8 Tools to Build a Cabinet Door

by Jim Mallery
Face Your Kitchen Columnist

If you want to reface your kitchen cabinets, your options are huge. Paint them. Strip and stain them. Throw on new veneer and buy new cabinet doors. Pay somebody else to do it all.

Or perhaps, build your own, new, cabinet door!

If you have the tools, it's not that tough. And if you don't have the tools, well, maybe it's time to purchase them.

Tool Up to Create a Truly Custom Cabinet Door

Here are 8 tools you'll need, or might need, for a professional custom job:

1. Table saw: with sharp blades for ripping wood or for crosscutting shorter lengths
2. Radial-arm saw: for crosscuts
3. Planer (or bench jointer): a luxury that makes everything fit together better, but you can rent it for around $35
4. Reciprocating sander: for severe sanding. A belt sander can be used with care, but may gouge your wood
5. Biscuit jointer: necessity for gluing boards with super-strong joints, but you can rent it for around $20/4 hours
6. Clamps: ones that are large enough to accommodate your door's largest dimension
7. Router: for creating special edge shapes rents for less than $20/4 hours. A router table will make shaping easier
8. Drill press: to bore 35 millimeter (1 3/8") hinge cups in the back of the door for hidden, European hinges

They always say the right tools are the key to doing any job. In this case, with the right tools you can build an amazing cabinet door to give your refaced kitchen cabinets a professional look.

About the Author
Jim Mallery, a semi-retired journalist and onetime registered contractor, has extensive experience remodeling, repairing and rebuilding homes.