Ever wanted to do you own kitchen or built in cupboards but had no clue what to do or where to begin. It’s not as hard as you think you know. If you know how to work with your hands, you have the right equipment and you have plans for you kitchen cupboards you wont’ have to worry. You would firstly need to measure up the kitchen. By that I mean you will need to take the measurements of the doors, walls, height of the ceiling and so on. Did you know if you take the wrong dimensions and your kitchen units don’t fit you will have to cut them smaller and this takes up allot more time and effort than if you did it right the first time. Kitchen units are difficult and time consuming to fix but doors are even more of a mission. If they are made of MDF super wood you can’t even cut it smaller because the edging is machined onto the cabinet door.
After you’ve taken the dimensions of your kitchen you can do the kitchen designs and place kitchen cupboard units in floor plan. It’s pretty easy these days to design your own kitchen because there is allot of companies that give away their design software free of charge. I use www.kitchendraw.com to do all my kitchen designs. Kitchen draw is very easy to use and has a photo realistic function that makes your kitchen designs look like a photo.
You’ll be able to see if the kitchen design works once you’ve finished it. If the kitchen is too big for the floor plan you will also see it. You will also be able to identify whether the fridge’ position is correct and if placing it in the door way of the kitchen where all the people come in will be right. The sink should always be under the window otherwise you will look into the wall if you wash dishes.
Now that your design for your kitchen cupboards is done you will have to work out what materials you are going to need to build your kitchen units and what counter tops you are going to use on you cupboards. For this step you will have to work out a cut list for your kitchen units. You have to tell the board shop where you are going to get your melamine chipboard cut and edged what the sizes of your cabinet parts are and which side you want edged. You will also have to tell them what colors you want the melamine to be in. The carcass of kitchens is always white unless it’s an open unit which has exposed sides.
On your shopping list you must indicate what screws you will need to put your kitchen units together and how many you will need. Hinges and drawer runners use shorter chipboard screws to fix them to the kitchen cupboards carcass. Pvc adjustable plastic legs are the best for leveling kitchens so put that on the list as well. Remember that you’re going to cut a hole in your counter top for your sink so you have to use silicone to seal it. A nail gun is also a great tool to have when building kitchens. The nails will keep the cupboards perfectly lined up and the chipboard screw will secure it.
Once you’ve cut all you wood and ordered all your materials to assemble and install your kitchen cupboards you may begin to build. Work slowly and carefully when you’re assembling the first kitchen cupboard you’ve ever built. It takes much more time and effort to fix a mistake you made with cupboards than to actually build the cupboard itself.
Once you’ve built all the kitchen units you can place them in the floor plan of your kitchen. Make sure you level them perfectly and start from the highest point of the floor in the kitchen. If you kitchen cupboards aren’t level your door will go skew. Don’t get a fright and think your cabinet is out of square.
Finally you’ve put all the units of your kitchen design in place and secured the counter tops onto the kitchen cupboard carcasses. Now it’s time to cut the hole for the sink and to seal it with silicone. The last thing you want is to build a beautiful kitchen and two month later the kitchen counter tops starts to swell from the water. Chipboard and water is just like milk and Weat-bix. They both swell up when they get in contact with fluids.
Learn more about Kitchens. Stop by Julian Venter’s site where you can find out all about Built In Cupboards and what it can do for you.
