How to Build Base Cabinets with Face Frames--EASY!

Hey friends, let's build some basic base cabinets! While these cabinets were built specifically for my laundry room, these same style, size, and type of cabinets can be used in a kitchen, bathroom, office, or built ins.

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Tools & Materials:
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Tools:

Materials*:
¾″ plywood for cabinet boxes (birch or maple recommended for cabinets)
¼″ plywood for back panels
1x2s (for face frames)
Material for doors and drawers–varies depending on style.
*material amounts will vary depending on your cabinet size and number of cabinets needed. In most cases, one ¾″ sheet of plywood will make about 2 cabinet boxes.

Paint Color: SW Stardew

**CHAPTERS**
00:00 Introduction
00:37 Standard Cabinet Dimension Overview
01:58 Assembling Cabinet Boxes
05:58 Building and Installing Face Frame
08:04 Preparing Cabinet Boxes for Drawers/Shelves
09:27 Attaching Cabinet Back Panels
10:02 Assembling Cabinet Doors
11:21 Assembling Drawer Fronts
12:42 Painting Cabinets
13:26 Installing Drawers
15:24 Installing Cabinet Doors
15:56 Finish and Final Reveal

[katizig]

Wow. This would take me no less than about 50 years to build. Awesome job ❤

[johndaniels]

I'm always impressed with your design and cabinet building skills, but this time I'm even more impressed with the way you woman handled that piece of 3/4" plywood into your shop. Wow, Supergirl. I have a set of cabinets to build this summer and have already saved this video to use as my guide. Thanks.

[torabora]

The best i have seen in the cabinet building videos on YouTube

[MDay]

This is the best cabinet builders guide I've seen. Some neat experience-driven tricks too, such as holding down your pencil at the line and then butt up the speed square against it. Or the tongue technique with the router is brilliant. Thank you for taking the time to make this.

[ginniferleflore]

So satisfying to see how perfect the drawer boxes fit into the cabinet!

[samgilcrease]

I've watched a lot of cabinet building videos, and I have to say your series is some of the best. Very informative and more understandable details. Thanks

[Bekim]

Beautiful cabinets Shara, I love it! I love that tongue and groove trick with the router!

[malletandchisel]

Great video! Music enhances and doesn’t distract. Nice work.

[JayBergCustoms]

I especially like that open shelf cabinet on the left side! Seems like it could be very convenient for certain things.

[franmcnamara]

Brilliant job ...I'm extremely impressed .

[craiggoodwin]

Shara, you're "spot on" for this household (and probably many others) as the weather seems to be breaking a bit and I've been thinking about increasing our storage space with some additional kitchen cabinets for at least this entire winter and maybe even longer. I love the modular style and look forward to using it soon. It's nice to watch a basic basic video about cabinet building and I for one appreciate this. Thanks to you and Bubby. Thanks for Sharing!

[SawdustmakerLori]

Love how these cabinets turned out and can't wait to see them installed in your laundry room! So sorry you didn't like the color and ended up painting them twice as I know that is a job you don't care for! It's worth the effort to be happy with the final color though. You'll enjoy them for many years to come. Thanks for another great video with excellent instructions!!!

[amb]

You explain really well, you go slow enough for others to follow and your end results are amazing! I'm really glad I've found your channel, you give me confidence to attempt these myself. Thank you for what you do! 🌟

[nick.makowski]

I love how you made these simply and they look amazing. Everyone else online wants to do all these dados and other complicated techniques. You made it look so easy and the end result is oerfext

[amandy]

Awesome work! You make it look so seamless and effortless

[andyholland]

I'm about to embark on building my kitchen. This video has been invaluable as everything is explained clearly and highlighted areas I hadn't thought of. Excellent.

[cswatson]

Gurl! You done it again. Got my eyes on this plan with an update to that drying rack idea. Add in a heated towel rack! You so good Shara. Keep it up

[m_cabral]

As an amateur woodworker, I really appreciate this construction style. I made four base cabinets in the summer. Three of them I used dados and rabbits cut using my track saw. The last one was made the same way you have here with pocket holes and butt joints.

Once they were tied together, there is zero difference in strength for practical use cases. If something is going to crush two pieces of plywood stacked 1.5” thick and supported by arches and buttresses, and tied into your wall studs…. you probably needed a steel frame anyway. I get it for stand alone pieces like drawers, a hutch, a dresser, etc. I don’t think we really need it for things being supported in part by the building itself.

Recently I was adding pull out drawers to my professionally installed kitchen cabinets. Ya know how they made those? Butt joints and pocket hole screws. They’ve stood the test of time for a decade and the only things wearing out are the undermount drawer slides.

Thanks for the guide.

[stephenwilliams]

I am always satisfied after watching your videos and as a result I have bought several plans from you. Once I start to replicate the builds I know I can always come back to the videos as a kind of tutorial to the plans I purchased. Thank you for the detail you put into the videos they always help. I hope more subscribers feel as I do. Thanks Shara

[Cbn]

Would love a tour of your workspace/ tools you recommend for beginners etc if you haven’t done a video on it yet :) so cool, very inspired!