How many put backs on their cabinets?
Reading JLC and teh latest FHB has me rethinking teh cabnets i build.
Curious how many put backs on their cabinets or do you build them open?
ML
Reading JLC and teh latest FHB has me rethinking teh cabnets i build.
Curious how many put backs on their cabinets or do you build them open?
ML
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Replies
Backs.
1/2" or 3/4" mostly.
Sometimes 1/4", esp. for base cabs.
AitchKay
1/2 or 3/4 seems generally like WAY OVERKILL for a cabinet back. Waste of material. Not that there isn't a need for it on occasion, but wow. It adds little if nothing to the cabinet. Do you do drawer bottoms in 3/4 as well? Seems like a huge waste of material.
Unless I'm doing built-ins, I always put backs on cabinets to help keep them square.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
backs
for the same reason JD says. Usually 1/4"
I thought about commenting on that article here.
The author certainly know his stuff and he's light years beyond me..........but I thought that his mthods were just a little dubious. I fully understood where he was coming from, and can see why.
I also didn't like the wall oven right next door to the fridge. I thought that was a big design no no?
Not sure what article, but I normally build with backs.
Sometimes we are matching an old style wall cab with glass fronts and wall paper already on the wall that folks want showing thru so we just build in a hanging bar
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Uppers only. Pretty tough to see the back of a lower cabinet. Being anchored to the floor and then to the wall with a nailing strip, there's no need for a back.
Question....if there is no back to the cabinet, and the wall to which it is mounted is not perfectly plumb, there will be space behind shelving after cabinet is installed.
Do you address this issue in any manner?
I'm envisioning items stored inside of cabinet getting stuck between backs of shelves and wall......or, worse yet, falling completely through and behind cabinet base.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
add, backed cabs lend to the interior of the cabinets maintaining cleaner interiors...
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Excellent point, and in many cases, ie, door only base cabinets one does see the "wall". Back in the day (short lived stint) when installing base cabinets production work condo's, we would "kick out" the cabinet back if cut outs for plumbing were required. It is ALOT faster on the install.
I'm envisioning something being able to fall down off the back of a shelf that isn't much larger than a pin. ... unless you have some seriously out of plumb/flat walls behind! Wouldn't think this to be much of an issue considering the relative size of most things placed in a cabinet. Small items belong in drawers, large on shelves. Maybe I missed something there.
Well....I work in some very old homes. So yes.....quite often walls are out quite a bit.
I wouldn't concern myself with "pin-sized" spaces.
Then again...I put backs on my cabinets. So whether the walls are dead on, or not....I don't have to worry about it.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
ClewlessJust 1 year ago I pulled a built in place bath vanity in the toe kick I found the HO eldest daughters retainer. No back on the cabinet it fell out a drawer and got pushed back on the bottom shelf falling through the gap between base shellf and wall. The cabinet was empty when I pulled it and drawers were out. She was 10 or so at the time so it was a smaller sized one.Wallyo
Hi MSLiechty,
I always use 3/4" for base cabinets whether built in the shop or onsite - You never know what heavy weight is going to climb up on it.
Upper cabinets get 1/2" built in the shop and 3/4" onsite - for onsite built using the 3/4" gives me the ability to use screws through the side if necessary and then cover with some nice detail moldings.
For fixed shelves built in the shop 1/4" works for me to keep 'em square and once glued and tacked add some regidity to the backs of the shelving - back to 3/4" for site built - I rabbit the shelves in for fixed and for adjustable the 3/4" gives something to glue and screw to as I do with upper cabinets - it gives something to attach sides to.
By the way - started like this with my grandfather - I've never had a cabinet or shelf separate no matter how many teenagers were jumping around on it.
Pedro the Mule - Even this heavy old mule can stand up to my work
Always.
Usually half inch ply if they are going to be hung on the wall.
Haven't read the article but, except for special circumstances, I always put backs on cabinets. For sink bases I like to use 3/4" about 8" up and another 4" to the top, open between them so I don't have to cut out for plumbing. If for no other reason, I think puting the back on makes for a nicer, more finished look. Also stops junk from falling behind.
~ Ted W ~
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Backs. Almost always. I hate it when I go into a model home and open a cabinet to see drywall in back and a gapping gap where the cabinet wasn't scribed to the wall. Or where a gap will probably open up as the house dries out over the course of a year.
Edited 4/3/2009 2:02 pm ET by ted
I agree with all the above. The article in JLC is about a custom builder not putting backs on cabinets not having glass doors. or bottoms in bases that has drawers. No bottoms makes cabinet repair easy should there ever be a water loss.I use 1/2" backs and French cleats for hanging!ML
Edited 4/3/2009 3:24 pm by MSLiechty
I put backs on them too. it helps keep them sq and I also add a 34 by 4 in strip of Cabinet grade plywood like maple to have something solid to hang it to the wall.
