He also lists common dimensions of appliances you will need to build around and has examples of CAD drawings in many styles. Construction techniques are covered as well as which tools work best for each task. He has whole sections on kitchen workspace layout and installation methods.

If you are thinking of building kitchen cabinets for fun or for a living, this is the only book you need to see how to do it. If you are looking for lots of color pictures of creative designs, look elsewhere. This is mostly a technical manual, written in a conversational style that makes it interesting to read. It is an essential book in your woodworking library.

8 of 9 found the following review helpful:


I want to build some Kitchen Cabinets not build a Business  Jan 03, 2002 By Conrad P Koch Jr
I bought the book hoping to see a step-by-step approach to build my own kitchen cabinets. I found in the book a well detailed treatice on woods, cabinet styles, psychology of dealing with customers of various monetary means, tools, table saws, jointery, and a lot of stuff that I really don't care about. I also found out about 32mm European construction that is still a mystery to me. Who cares????

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


Cabinets and Countertops (complete construction)  Jul 24, 2005 By M. Brown
This book has a huge amount of information but it isn't in a reader friendly format. "To many words not enough pictures and easy to understand examples"


Waste of time and Money  Oct 23, 2011 By Karl Evan Shikles
I am already a professional cabinetmaker, but I always am looking for unique perspectives on my chosen profession. In my opinion, this book is more a cure for insomnia than it is a manual on cabinet construction. A more appropriate title would be How NOT to construct cabinets and countertops. The author seemed to be more interested in filling 450 pages of text than he did in offering real instruction or advice. At one point, he filled a few dozen pages with a plagiarized copy of a manufacturer's spec catalog - WITHOUT THE SPECS. At another point, he manually lists the various widths of different types of cabinets that are available from different shops and manufacturers as if this information were readable prose. As another example, he discusses Paduak and Purpleheart (both exotic and expensive hardwoods with sawdust that is almost toxic) as practical woods with applications in cabinetry. He also discusses what sort of office equipment you will need when you start your new cabinet making business - as if someone needing an explanation of the function of a table saw is qualified to start a commercial cabinet shop. Save your money and the paper and don't buy this book - there is a very good reason that it is out of print. If you want a good book on cabinetry, try either "Building Kitchen Cabinets" by Udo Schmidt (for the beginner) or "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker" by Robert W. Lang (for the more advanced woodworker - the information is concise and accurate but would overwhelm someone who is not familiar with architectural casework).

Trust me: This book is a waste of time. If I were able to give NEGATIVE 'stars' to a review, then I would have given this one about five.

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