Off the shelf kitchen cabinets can save you a ton off money and some of them look pretty darn good. I was surprised how good these looked from Home Depot. They don’t come in many finishes or sizes but I found what I was looking for.
Working alone- bringing them into my workshop the large sink base cabinet took a hard hit. Needless to say it busted a corner seam. They are not very strong and I was planning on reinforcing them anyway. I bought expensive Kraftmaid cabinets for my apartment in the city and even those I reinforced the top and bottom.These off the shelf cabinets have very cheap insides and that is why they are cheap. Everything is MDF except the doors. It took me a day and 1/2 to rebuild these 4 cabinets. The sink base was actually not for a sink but I was able to switch the drawer from the top to the bottom and the doors to the top. Now my sink base has a drawer at the bottom. It was well worth the time spent for the money saved- now I have very durable cabinets. The only thing is the drawer slides are not the b est but for the kind of use they are going to get they will be fine. I could replace these also someday if it bothers me enough.
The only big issue with doing this is the fasteners. I glued and screwed everything except where it was going to show and then I used finish nails. Pre-drill the laminate to contain any damage. I am going to surround the base back and sides with v-groove cherry – so I am not worried about any fasteners their. For the upper cabinets I reinforced the tops and bottoms with 1×12″ pine and on the backs I used 1/2 inch plywood.
The kick-plate will be cherry. This counter top was a test. It is 3/4″ plywood with a cherry stain and multiple coats of varnish. People liked it so I decided to go with it. This winter I will take it off and add another layer of 3/4 inch ply offset underneath with a strip of cherry around that to match. I do not have oak and a lot off cherry. The purest would never mix the two in this fashion but I don’t mind it at all.