Carpentry Help

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POKE1911

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So I have a cut out on each side of my fireplace the wife is wanting to do built-ins with floating shelves above. We got a couple quotes and good lord I didn’t think it would be that much. Two base cabinets, unfinished and installed for $2100. Probably isn’t too crazy, just way more than I want to spend on this project. Especially when they are going to be mostly cosmetic.

Being somewhat handy, I have the urge to do it myself and save a lot of money. I have and have access to good tools. I have a little wood working experience but it’s been since high school since I have put something together that needed to look good. I have never done cabinets but what I saw online looked straight forward. Here’s my problem, I don’t want to get knee deep and uncover a bunch of issues that someone with experience would know... Also do not want it to look jank... Is it as straight forward as it seems it would be or is it more of an art? I figured with patience and attention to detail I’d be okay. Just don’t know if this is a project that would be better left for a pro?

Just looking for experiences, good or bad. Recommendations or maybe someone to bounce a question or two off.
 

MacFromOK

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Have you checked at Lowe's or Home Depot to see if there are pre-built cabinets (finished or unfinished) that would fit the cutouts?

If so, floating shelves only require basic skills with a drill and screwdriver. Lol, and a tape measure of course...

Just a thought. :drunk2:
 

POKE1911

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Have you checked at Lowe's or Home Depot to see if there are pre-built cabinets (finished or unfinished) that would fit the cutouts?

If so, floating shelves only require basic skills with a drill and screwdriver. Lol, and a tape measure of course...

Just a thought. :drunk2:

Thanks! Great minds. My only issue is the prefabs are either 12 or 24 inches deep. The depth of my cutouts is about 20 and wife wants it flush with wall. I thought about bracing it down cutting the back down to fit but if I went that far would I be better off just building from scratch?
 

Shoot Summ

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Cabinets are easy to build, just boxes, doors are harder, then fitting is the most tedious. What part of Tulsa are you in?

These are floating shelves I built in Tulsa, and took to my Daughter's house in Albuquerque to install. They have since ditched the lick and stick stone and had plaster installed, looks much better.

shelves.jpg
shelves2 (2).jpg
 

TwoForFlinching

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Give it your best shot. Work slow, be tedious. Worse case scenario, you'll be able to mess up a few times before hitting that $2100 mark.

If you're close to Lawton, I'm happy to help.
 

NightShade

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For doors you can always splurge and buy premade and make sure you have your openings setup to fit. That basically solves the hardest thing to do. Beyond that as said it's a box so hard to mess up. Just build it square and you are good.
 

MacFromOK

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Thanks! Great minds. My only issue is the prefabs are either 12 or 24 inches deep. The depth of my cutouts is about 20 and wife wants it flush with wall. I thought about bracing it down cutting the back down to fit but if I went that far would I be better off just building from scratch?
Not IMO.

With a 24" deep cabinet, you could just cut off the required 4" (or whatever) difference (plus the back thickness), trim the excess box off the back, then re-attach the back to the box (I'd use wood glue plus screws or paneling nails, and ya probably want to drill slightly undersize holes to prevent either from splitting the box).

Let it dry 24 hrs and... bada-bing bada-boom, yer done with the cabinets. :drunk2:
 

rc508pir

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Cabinets are easy to build, just boxes, doors are harder, then fitting is the most tedious. What part of Tulsa are you in?

These are floating shelves I built in Tulsa, and took to my Daughter's house in Albuquerque to install. They have since ditched the lick and stick stone and had plaster installed, looks much better.

View attachment 124001 View attachment 124002
Damn nice. Though I prefer the lick n stick brick myself
 

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