Building a Corner Cabinet

Happy Father's Day

We've been in the kitchen working away, but today we take a break to celebrate Father's Day! Before our break this weekend, we did get a corner cabinet built. Even though we are DIY rookies, I think we did a pretty good job for first timers. This one cabinet will change the whole look of our kitchen. The best part of it is, we only spent about $20 to build it! Yeah! We decided to make this cabinet due to some wasted space we had in the corner of our cabinets.

We started by measuring our existing cabinets. We are using the original cabinets and just changing out the doors to make all of them look more modern, so we needed this cabinet to match. We were lucky enough to use parts of a few other cabinets we've removed in the house already so they all look the same.

Since we are reworking the existing cabinets to incorporate this new cabinet, he took down all his measurements and that's how he arrived at the size of this cabinet. For the top and bottom of the cabinet using his measurements, he basically started out with a square and then measured the sides down to the standard 12" that our other cabinets were and cut off the front corner that now becomes the front of the cabinet.

Next he glued and tacked the braces that are used for hanging the cabinet. These were used as a frame of sorts for the cabinet as well.

Now he adds the bracing to the top piece. We used glue, nails and screws for this project to make it sturdy.

After the glue was added he used the nail gun to tack it all together.

The front panels had to be cut at a 45 degree angle so the door would be flush. He used the table saw and set the blade at a 45 degree angle to cut them.

He then added the side panels with glue and nails to the top of the cabinet.

For the bottom, to give more sturdiness, he added to the "brace" for the side panels.

Next he glued, tacked to hold and then used screws to make the sides sound and secure.

This cabinet will also have a lazy susan in the bottom for all my spices, but to add more storage, we added a center shelf as well. It was cut using the same technique as the top and bottom.

The backing was added next. Here's where the other cabinets we'd removed came in very handy. We used the backing off of them and cut them down to size for our new cabinet.

We also used pieces from the other cabinets for the facing of our new cabinet. All these pieces needed to be cut at 45 degree angels as well. Again he used glue and nails to hold it all into place.

Since we used recycled wood for the front facing pieces, the wood had previous nail holes and such so I added wood puddy to fill in all the blemishes so the final look will be smooth for painting later. We're getting there!

It doesn't have to be done all at once. It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!