Kitchen cabinets - circa 2012

Since we were invited to post older projects, I present the first kitchen cabinets I ever did. These were done for a co-worker to add on to his kitchen. Prior to this, I had done some cabinets for the shop with really cheap plywood, and that was the only cabinet making experience I had had, but he trusted me enough based on those shabby cabinets to do his. This wasn’t a business at the time, and the payment only covered the materials, and a few of the tools. It was enough to get me started though, and allowed me the chance to prove to myself that I could do a good job. In the end, that was the best profit I could have asked for.
In addition to the three cabinets, I also refaced his existing cabinets, and made new doors and drawer fronts for them. In total, I think there were 19 doors and 12 drawer fronts and a bunch of veneer for the faces and end panels. I made a bunch of mistakes veneering, and ended up having to come back to finish because I ran out. Never did get pictures of the completed re-facing.

The cabinets are all Baltic birch plywood – 3/4" for everything except the backs. They sit on a detached ladder frame / toe kick. Drawers, drawer fronts, doors and panels were all soft maple, with lots of mineral streaks. He likes that look thankfully, because I never gave it a consideration when doing it! Finished with a natural stain and poly.