Cabinets are expensive. Do this instead.

HOW I CAN HELP YOU 👇

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TOOLS USED IN THE VIDEO (affiliate) 🧰

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3D Printing Stuff

MAKERS COMMUNITY 🚨

🙏 Thank you to the top-tier Patreons: Dave Meyer, Shane Cleavelin, Tim Epperson, Michael Downs, John Shiesser, Louis Brooks, Cameron Bryant, Linda Mizak, Aaron Geller, Matt Outlaw, Wayne Miller, Malcom McCutcheon, Matthew Goode, James Engelhardt, Troy Hall, Liam P Burke, Corey Davoll, Steve Thompson, Devin Perkins, William Taylor, Klay Jones, Gulzeb Niazi, Mike Masterman, Nathaniel Allard, Kristof Vannotten, Tony Tillman, Michael Jones, Thomas Sasala, Tracy Bachman, Kevin Jones, Jason Hagen, Braden Boex, Stephen L Birge, Chris Burton, Don Jenkins, Brian Suker, George Thomas, David Chambers, Mark Glowacz, Brian Lee, John Sanchez, Lee Dumond, Kevin Hirata, Bradley Johnson, Jim ONeill, Jared Nason, Paul Eaklor, Dana Seidl, Jeremy Kao, Mark Edward Ellis, Greg Sims, Val Moutsopoulos, Kyle Lidberg, Stephen Collard, Zachary Rackovan

DISCLAIMERS:

⏱ TIME STAMPS ⏱
00:00 the game plan
00:57 making base cabinets
04:00 I hate moving boxes
07:08 how to get accurate measurements
08:54 how a hack makes counter tops
09:54 PRO TIPS
11:40 WW2, 32, & your mom's house
13:30 how to scribe face frames (a yt master class in 90 sec)
15:30 I hate painting
16:23 the resistance
18:30 asmr for the trolls. go back under the bridge. please. you're welcome
20:08 installing trim and leds
22:59 how the pros make doors
25:32 it is finished

[WoodNerds]

THIS GUY MAKES ME SICK!!!

With his fantastic projects, awesome video work, great sense of humor… disgusting.

Also, what a liar… not a pro, huh? You think us true hacks can’t see how comfortable you are in that tool belt? Get real.

…looking forward to more.

[DLRedden]

I love that quote, “The person who works with their mind must rest with their hands.” I figured this out a few years back but never heard it so succinctly.

[geecee]

Dude, I worked my way through college working for a custom home builder so that I could be a computer engineer. I am now 56, and I have been an avid woodworker for as long as I can remember. I had never heard the saying you showed in your video "He who works with his mind, must rest with his hands". No wonder woodworking is like "rest" to me. My father constantly tells me to stop working so hard on my days off, and I tell him that working on projects in my workshop IS like rest to me. Now it all makes sense :) Also, I am proud to be a 25-year woodworking hack like you. Great job on the cabinets!

[theweekendwarrior]

If your cheapest professional quote was $12k. I think saving $10k is a win!

[ArrowandString]

I am a professional Finish Carpenter and I love watching all kinds of You Tubers that do woodwork. You can always teach an old dog new tricks. Im 51 been doing this along time. There is always a different way to do things that may be better then how Ive been doing it for 25 years.

[beezerdoodle]

I'm a 73 year old retired cabinet maker/finish carpenter and I'm always open to fresh tips on products and processes. I gotta say that I learned a few things from this video and I really enjoyed your presentation. Not a professional? Maybe not but you definitely could be and your quality of finished work would mean that you could be successful and that your customers would do your advertising for you (word of mouth, better than the internet!).

[ebw]

I’m a 74 year old female surfing YouTube for pottery videos. Somehow you came up on my feed. I just spent 26 minutes watching most fascinating video about some guy building bookcases and had the BEST time EVER doing it. You reminded me of Mark Rober and his entertaining videos. High five to you, Dude!

[steveferguson]

As a 30 plus year cabinet and furniture maker, A+. Really love how they turned out. And as far as the Wen track saw, this is the saw I use, and yes being on a fixed income and not wanting the wifey to blow a gasket I could justify the cost to her. I took your advice and bought a thin kerf blade and the difference was great. Oh, and your narrative in your videos is unlike any other on YouTube, and I love it.

