Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cabinets

Broken Trash Compactor - How to Remove and Alternatives to Replacing?

GregX3 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:10:31 -0800

I need to remove this broken trash compactor. Does anyone know how to get it out? (and bonus points if you can think of an inexpensive way to fill that space and have it look nice.) I really don't want to replace something I'd never use.

Help Me Find a Cabinet Please

tk — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:19:20 -0800

What cabinet would best fit this space? We just moved. The bathroom, while still very small, is of such a configuration that our storage units don't work. We need to buy something new. Here's what I've been fruitlessly searching for all week:

A freestanding cabinet with shelves, and these specs:
--doors, preferably sliding
--depth not more than one foot, MAYBE 13 inches would be OK
--width less than 2.5 feet
--height less than 3.5 feet

I saw this one at Target, but it looks like a piece of junk and the baskets aren't great for our 13 month old kid.

Anyone have any ideas for me? I couldn't find something shallow enough at Ikea. I looked at Lowes, Home Depot... I'm out of ideas.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Relatively inexpensive high-quality kitchen cabinets?

bananafish — Thu, 21 May 2009 10:31:01 -0800

Inexpensive (relatively), high-quality kitchen cabinets? My Husband is a wood worker who doesn't have time to build a whole kitchen's worth of cabinets. But being a woodworker, he is particular about cabinets (see desired attributes inside). We have been quoted approximately $23,000 for our kitchen (which is a fairly normal sized, middle class level kitchen). $23,000 seems excessive to me. We are in the Bay Area. Any thoughts about where we can buy high-quality cabinets (as described) at a lower price either in a store in the Bay Area or online would be appreciated can be customized (for example, to fit around the post)
- 3/4" plywood construction
- natural cherry shaker style doors and drawer fronts
- no face frame (European style)
- full overlay
- drawers and door fronts finished outside of california (with high-solids content catalyzed conversion varnish or similar)
- full extension drawers
- metal drawer slides with ball bearings
- soft-close drawers
- 120 degree Blum hinges on doors
- no use of vinyl (e.g., wood-grained vinyl in place of veneer)
- available features like:
* pull-out spice rack
* pull-out trash bin
* half-moon lazy susan

Save my ugly kitchen.

burntflowers — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:10:29 -0800

How can I hide these hideous, chipped, particle board cupboard doors? I can't remove them. Our cupboard insides are ugly too, and packed to the gills. The landlord won't replace the doors, as he's far too cheap to fix anything that's not an emergency.

I've seen this question, but I can't do anything permanent to the apartment.

So far I've come up with wrapping the doors in brown paper, but I'm not sure how long that would really last in a room that is often full of steam and grease splatters. We're going to be in this apartment for a couple more years, so something that would last, or that's easily and cheaply replaceable would be best.

Ideas?

Ikea cabinet owners: what do you think?

yoga — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:53:05 -0800

Ikea cabinet (kitchen and/or bath) owners! Please tell me about your experience with Ikea cabinets. We're talking anything about ordering, installation, wear & tear, how long has it been installed, are you happy with it, would you do it again? I've read a lot of reviews on forums and watchdoggie type sites like Consumer Reports. I want to hear from the folks who have them and actually use them daily. How are they?

A smooth finish for my refinished cabinet doors

Sublimity — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:31:13 -0800

Refinishing/refurbishing my kitchen cabinet doors. How can I apply the polyurethane to get a smooth, even shine? My kitchen cabinets are beautiful, old-school, solid cherry. The finish is scuffed/dulled in some places where it looks like someone scrubbed a bit too hard--not down to the bare wood, for the most part, just patches of dullness. So I want to give them a new topcoat and pretty 'em up, as we're fixing up our kitchen.

I've done a trial run on the least conspicuous door. Looks like cleaning with TSP and applying oil-based polyurethane is going to work out. The trouble is that I can't seem to apply it totally uniformly across the door, and I end up with just enough variation in the gloss that it's almost as if I went through all the trouble for nothing. How can I get a totally even coat?

I don't think that the problem has to do with the polyurethane being insufficiently mixed. I keep the doors horizontal as I apply the poly. I'm using semi-gloss, which is about in keeping with the degree of gloss on the current finish.

I initially tried spraying with polyurethane in an aerosol can, hoping to get an even application--didn't work. I also tried applying liquid with a foam brush and going with the grain--better but not perfect.

Some things I haven't tried yet but am thinking about:
--first applying the poly perpendicular to the grain, then making my final brushwork with the grain, to spread it more evenly.
--getting a *really* wide applicator, like those 12" dealies for finishing hardwood floors, to minimize brushstrokes.

On that last point, I actually have refinished a couple of floors in my time (w/water based poly) and haven't had this problem, so it's frustrating to be having it now!

