Custom Cabinets - Should I accept Veneer?

[batcon]

Is this demand for another 25% different from what you agreed on at the beginning? If so,that is somewhat unprofessional.

A wood like alder is more stable than cherry, and he is right that it is more work to edge glue alder and then veneer over it. If he just edge glued the cherry, your drawer fronts would look like a hardwood floor. You know, 2 inch strips.

What's your plan for the corner cabinet? I wen t with this, VAUTH-SAGEL Systemtechnik | Twin corner

I believe he means the guy wants 25% more of the contract money already agreed to. This is why every detail needs to be gone over with a fine tooth comb before the contract is signed. I put a large part of this on the contractor to explain what exactly the client is getting.

oops, already answered

 

[agomez]

I would play nice and see it through, the last thing you want is the contractor to pull off the job...if you have problems with what the contractor is doing then sit down and hash it out communication is everything...from the looks of the pics that remodel should have been done a week ago unless he is making the cabinets himself.....

 

[fj40charles]

I would play nice and see it through, the last thing you want is the contractor to pull off the job...if you have problems with what the contractor is doing then sit down and hash it out communication is everything...from the looks of the pics that remodel should have been done a week ago unless he is making the cabinets himself.....

X2. You're already committed to this job. Play hardball and good chance he'll just walk away from the job. 50% down payment should more than cover his cost of material.

Flat panel is less $$ than raised panel since it will be 1/4" veneered plywood.

IMHO, you're in no position to argue. You'll have an unfinished kitchen, very mad wife (if married to a woman) and lots of stress you don't need.

The cabinet builder has good references. He may be behind if he is a perfectionist and really cares about the quality of his work. I'll take a perfectionist over fast/quick/cheap/sloppy contractor each and every time.

I would ALWAYS expect projects from contractors and YOURSELF to take longer and go over budget.

BTW, I had a bunch of White Ash solid drawer fronts and cabinet doors made recently. Around 43 total pieces. My cost was around $1500. YMMV.

 

[Jetboy]

I would play nice and see it through, the last thing you want is the contractor to pull off the job...if you have problems with what the contractor is doing then sit down and hash it out communication is everything...from the looks of the pics that remodel should have been done a week ago unless he is making the cabinets himself.....

I'm doing all of the general contractor functions. Actually I've done everything except the cabinets. From the tear out, to beams, to building beam brackets, to plumbing electrical and HVAC. It's all been my work except the cabinets. Only things I'm waiting on are the cabs, countertops - which are waiting on the prep sink to arrive, and a couple back ordered light fixtures. I've been living out of a makeshift kitchen in our basement since January and I just want the damn thing done.

The cabinet maker is making the cabinets himself, but I was ready on schedule and he had measured everything for the approved drawings. I assumed that meant he'd build them and install in a day or two, not build as he goes for 3 weeks.

 

[45Kevin]

I wouldn't give him any more money until the job is done. Your deposit covered the materials and maybe half the labour.

I would sit down with him and voice your lack of experience,hence the reason for your questions. If the workman ship is fine, and it seems like it is, tell him.

It's not a large job,and he could have been a bit more accurate about his schedule,but delays may be for a good reason. Ask.

We always supply shop drawings and get them approved by the contractor, architect and owner before we proceed with manufacturing. It's probably not practical to do this here, and everyone is working off an elevation drawing only.

Others are right about not starting a fight, but if he has any type of professionalism,he should be fine with sticking with the original agreement.

I think that corner cabinet hardware was a couple of hundred $$. Spendy, but not in the grand scheme and worth it for the peace in the house.

 

[Jetboy]

I wouldn't give him any more money until the job is done. Your deposit covered the materials and maybe half the labour.

I would sit down with him and voice your lack of experience,hence the reason for your questions. If the workman ship is fine, and it seems like it is, tell him.

It's not a large job,and he could have been a bit more accurate about his schedule,but delays may be for a good reason. Ask.

We always supply shop drawings and get them approved by the contractor, architect and owner before we proceed with manufacturing. It's probably not practical to do this here, and everyone is working off an elevation drawing only.

Others are right about not starting a fight, but if he has any type of professionalism,he should be fine with sticking with the original agreement.

I think that corner cabinet hardware was a couple of hundred $$. Spendy, but not in the grand scheme and worth it for the peace in the house.

Couple hundred isn't bad. It's a pretty slick little unit.


I spoke with him again today. I think we've come to an agreement. I'm going to give another 25% upon completion of lower cabs, and that leaves me twice what he bid for the uppers, which will be all that is left. And we'll set a "due date". I can get on with life.


Pics will follow as progress is made.

On a side note, I very much appreciate the advice. I've worked in most of the trades over the years, but I'm not an expert in any other than painting. I haven't driven my cruiser in over a year, and haven't contributed to Mud in probably that long or more, and there were still mudders more than willing to share a little knowledge. Thank you. Jetboy

 

[batcon]

Good luck with your project. It's going to be nice when you're done.

 

[splitshot]

IMHO, you're in no position to argue. You'll have an unfinished kitchen, very mad wife (if married to a woman) and lots of stress you don't need.

I turned that whole mess over to my wife while we were building.

Couldn't be more happier with the end result.

 

[fyton2v]

sorry for the hassle you're going through. For what it's worth those doors and drawer fronts with the finish you've chosen look really nice. Don't sweat the details and just enjoy the finished product. Too much money to be irritated by minor things

Good luck and be sure to post some pics when finished!

 

[agomez]

yeah I would focus on the end product ....

 

[HenryAZ]

Shaker door and drawer fronts should have solid wood rails and stiles and a veneered panel.

The real old time way they did that was to use a sold wood raised panel, and turn the raise around to the rear, flat side to the front.

 

[sparkplug]

Are you going to be able to open the microwave door all the way?

I'd go solid wood on everything.

 

[Jetboy]

Are you going to be able to open the microwave door all the way?

I'd go solid wood on everything.

Yes, well probably not all the way, but close. I thought of that when I looked over the elevations. I made the upper cabinet 30 1/4 wide so there is enough room for the door swing. The hinge keeps it pretty tight when opening, but it did need a little clearance. It will go out to 90*. It wont open beyond that, but I think that will work fine. I don't think my old counter top one opened much past 90 anyway.

We ended up with that micro because it came as part of an appliance suite and it won't work over the range so I figured I'd just put it in next to the fridge because it's a nice big microwave and the underside light might be nice there. I doubt the fan will ever be used. I'll have a fan over the range for now.

I'm working on building a power-retracting range hood, but that'll be a few months down the road. (Basically it will be garage door opener circuitry because it's perfect for the task with two stop points, remote, etc, but I'll run the vent pipe on a set of tracks to keep it vertical with a counterweight and a linear actuator for lift and drop. And I'll just stick a remote under the counter and wire in something like a little air switch like you see for garbage disposals set in the counter to activate)

I am a bit disappointed that I didn't realize and my cabinet maker didn't tell me that OTR microwaves are 14" deep and std upper cabs are only 12. So it sticks out 2 inches. It appears as though that's the way they are commonly done over the range, but I'd prefer it set back in. I frenched the wall behind the fridge 2.5" so it sits back near counter depth but I get a full depth fridge. I would have done the same for the micro or had deeper cabinets built had I known.

 

[agomez]

buy a smaller micro they are cheap...

 

[Jetboy]

buy a smaller micro they are cheap...

The problem is that they are all too deep. Practically ever microwave is at least 14 inches deep, unless they are mini microwaves that would only be about 12-14" wide in a 30" space. If you have any ideas on a model that would fill up most of the 30" wide space and only be 12 inches deep I'm not opposed to buying a different one. I haven't seen one though.

IMO a professional cabinet maker should both recognize this and ask about what I want. That's why you hire a custom cabinet maker. The cabs should have been 14" deep to accommodate this. He had the specs on the micro before building any of the cabinets.

I realize that I missed the depth comparison and agreed to the design, but I don't do this for a living.

 

[agomez]

so does the micro go on a shelf above where it is sitting in that pic?...if so just make the sure the shelf sticks out far enough to support the micro...most people try to optimize their counter space by keeping stuff off the counters by using an appliance garage or in the cabinets above or below....it really should not cost that much to alter the micro layout...is there any other place you can put it?

 

[Jetboy]

so does the micro go on a shelf above where it is sitting in that pic?...if so just make the sure the shelf sticks out far enough to support the micro...most people try to optimize their counter space by keeping stuff off the counters by using an appliance garage or in the cabinets above or below....it really should not cost that much to alter the micro layout...is there any other place you can put it?

The micro is attached to the bottom of the upper cabinet. No shelf. The micro has a light and fan on the bottom because it is intended as an over the range. It will fit in the space and attach to the cabinet without issue. It just ends up sticking out about 3" past the faces of the cabinets and I don't like the way it looks. It should function normally. I have a dedicated circuit to an outlet in the cabinet to the right just for this because these units draw a lot of current.

Anyway everything will work, it just looks funny sticking 2" out and would have taken minimal effort to add 2 inches to the depth of the wall cabinets.

I'm planning to just let it hang out a bit for now. If I don't like it it can just make new deeper boxes for the upper cabinets or fir them out a bit. I'd probably go with new boxes. I have half-decent rockwell table saw and a router table, they're no fancy powermatics or anything, but they are reasonably accurate and have good fences. I think I could whip out a new set of boxes in a few hours. I just wish one of us had recognized this earlier so it would all fit nicely.

 

[agomez]

as long as it works that's the main thing otherwise it should be fine...

 

[Woodsman]

Both parties are guilty in this case if any assuming was done in regards to the material used for the drawer fronts.

On lower end projects, slab fronts of veneered material would be used. On higher end projects the fronts would be made same as the doors. I would normally make the doors with solid "reversed raised panel" doors and drawer fronts The panels would be 1/2" thick with the raised portion to the back giving the door/drawer front a very solid feel and also giving a perfect color match with the solid rails and stiles.

As a custom woodworker, if I were in this situation, I would try to reach an agreement where maybe I would eat the labor and the customer would pay a few extra bucks for the material. Hopefully, this makes everyone happy with the outcome. If a customer really cried about it I would probably eat it and give them what they want to keep them happy and keep my reputation intact but I would also be careful not to make the same mistake again. Weren't there any drawings with specs to sign off on ???

I would be happy to knock out jobs like that for $8K or less but in my area everyone is too tight. They just want cheap and the quality that goes along with it.

 

[45Kevin]

Sooo.

Is it finished yet, did it turn out OK?

Where's the pics?