Recommended Special Hand Tools

The first one is a pocket jig. Once you get one of these you'll wonder what you did without it. It's useful for all types of applications. It makes creating a nice, solid butt joint, simple and fast. You'll use it for building the face frames for your cabinets. It's possible to build the face frames without it, but they're about $30 and will save you so much time it just makes sense.

The second special tool is actually an accessory. You'll need a set of raised panel bits for a router that you either own or can borrow. If you have a ½" collet, that's better, but there are companies that make ¼" sets, I even used one here. Now, you can get away with doing all the doors on your table saw, if you want, it will just take a bit more time and your options for the doors are just a bit more limited. I also won't be detailing the table saw method at this point. The end of this article will feature a recommended manufacturer for the bit set.

Regular DIY Tools

Other than those two items, you'll just need a table saw, a drill/driver, a nail set and hammer(or finish nail gun), a miter box, a square, a ½"- ¾" chisel, a tape measure and some bar clamps are always handy. As soon as you're ready, let's go!

Before We Begin Building Our Cabinet

Now, in an actual kitchen remodel, the first thing for us to do is figure out what we plan to do with the kitchen. This article is not meant to handle all that. Here, we're just dealing with building a cabinet that matches a certain dimension. You'll be able to take these instructions and customize them for the size of cabinet that you need. For example, if you want to make the cabinet a little wider or narrower, or a little taller or shorter, you'll be able to do that.

The specific cabinet we'll start with is a standard upper. This is the cabinet that is mounted on the wall above your counter top. There are standard (somewhat) dimensions for these types of cabinets. You can choose to stick with those dimensions or tweak them a bit to suit your own needs. There are usually good reasons for the standards, but there are exceptions.