take some pictures and copy what you like.

         The cabinets you describe are typical of site built cabinets made by the Carpenters or finish carps .Plywood was around in the 50s but they may have not had access or were still old school in their methods. Was there any plywood how about the doors ?

            This was state of the art at the time ,imho there would be no advantage or savings overall , you can do a better job in the shop , not that it can't be done I've built many things into places that were similar but not a new installation unless there was a historical value .

          regards  dusty, boxmaker

2. 
   YesMaam27577 | Dec 03, 2009 06:27pm | #2

   I've not seen any articles, but I've built a couple of upper cabinet-runs using that method.

   For Uppers:

   In older homes, the carpenter would fasten a nailer to the ceiling, usually on top of the plaster, even though that might not have been optimum. The nailer was critical to the cabinet structure -- it would hold the face frame, the doors, and half of the shelf load. As a result it was important that the nailer be fastened well. (Think big, long screws into framing, although I've seen one that was done with 20-penny nails.)

   There might also be a nailer on the wall, if the run of cabinets did not die into a wall. This vertical nailer would hold the side panel. It, too, needed to be secure to the framing.

   Then the face frame would be built. I imagine that some carpenters built them in-place, and others probably built them on a bench. It either case, the face frame was attached to the nailer, and to the end walls (Oops! theres another nailer there!).

   The shelves were supported by straps that were attached to the back wall, and by fasteners through the face frame. A carefully placed bottom shelf became the bottom of the cabinet.

   Make and hang the doors, and presto! -- a run of cabinets that have no interior dividers.

   For Base Cabinets:

   Pretty much the same thing. Note that there was no toe kick. The face frames sat on the floor; in general, the flooring (linoleum, tile, hardwood,) extended into the cabinets and the "bottom shelf" was actually the floor. So the face frame had no bottom rail.

   Oddly enough, that's one of the details that make this style of building virtually obselete -- the desire for toe kicks. The face frame must be strong enough, and well-supported enough, to carry the countertop (which might well be granite these days).

   I've thought about that very issue in the past. The best suggestion I can come up with is this: build a base-platform out of construction-grade 2X4's. Add "flooring" for the cabinet run that is a double-layer of 3/4" ply. Using pocket screws, biscuits, and bullet-proof glue, attach the face frame to the edge of the doubled ply.

   To make the finished product look more like what folks are building these days, the cabinet doors will need to overlap that wider bottom rail that is hiding the ply, and giving you the strength that's needed.

   I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
   And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
   I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
   So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)

3. 
   Eef | Dec 04, 2009 12:33am | #3

   two,
   what you're describing is very common in these parts. about the only thing i like about this type of on-site cabinet construction is the ease with which it demos. a whack here, a bit of prying there and after you and your partner hoist away the tiled counter top, it's out of the way and life can go on.
   eef

4. 
   boilerbay | Dec 04, 2009 06:42pm | #4

   2B,
   You've gotten some good info on this already. My comments are more to aesthetics.
   1st let me say that I have done a lot of box stuff on the private side - not for customers. No where near what Dusty and Ring have done and they do a lot. Very well!
   For my own kitchen (former), I have used upper and lower boxes and they worked but It was always with resale in mind. Industry standard height boxes and counters (for a 5'4" woman). Granite counter tops. Never have them again,a total pain but I digress.

   Am in the process of designing an overhaul for our current kitchen and it will have open run uppers wherever possible. Done right with good hardware, perhaps beveled glass, interior cab lighting and fine finishing, I think it's much more practical and elegant than cookie cutter standard stuff with default center island. (wether you need one or not).
   Open runs with or without doors have there place. (of course open ones are called shelves:)
   See David's long, long kitchen.
   http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=44386.1

   BB

1. 
   Dave45 | Dec 04, 2009 08:16pm | #5

   My grandpa built miles of those "stick built" cabinets in the 40's and 50's - mostly because the modular boxes weren't readily available at the time.As far as "standard" dimensions, I've seen pictures of a kitchen that one of my distant ancestors built for his 5'-2" wife in the early 1900's. According to my grandmother, one of her favorite things about it was that she always had the kitchen to herself because everything was too low for anyone else.