Carpentry and remodeling
Vic Vardamis
Bangor Me
I always put backs on my cabinets. I guess I think it makes them seem more "factory" like.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
I am with the majority on this backs always. Kitchen and bath cabs especially on the bath I hate it when a bath vanity has no back on the sink area, yes it is a pain to cut holes for the plumbing but it looks a lot nicer and keeps the Q tips out of the base area. When building them I install at least a 1/4 back have gone to 3/4 on odd shaped cabinets, corner and the like. I have noticed that on big box in stock bath vanities they are even skimping on the backs in the drawer area now in some cases.Wallyo
Edited 4/4/2009 1:47 pm by wallyo
I always put backs on all my cabinets. I like the idea of not having a place for creepy-crawlies to easily gain access.
I also usually use dust strips on upper end jobs at the door locations.
sully
Sully what do you mean by dust strips?Wallyo
It is a plastic/rubber strip that I let-in on the inside of the doors so that it seals against the frame of the cabinet and keeps dust out. Some folks like it for display cabs with dishes and glassware or glass shelves.
I stole the idea from a set of very high end cabs I saw on a jobsite 20 years ago.
sully
Sully kind of like a bulb strip that is used on frameless shower doors? Do you have a link to a site? Cl laurence perhaps?Good idea we have two cases with glass doors in dining room amazing how much dust gets in anyway!
Always. Usually ¨ö" or ¨Ã½" melamine, or whatever the rest of the carcase is made of. The backs are inset to keep the cab square and avoid having to band those edges.
El-cheapo cabs have one-eighth 1/s-white masonite for a back, stapled in place...or a couple of cleats and a shipping stretcher that has to be removed on installation.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Backs, always, even on a sink base. At least 1/4" and a 3/4" X 4" strip on the top of base and uppers, back rabbeted, glued and stapled.
I see quite a few staple the casework together too. what are you using? I've been dadoing the verticals to the top and bottom and butt jointing everything else unless it has a horizontally shelf that gets dadoed. Usually just glue and finish nail the carcase together.
Face frames are pocket screwed to the ply box.
backs get dadoed as well.ML
I just use staples on the backs, like you I dado the tops, bottoms backs as well as any fixed shelves. I pocketscrew the face frames together and glue and clamp them to the cases. I tried to remove a problem face frame once, not happening. Ended up cutting it off on three side and then breaking the bottom off. I had thought about going to biscuits to attach the face frames but after that decided it wasn't worth the effort.
Is the ¨Ã½" melamine special order?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Sorry about that; I don't know what's happened to the source coding this week. Those two sets of weird characters showed up on my oringal post as fractional one-half and fractional five-eighths (both of which I have available on the keyboard I use). But when I came back to view the post tonight, they showed up as y's with diareses ('oomlaut') marks and an accent grave. Curiouser and Curiouser, said Alice....
Anyway, no, half-inch melamine isn't special order except at the big-box. I build all my drawers out of it as using five-eighths makes for clunky drawers. The actual carcase is rarely made of half-inch except for very small units such as on-the-wall bathroom vanities.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
I always put 1/4" back on base cabs unless it's an island or needs reinforcemnent for a sink or something then I'll use 3/4". Uppers get a 1/4" back w/ a 3" solid wood support bar unless they are fancier and have glass doors then I use or add a 3/8" b.board. If it's a larger fancy cab I'll use 1/2" ply for stability. All cabs are glued and screwed, dadoed base, recessed back. 3/4" ply carcasses.
I haven't read the article but ...
"The article in JLC is about a custom builder not putting backs on cabinets not having glass doors. or bottoms in bases that has drawers."
...sounds like another excuse to do less work and charge the same.
Ott
I always use 3/4 ply on the backs. Makes them square and bombproof. You never know when you're gonna have a 250lb gorilla climbing on top of your cabs. Have you ever watched a teenager jump up to sit on the counter? I'll err on the side of caution and over build. It also makes for a nice finished look if anyone ever does look inside. I do skimp a little on the finish though. The backs usually just get the first coat of whatever I'm using and a light sanding, make it smooth to help keep it clean.
I use backs. Usually it's 1/4" plywood, and I put horizontal rails in the tops of the base cabinets and somewhere in hangers, for fastening.
I just did a small butler's pantry at my own house and was going to leave the back out since they were built in place. About 2 days after I started, I decided it didn't "look right" and went back and added the back.
Like others said, it also helps keep the contents inside.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals