Things to Know about Kitchen Base Cabinetry
Kitchen Cabinets – Understanding the Base Cabinets
Sep 14, 2009
Kitchen cabinets are imperative to a good kitchen. Knowing how they are built helps us understand their many uses and make our kitchen user-friendly. Those with a knack for invention continue to reveal new and exciting uses for kitchen base cabinets. With an ever-growing list of accessories, which transform kitchen base cabinets into the ultimate kitchen, the possibilities are endless.
End Panels
Kitchen cabinets are manufactured to be uniform in height, which is 35¼ inches for the base cabinets. This is done so when the countertop, (made from ¾-inch material) is added, the finished height is 36 inches. The parts are cut from ¾-inch material that ranges from particleboard to high-grade plywood. Since sheets of plywood are 48 inches wide, two end panels can be cut from each 35¼-inch block.
A 4-inch square is cut from one corner of the end panels. This is where the toe boards will be secured, which means this cutout is on the front of the cabinet. Toe boards allow us to stand with our belly against the cabinet top without stumping our toe.
The area of the end panel that is behind the cutout is where a cleat will be secured. The cleat measures 4-by-19 inches and can be made from anything that is ¾-inch thick. The bottom shelf sits on the cleat so it can be secured through the end panel. Glue is used in combination with 3d box nails to help hold the cleat in place.
Base Cabinet Shelves
Shelves for kitchen base cabinets are 1½ inches narrower than the width of the cabinet. The cutout principle for the shelves is the same as the end panels. Each 48-inch wide block can produce two shelves. If the cabinet only needs one shelf, the material left over from the block can be worked into another part of the cabinet.
Toe Boards and Nailing Strips
Both toe boards and nailing strips are 4 inches wide. Toe boards serve the purpose that their name sets forth. They are located on the front of the base cabinet right next to the floor. They are cut to the width of the cabinet. This means that a 30-inch base cabinet gets a toe board 30 inches long. The nailing strip is the same length as the shelves and is installed between the end panels at the back and the top.
The Backs
Because the bottom shelf is 4 inches off the floor, the cabinet’s back does not need to be the same height as the end panel. The distance from the top of the end panel to the bottom of the bottom shelf is 31¼ inches. Most cabinetmakers cut the backs from ¼-inch plywood at 30 inches in height and secure them to the bottom shelf first. Because the nailing strip allows for the distance, the backs are secured flush with the bottom edge of the bottom shelf and the outside edges of the end panels. This method of securing the backs to the cabinets also aids in keeping the cabinet square.
Face Frames
Face frames for the kitchen base cabinet are 32 inches in height. The ends for the frames are 2 inches wide and each cabinet gets two. Along with the 2-inch ends, the cabinet face frames also have rails, or the horizontal pieces to the frames.
Each frame has three rails. The top two are 2 inches wide, just as the end pieces are and the bottom rail is 1½ inches wide. The space between the top two is 4½ inches and makes up the drawer opening. Below the drawer opening is the door opening, which is 22 inches in height.
The next part of a face frame is called a stile. The stile is also 2 inches and divides door and drawer openings that are larger than 30 inches. All these parts; the ends, rails and stiles are secured using corrugated fasteners.
Corrugated fasteners measure 1-inch wide and about 3/8-inch tall. They are thin, ribbed pieces of steel made in such a way that when you drive them in with a hammer, they pull the pieces of the frame together.
Butt one end of a rail (the horizontal piece) to a side piece (the vertical piece), place a corrugated fastener across the joint, tap it with a hammer lightly to get it started and then drive it into the joint. The rails and stiles all being two inches wide, need two fasteners while the 1½-inch bottom rail only needs one.
Doors and Drawers
The easiest door and drawer fronts to make are called ‘overlay’ because they are simply 1-inch larger than the opening. If a kitchen base cabinet is 14-by-22, the door is 15-by-23. Overlay hinges are used to secure the doors to the cabinet’s face frame.
The drawer fronts above the door opening are the same width, but are only 5½ inches tall. Boxes built from ½-inch plywood are secured to the back of the drawer front. The actual size of the boxes depends on the hardware system used. Drawer slides call for a smaller drawer box than does a monorail system.
Assembly
A good brand of wood glue is used when assembling the parts. It is applied to the top of the cleats for the bottom shelf and the top of the shelf supports for the middle shelf. Glue is also applied to the edges of the 4-inch cutout where the toe board is secured to the cabinet. Then, it is used on the edges of the end panels, bottom and middle shelf as well as the nailing strip where the ¼-inch back is secured. Finally, it is applied on the front edges of the end panel and bottom shelf for the face frame.
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