Customer Reviews

Cabinets and Countertops (Complete Construction)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

To qualify myself and my comments, I offer this.
I am a modestly accomplished woodworker and a kitchen cabinet hanging expert. I have personally hung over 200 kitchens from layout, demolition, plumbing, electrical; To completion.
This book falls far short of delivering on its title or description. "Cabinets and Countertops" should cover exactly that. It doesn't.
This is a 450pg text, 40 pages are devoted to an cursory explanation of joints. Not a problem for me, but if you don't know the caveats of these different joints, figure out yourself. You won't learn how to make any of them either.
6 pages cover drawer making. 30 pages are in a chapter called "cabinet construction, but it must be mislabled. The meat of this chapter is a pair of exploded view drawings of a cabinet, and a lecture on being organized.
9 pages cover countertops. Not the construction of countertops, not the differents kinds of countertops. Just the terrible advice that you should buy a POST-FORM countertop from a dealer, and what color it should be. I wouldn't even consider a laminate counter for my kitchen.
The rest of this book is very general, plebeian advice on a myriad of topics. Considering the source of this advice, it should be discarded.
I am unhappy with the standard cabinets available and prefer not paying 40 grand or more with an independent shop. I looked to this book to fill the small holes I have in my skills to accomplish this myself. It doesn't even scrape the surface, and is unworthy of the shelf space it occupies, let alone the purchase price.

This book really does cover it all - from outfitting your workshop to installation. It is well illustrated with B&W photographs and drawings of about everything he is writing about. There is a prioritized list of tools & equipment as well as advice on choosing a workspace. He reviews a large number of tools, which was nice as he confirmed my choice of a JET tablesaw as appropriate.

He also lists common dimensions of appliances you will need to build around and has examples of CAD drawings in many styles. Construction techniques are covered as well as which tools work best for each task. He has whole sections on kitchen workspace layout and installation methods.

If you are thinking of building kitchen cabinets for fun or for a living, this is the only book you need to see how to do it. If you are looking for lots of color pictures of creative designs, look elsewhere. This is mostly a technical manual, written in a conversational style that makes it interesting to read. It is an essential book in your woodworking library.

I bought the book hoping to see a step-by-step approach to build my own kitchen cabinets. I found in the book a well detailed treatice on woods, cabinet styles, psychology of dealing with customers of various monetary means, tools, table saws, jointery, and a lot of stuff that I really don't care about. I also found out about 32mm European construction that is still a mystery to me. Who cares????

This book has a huge amount of information but it isn't in a reader friendly format. "To many words not enough pictures and easy to understand examples"

I am already a professional cabinetmaker, but I always am looking for unique perspectives on my chosen profession. In my opinion, this book is more a cure for insomnia than it is a manual on cabinet construction. A more appropriate title would be How NOT to construct cabinets and countertops. The author seemed to be more interested in filling 450 pages of text than he did in offering real instruction or advice. At one point, he filled a few dozen pages with a plagiarized copy of a manufacturer's spec catalog - WITHOUT THE SPECS. At another point, he manually lists the various widths of different types of cabinets that are available from different shops and manufacturers as if this information were readable prose. As another example, he discusses Paduak and Purpleheart (both exotic and expensive hardwoods with sawdust that is almost toxic) as practical woods with applications in cabinetry. He also discusses what sort of office equipment you will need when you start your new cabinet making business - as if someone needing an explanation of the function of a table saw is qualified to start a commercial cabinet shop. Save your money and the paper and don't buy this book - there is a very good reason that it is out of print. If you want a good book on cabinetry, try either "Building Kitchen Cabinets" by Udo Schmidt (for the beginner) or "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker" by Robert W. Lang (for the more advanced woodworker - the information is concise and accurate but would overwhelm someone who is not familiar with architectural casework).

Trust me: This book is a waste of time. If I were able to give NEGATIVE 'stars' to a review, then I would have given this one about five.

I've read a good many books on this topic lately and would definitely rate this as one of the best. Well organized and informative, this book provides a wealth of information to both the novice and the professional cabinetmaker. I highly recommend it!