Any tips and tricks will be very welcome! The scrubbed-out dullness really bugs me and I want my beautiful cherrywood cabinets to live up to their potential.

when is the annual ikea no-tax sale?

dityfleur — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:08:28 -0800

does anyone know when ikea has their no-tax sale? we are planning to remodel our kitchen this summer with ikea cabinets. i've heard there are no-tax sales, but haven't been able to figure out when... we'd like to be prepared to order the cabinets when the sale happens since its a big purchase, but does anyone know when the sales are?

thanks for your help!

How do I remove a lock from a file cabinet

kanemano — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:06:27 -0800

Is there an easy way to permanently remove the locks from a steel case filing cabinet? Yesterday a fling cabinet with a missing key somehow got locked, and I was forced to spend 2 hours with Hammer, screwdriver and drill getting it open again. (calling a lock smith would have been too simple, and the price would have gone up after the first 20 minuites of me trying) This particular cabinet will never be locked again, but I can see the same scenario happening again to some other just as important cabinet.

Tempered glass or plain glass for kitchen cabinets?

chr1sb0y — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 02:09:34 -0800

Should our kitchen cabinet doors have plain glass or tempered glass? We just bought new custom cabinet doors, as a somewhat cheaper/easier alternative to replacing our kitchen cabinets. The doors are cut for glass (they look like frames), which we have to buy and install separately. We've called around to numerous glass shops, and called the cabinet door company, and gotten a ridiculously wide range of responses to this question. Some folks say "Of course you need tempered! Otherwise you might get a shard of glass in the arm if the door shatters some time when you slam it." Other's have said "Tempered glass is far more likely to shatter (into lots of "safe" pieces, but still a hassle) upon normal cabinet door use, so get regular glass - you're not likely to break it."

Some places charge a lot more for tempered glass - like 40 bucks extra for a 40 dollar piece of glass. (We've also seen a huge range of glass prices - from 13 dollars a pane to 90 dollars a pane - untempered.)

Extra info:
- These are all upper cabinet doors, and we have 2 boys (6 and 3) who are just starting to use chairs to reach items up high - so they will likely be using these doors in little boy fashion (ie. sort of clumsily/roughly at times).
- The hinges for these doors have a very firm closing action.
- Whatever glass we get will be obscure or frosted - not clear.

Help me find a carpenter in NY

walla — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:12:35 -0800

Anyone know of a reliable carpenter to make two built-in cabinets for a New York (Upper West Side) apartment? Thanks!

what's the best way to do my friends kitchen reno?

bluehermit — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 12:24:13 -0800

I'm helping a good friend design a new kitchen for her home. She's kind of tight on money so i'm suggesting she do either the base cabinets first and the wall cabinets at a later date or vice versa. What do you think would be better to do first? Base cabinets or wall cabinets? Or is it a bad idea to do the kitchen in pieces?

She would like to complete the kitchen within a year, her brother will do the install for her and there is no issue that the current door style she likes will be discontinued. She will be selling her home in about 18 months so that leaves plently of time to get the kitchen done.

Budget Kitchen Remodel

kmel — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 13:55:23 -0800

Budget kitchen remodel advice for someone at that "too clueless even to know what I don't know" stage. I am embarking on a kitchen remodel after a water leak ruined the floors and bottom cabinets. Insurance money + what I already had saved for the project = $8000. I'm really only expecting this to cover the cabinets and (hopefully) the contertop, sink, and fixtures. The footprint will not change and there will be no new appliances. No lighting change or fancy floors until the budget is replenished.

My husband and I would like to DIY where possible, but I can't see our skills extending much beyond the demolition stage.

The general consensus seems to be that this budget is impossibly small. But we have to do something about the water damaged cabinets and now-bare concrete floors. we are not high-end, granite everything people, our tastes are more like funky linoleum/retro/modern.

So ... advice on doing this kitchen remodel? I'd like to hear everything from cabinet brands and countertop ideas to managing the timeline to hiring professionals.

Pre-built kitchen cabinets

jacobsee — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:15:56 -0800

Following up on my question last week, I'm looking for recommendations for companies that sell pre-built kitchen cabinets, where we can choose from various types and sizes. Personal experiences with certain companies would be great. This is for my brother's house in Portland, Oregon where they're looking into remodelling their kitchen. Thanks!

Custom cabinets or DIY?

jacobsee — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:43:57 -0800

Can it be cost-effective to build your own kitchen cabinets from scratch vs. buying and installing them yourself? My brother and his house-mates are looking into remodelling their kitchen including all new cabinets. They're throwing around the idea of building the cabinets themselves (including tool purchases and learning how to actually do it I assume) versus just ordering them from some kind of custom cabinet shop and then installing them.

Ignoring the massive investment of time that will be required for the do-it-yourself option, how do you think the costs stack up?

This is an average size kitchen in a three-bedroom house in Portland, Oregon.

Avoiding Air Bubbles When Applying Self-Adhesive Cupboard Covering?

degnarra — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 14:43:02 -0800

How do you apply self-adhesive covering to cupboards without getting air bubbles? Using the squeegee method doesn't seem to work for me.