[geoffrothman]

I was not prepared to spend 25 mins on vacation in hawaii watching a video on cabinet making but you have a gift for storytelling my man! and I love the humor of course

[mistydevillier]

We just finished our forever home. My husband and I pretty handy, and when it came time for the cabinets, we were tired of spending far too much for things we could've done ourselves, so we built our own cabinets and kitchen island and saved over 20 thousand. They came out great. When we had a question, we just googled it.

[FlyingScot]

Great presentation and style. Rest with your hands indeed. I love do it yourself projects. Definitely got that from my dad. Growing up in the 60's he built everything including our tv's (Heathkits) all of his ham radio gear, furniture, house renos, car renos, you name it, he could build it. He went from being a laborer in a mine in Ontario when we moved to Canada to being supervisor of the largest open pit mine in North America in British Columbia. For my 14th birthday he gave me a crystal ham radio kit project. He thought he would get me into building my own gear...I used it to hotwire his car and taught myself to drive. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree...But it really paid off this year. I was living off grid with a tiny little shed I was using for my video production studio when I ran into an old friend who invited me to move into the second floor of a building that used to be a grow op. It was gross. The metal roof had leaked for a few years which caused mold and rot. I set out to reno the place to make it livable. I had to gut the space and build from the floor up and do the build on a really tight budget. I estimate the entire build cost me around $3K. The entire kitchen, including marble countertops, cabinets, island cost me $10. I bought almost all of my materials on Facebook marketplace including 3 doors, windows, beautiful German made wood flooring, plywood etc. at a cost of about $400. I did splurge on the ceiling as I used a new PVC material in place of drywall, and rockwool soundproofing insulation for the studio and bedroom. It was a challenge too as the roof is curved so I had to design the interior walls to accommodate the curved roof. I also did my own electrical wiring, and plumbed a new bathroom with a great soaker tub/shower, toilet, vanity etc at a cost of $180. They really have to bring shop back to schools and teach kids to work with their hands.

[kg]

Here's a Hack tip from another Hack. Put blue tape along the piece you want to scribe then use your scribe blade to cut the tape. Peel off the tape and you have a high vis cut line for the cut.

[yatesmachine]

Dude, this is the first vid of yours I've ever watched. You earned a sub from me when you put up the quote from your therapist. I wrote code all day at my day job, and the best way for me to recharge is in creating: woodworking, cooking, baking, beer brewing, etc.

[bobbysquinch]

I do not get much value from videos that don’t have voiceover, I get even more value when the video has humor and insights as yours do. My “project supervisor” is clamoring for some built-ins and this video has given me some great advice both practical and mental. thanks!

[RekMed]

honestly- the way you troll back that person is hysterical and keep it up. i also LOVE that you take a second to acknowledge that no matter what someone says, it makes you happy and you will keep going. We just bought a house and I am SO BEYOND excited to start projects as a hack, and i have some hack skills already- so i will join your hack club but hope i can be as good of a hack as you are one day. Congrats on this new journey / chapter you're doing and as you can see by your growth, youre doing it right! so happy to be a sub on here!

[shamizy]

Never change the narration, it's what gives your channel its uniqueness and has made me go back and dive into all your old videos after discovering it about 8 months back. I love how clearly you explain what you're doing right on camera, the helpful indicators and text inserts, and the excellent editing. Also thank you for that book recommendation, I will definitely give it a read as I dive into this custom vinyl cabinet build that has been intimidating me the last few months that I need to finally get around to.

Keep it up "hack"!

[JPToto]

FWIW, your narration + music are PERFECT for the story telling. You make fantastic videos, sir 🫡

[jaxwylde]

Fantastic work. used IKEA kitchen upper cabinets for the *base* of the wall unit (raised on an indented 2x4 base to provide the 'kick space'). Then I used IKEA Billy bookshelves, placed side by side, for the upper portion of the wall unit. The Billy bookshelves are flipped upside down so that the base is towards the ceiling (providing support for crown molding).
I added 1x2 trimming to all the upper shelves/sides to give it a more 'beefy' / traditional custom cabinet look. Then filled in all the gaps, and painted.
Everyone who has seen it thinks it's a custom built wall unit, but I built it for a fraction of the cost, and with no special tools.

[robtrotter]

Fellow Texan here. I loved this video man. My wife and I are considering building some of these shelves in our formal dining room soon and it was great to watch your build process. I appreciate your commentary and the asmr shop noise bit. Nice work. 💪

[JonathanKuhn]

As someone dabbling in the YouTube space, I find your dedication to getting good shots, storytelling and top level VO truly inspiring.