custom cabinet

Custom cabinet with ogee panel doors

Colleen hired me to replace a bathroom cabinet. I took out the old one, sealed the wall/floor a bit, and built a new one from scratch. The countertop was done by another company.

I used standard soft-close ball bearing drawer slides as I usually do. However, the company I normally get hardware from suddenly went bankrupt so I had to order from the States with a new brand. They seem to be ok but they are a different brand than I’m used to.

The drawer faces and doors were custom made stile-and-rail, ogee panel. I used 1/4″ white melamine for the panels and mahogany (I think) for the frames. It was time-consuming to get everything square and exact as possible. But also quite satisfying to do some “real” carpentry for a change!

I had some trouble with bleed-through while painting. Even with several layers of different types of primer and several layers of premium cabinet paint, the frames were slightly yellow. Finally I did 2 minutes of google research and found I needed to seal it with shellac first. The Zinsser BIN shellac primer worked wonders and was very quick. I still had to do some more sanding, filling/caulking, and repainting anyway as they weren’t good quality enough for my customer at first, but they turned out very nice.

Small bathroom cabinet

Carol asked for a custom cabinet for her bathroom.

It has a drawer below, which is a bit different (have to be careful with the plumbing heights). But otherwise nice and simple.

Plywood with MDF doors and spray-painted with cabinet paint.

Installed over existing tile. Countertop and plumbing by others.

Kitchen island cabinet

Carol asked for a quote for a custom island. Here is the drawing we came up with together:

Construction was plywood with MDF drawer fronts. Drawer hardware was Grass Dynapro soft close. I glued carpet on the bottom so the island could be moved easily. Cabinet paint was sprayed to give a smooth finish.

Countertop was installed by Clearbrook Countertops the next day.

Custom vanity cabinet

A couple of years ago I made a vanity for Kate and Derik; they are renovating another bathroom in their house now, so asked for another cabinet. This one was smaller but in some ways more complex. The doors and drawer are flush mount to the front frame, and the corner posts are made out of real wood! Here are a few photos of the process.

The drawer is soft-close and not very deep to accommodate water lines. The doors are also soft-close. The doors were made out of one-piece routered 3/4 MDF. It took a fair bit of time to spray paint them. It is very difficult to make perfect, as the pearl-finish cabinet paint shows every single sanding mark when sprayed. However, I was pretty happy with the final product.

The final step was delivery. They had bought some handles which I put on when I arrived. The bathroom was not quite ready for the cabinet so it may be awhile before I see a picture of it in its new home!