Fine woodworking is not for the feint of heart. The perfect finish eludes even the most ambitious carpenters until they’ve spent many hundreds of houses and thousands of dollars figuring out what works and what doesn’t. But don’t let that discourage you from making your own cabinets right now. The following is list will help you build cabinets for yourself (and others).
You may also be interested in:
- How to Choose a Power Tool Brand
- 6 Power Tools Every DIYer Needs
- 8 Advanced DIY Tools
- 11 Helpful Tools DIYers Forget to Buy
- 7 Tools You Need to DIY Cabinets
- Basic/Better/Bougie Design Choices for Your House
1. Track Saw
Universal Circular Saw to Track Saw Adapter
Good Compromise Track Saw
Track Saw Track
High End Track Saw
I’m going to assume if you’re interested in making your own cabinets that you already have a miter saw and table saw. But the best way to break down large sheets of plywood on a budget is a table saw. This comes in handy for cabinet and drawer boxes. I wouldn’t take on a cabinet building project without one.
PS Don’t forget about saw horses
Have you ever tried to carry a 3/4″ sheet of plywood? It’s heavy, and awkward. A little hand panel carrier cuts your trouble in half.
If you don’t have a work table, you can turn your saw horses into one as large as a sheet of plywood. I have built entire sets of cabinets on top of my saw horses. Remember though, if you need one, you need two.
2. Router & Router Table
Skil Router & Router Table
Bosch Router & Router Table
Bosch Router Edge Guide
Basic Routers
As the case is with many tools, if you need one router, you’ll probably need two. For milling woodwork for cabinetry you’ll want a fixed router that is powerful. A smaller cordless router comes in handy when you need to rout out space for things like hinges and strike plates for doors.
I have 4 routers that I’ve accumulated over the years. I have 2 corded Bosch routers. One is attached to a Skil router table, another is attached to a Bosch table. Both tables are similar. Many DIYers prefer to take the time to make their own table. The Skil router is about half the price but I love the Bosch router base attachments for plunge routing and edge routing.
Makita is my go to cordless router. It’s well balanced and easy to adjust precisely.
3. Jigs
There’s a jig for just about everything involved in cabinet making and most of them are worth the price.
- Pocket hole jig
- Advanced pocket hole jig
- Cabinet Door hinge jig
- Door hanging jig
- Shelf Jig
- Drawer slide jig
- Undermount drawer jig
- Cabinet hardware jig
- Cabinet face frame jig
Drawer front jig
4. Clamps
Making your own cabinets is synonymous with spending a lot of money on clamps. You need a variety of clamps to glue your pieces in place.
One day I’ll write up a chapter about clamps. But for now pay attention to both the clamp capacity and the throat depth of the clamp.
For cabinet doors this typically means having at least 2 clamps wide enough for the length of the door and 2 clamps with capacity as wide as the door. If you want to produce multiple doors at a time, then you need even more clamps.
There are a variety ways to accomplish this but parallel bar clamps do the trick. Harbor Freight is a great place to look for clamps on a discount.
5. Veneer
How do you finish the edge of plywood? Veneer of course. Like all things woodworking, there’s a cheap way to do this, and a $3,600 way. With just an iron you can fix an oversized piece of veneer to plywood. And with a razor blade you can cut off the excess. Or you can by the edge bander kit from Festool…
6. Sanders
Budget Sanders
Mirka Sanders
Festool Sanders
Love it or learn to love it, you won’t get very far in the world of cabinet making without sanding. Your typical DIYer has a very basic orbital sander. These leave behind swirls in the finish that are detectable to the trained eye (or the untrained eye that’s told to look closely). Your typical professional cabinet maker uses either a pneumatic sander or an electric sander that mimics a pneumatic sander.
Festool and Mirka are leaders in this space, but there are competitors. Much can be said on this topic, some other day…
7. Vacuums
Budget Shop Vac Options
Festool Vacuums
Last but not least, where is the dust supposed to go? You have many options. A $50 corded vacuum goes a long way to collecting a lot of dust. But if you’ve cut and sanded enough you’ll know that all dust collection is not created equal. Is it worth spending thousands just on dust collection? If you’ve made it this far you may very well have started down that path (whether you realize it or not).
What else do you need to know about tools?
- How to Choose a Power Tool Brand
- 6 Power Tools Every DIYer Needs
- 8 Advanced DIY Tools
- 11 Helpful Tools DIYers Forget to Buy
- My every day tool bag the last 5 years
- $100 off Craftsman cordless power tool bundle
Need help Doing-It-Yourself?
You can now bridge the gap between free DIY advice and the world of professional remodeling. My DIY guides help you understand your choices and make better decisions on your next home improvement project. As a civil engineer turned home remodeling contractor and real estate investor, I have over a decade of construction experience.