Quality, Now and Later

Too often when meeting new clients I find myself competing against large firms with a production approach to their custom built cabinetry. What sets me apart from them? Quality and attention to details. Here is a prime example:

Most built-in cabinets have face frames, the solid wood that frames the opening into the cabinet. All face frames have joints, where two pieces of wood meet, like this photo of a face frame joint on an unfinished cabinet in my shop.


This is what you want a joint to look like, tight and smooth, no gaps. Any good carpenter can make a cabinet with a joint that looks like that the day they leave your house. In many cases these two pieces of wood would simply been glued and nailed to the cabinet with a little glue applied where they meet each other (maybe...) But how will that joint look in a year? Two years? Five years? How about twenty years?

With that type of construction, the joint might look good in a year or two, but beyond that is where many home owners start experiencing problems. Wood, being a natural product, breathes, it moves, it expands and contracts. This means these two pieces push and pull against each other.

Look at the grain on the two pieces of wood, they run perpendicular to each other. The end of the horizontal board meets the side of the vertical board, creating an end-grain-to-long-grain situation, which is the second worst glue-up combination in woodworking. End grain does not produce a strong glue joint. Over time, the annual expansion and contraction of these boards will cause the glue to break and the joint to separate (assuming it was glued at all, often they aren't).

Once separation happens, other problems begin. Without the boards reinforcing each other, it becomes easier for each board to twist and bend in relation to the walls of the cabinet, resulting in loose face frames. I have seen exactly this problem on "custom built" cabinets in multi-million dollar homes less than two years after installation (but after the warranty period.)

This is the back side of the same joint pictured above.


Those two holes are for screws, this is a "pocket-screw" joint. This is only one of many strong solid joints that can be used to build a better face frame. The advantage of this joint is that its strong, quick and easy to make, even in the field and it doesn't require any special skills. But it adds time to the construction process, and requires a special jig, drill bit and screws, which all increase the cost (but not by much), so many carpenters and large firms don't bother. Why should they? You'll be out of warranty by the time the joint fails anyway.

With two screws, sunk deep into the boards, this face frame will hold together for years and years. Strong face frame joints are fundamental to strong, long lasting cabinets. Its just that simple.

Chances are good that your kitchen and bathroom cabinets have a similar type of joint on their face frames. You can probably find it if you look, or feel it if you can't crane your head around inside enough to see it. This type of joint is standard with any factory cabinet, no matter the price. Why would you accept less from your custom cabinet maker?