The time to finish the kitchen cabinets has arrived, but material becomes a problem here in the Out-Back. I had decided from the out set to use materials that were in common use when the house was built in the 1920's so pine and fir became the woods of choice, but try to find good clear boards. I have stayed with yellow pine for trim and finish and opted for white pine and fir for the cabinets. Most of my base material has therefore been AC plywood and 2x4's.
I carefully select straight, clear 2x4's or 2x6's which are then ripped and planed to the desired dimension using my thickness planer. Golden oak stain, sanding sealer and several coats of Minwax water base poly and I have beautiful cabinets at a fraction of the cost of Oak or some of the other more popular woods.
Panel doors are also constructed of the same woods with the exception that selected underlayment is used for the panel inserts.
Several years ago I built a complete kitchen in a house that was built around 1910 and used yellow pine planks as my material source. The owner wanted new cabinets that looked old but perhaps refinished and that was very nicely achieved using these available materials. The house was severely out of square so it was decided to build some of the cabinets so that they appeared to have been hung before the house had settled with time. To further enhance the effect the owner selected cast and polished hardware that might have originally been intended for screen doors, and the overall effect was stunning. I generated saw dust by the truck full in the process however. Not a project I would recommend or wish to attempt again.
-- Dale in the Flat Lands: The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it; but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
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