# Kitchen cabinets with kreg jig



## ponch37300 (Feb 27, 2008)

I thought about putting this in the joinery section but I didn't want to insult anyone's amazing joinery work by calling a kreg joint "joinery"! I need to make a few custom kitchen cabinets to finish up our kitchen. Due to my skills and time I think I want to use my kreg jig. Just not sure what the best way to layout the pocket screws. I'm going to be using 1/2" oak face plywood for the cabinets and solid oak for the face frames. Any tips or advice on how to build some simple cabinets using pocket holes?


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

Search You Tube. There are a lot of videos of folks doing that. Also, check out the "Kreg Jig Owners Community" website.

One thing I saw somewhere is after using pocket screws to install the face frames, the guys used a piece of thin plywood to cover up the screw holes, then drilled the holes in it for the adjustable shelf pins. That seems like a pretty neat way to hide the holes from view.

I think I saw it on The Woodsmith Shop.


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## ponch37300 (Feb 27, 2008)

MT Stringer said:


> Search You Tube. There are a lot of videos of folks doing that. Also, check out the "Kreg Jig Owners Community" website.
> 
> One thing I saw somewhere is after using pocket screws to install the face frames, the guys used a piece of thin plywood to cover up the screw holes, then drilled the holes in it for the adjustable shelf pins. That seems like a pretty neat way to hide the holes from view.
> 
> I think I saw it on The Woodsmith Shop.


I was looking at youtube this afternoon and found lots of kreg videos but I couldn't find one of an actual kitchen cabinet. Lots of results when you search kreg jig kitchen cabinet but not much when you watch the actual videos. 

I will have to check out the "kreg jig owners community", didn't know there was such a thing. Thanks


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

ponch37300 said:


> I thought about putting this in the joinery section but I didn't want to insult anyone's amazing joinery work by calling a kreg joint "joinery"! I need to make a few custom kitchen cabinets to finish up our kitchen. Due to my skills and time I think I want to use my kreg jig. Just not sure what the best way to layout the pocket screws. I'm going to be using 1/2" oak face plywood for the cabinets and solid oak for the face frames. Any tips or advice on how to build some simple cabinets using pocket holes?


Want to use it for the face frame or for the whole cabinet? If face frame I'm guessing 2 wide. Drill in the rails. Each end put 2 at 1 inch in. Super simple super cool. If going for the whole cabinet. I'd put them through the ply. I'd go every 6 inches depending on the cabinet size. It is easier to run a dado through the stile and glue up the ply but idk your time constraints. See what some other have to say. 1/2 is pretty thin to put kregs in but it should work.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

ponch37300 said:


> I thought about putting this in the joinery section but I didn't want to insult anyone's amazing joinery work by calling a kreg joint "joinery"! I need to make a few custom kitchen cabinets to finish up our kitchen. Due to my skills and time I think I want to use my kreg jig. Just not sure what the best way to layout the pocket screws. I'm going to be using 1/2" oak face plywood for the cabinets and solid oak for the face frames. Any tips or advice on how to build some simple cabinets using pocket holes?


I would never use ½" ply for a cabinet carcass, ¾" only. I would not use pocket screws for assembly. You can do the machining for the joinery as fast as it takes to set up for pocket screws. Actually, I can do it faster.:laughing:


















.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

cabinetman said:


> You can do the machining for the joinery as fast as it takes to set up for pocket screws. Actually, I can do it faster.:laughing:


It takes me like 20 seconds to pull out the kreg jig.....what's taking so long to set it up?


That said....assembling the face frames with a kreg jig is fine in my opinion....but I'd not use it to assemble the cases.


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## bladeburner (Jun 8, 2013)

Kreg publishes a 40 page booklet on pocket hole kitchen cabinet construction, called oddly enough 'Basic Cabinetmaking' by Mark Duginske. Highly recommended...
I've incorporated his web frames in many of my projects. Instant squaring!

I've built some roll around shop cabinets with pocket screws; drawers included, and not a drop of glue. Here's a pic of the first one from '04 or '05 and still as tight as when built. And the drawer boxes are plywood!


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

Nice job....my shop stuff never gets stained or finished


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## bladeburner (Jun 8, 2013)

A lot of mine doesn't either, but it all gets shellac'd or poly'd with whatever is out of date or lumpy!


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## Nate1778 (Mar 10, 2008)

I love my Kreg jig, if I am building furniture it is sacrilege, if I am building a cabinet set or built in's it cannot be replaced. Fast accurate joinery that cannot be duplicated as quickly, not to mention usable right after the joint is created. Don't know if I would build the carcasses with it but for face frames, unbelievable.


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## ctwiggs1 (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm with cabinetman on this one. I'm not nearly as hardcore anti-pocket screw/biscuit as he is, but they certainly are over-used sometimes.

3/4" ply for sure for kitchen cabinets. I'd dado and glue up the carcasses and then I'd pocket screw the face frame. Pocket screws are great for face frames and hold very well, but I wouldn't use them in the plywood for kitchen cabinets.

Just my $.02

Curtis


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## ponch37300 (Feb 27, 2008)

A little more details about these cabinets I'm working on. We just redid our kitchen and bought the cabinets. So all the main cabinets are in. The ones I'm doing now are "specialty" cabinets. The one I built tonight was to go between our stove and wall, a 4 1/2" space. That is why I used 1/2" ply. I made a pull out to store some things and 3/4" would have made to small of a space. Was just trying to make a the space useful instead of just putting a filler in there. These are my first attempt at cabinets and I'm not expecting them to be perfect but hopefully they will be functional.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Ponch,
I use pocket screws for a lot of things and find them very convenient. I have done cabinet carcasses with them and they work well for that also. I space them 2" from each end, then 8" in between. If you are fitting the cabinet in between others where the sides don't show, drill the plywood on the outside, so they won't show once it's installed. If you are carefull with your faceframe pieces and make sure the like pieces are the exact same length with a accurate 90 degree cut on each end, they will go together without a hitch in a matter of minutes. I do use glue with the pocket screws. Might be overkill, but nothing has ever come apart that way. And btw, I usually do use 3/4" ply for the boxes, but I have used 1/2" with the pocket screws with no problems. Just remember to reset your depth setting on the jig.
Mike Hawkins:smile:


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## ponch37300 (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for the advice Mike. Glad to hear you have had success. The first cabinet I built turned out great using 1/2" plywood and pocket screws. It's only 4 1/2" wide and won't need to hold much weight at all but it is very sturdy. I used glue also. I was pretty impressed with how it turned out. We all have to start somewhere right!

I have the wood for the upper cabinet to cut also. Just deciding if I want to have one fixed shelf or go threw the effort to make holes for pins for adjustable shelves. Think because this one is only 4 1/2" wide I'm just going to do a fixed shelf.

I have started planning a few other cabinets for the kitchen. Mostly just little custom ones for storage, we have a smaller kitchen with a lot of stuff in it. The rest of the cabinets will be a little bigger and I will use 3/4" ply for them.

The face frame for the 4 1/2" cabinet I built I made the stiles 3/4" wide and the rails 1" wide. I did this because this cabinet is going to have a pull out in it. So it was a little tricky getting that small of wood together as a face frame. Used pocket screws here also. The first screw I put in snapped in half. I had to cut new wood. I clamped things up the best I could using the kreg clamp and also some bar clamps but it still was hard to keep everything straight and lined up while screwing together. Probably should have just glued and nailed them together.

Thanks for all the advice. Like I said before mine won't be perfect and if I did this for a living and charged for them I would be ripping people off. But they will be fine and very functional. It may not be the "right" way to build a cabinet but sometimes you have to adapt to what you have, like a pull out in a 4 1/2" wide spot.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Good luck Ponch,
there's a time and place for everything. I don't have a problem using pocket screws for lots of things. If I am building some kind of heirloom furniture project, I woudn't use them. But for convenience on cabinets and other little things they work well for, I like them. I also think they're fun to use. It's one of those tools I never mind pulling out to use.
Mike Hawkins


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