We got our first-half shipment of cabs from Scherr’s Cabinets and Doors, yesterday. This morning, with the turkey safely in the oven, we spent a couple hours and assembled half the kitchen stuff. Went like a dream.
The whole-house package is 60 boxes total, and we expect the rest to go even more smoothly, now that we have the flow going. We are quite impressed with the quality of the materials, fabrication, assembly instructions, and particularly, the way the accessories all fit up.
To name a few highlights: Blum hinges with tool-free installation, Rev-a-Shelf susan tables and wastebasket slides, pre-glued dowels (give ’em a quick dip in water), different 5mm system screws for every type of attachment, some type of cool twist-cam fastener for fastening finished sides, and those great confirmat screws that eliminate the need for a pickup truck full of bar clamps. And HC leg levelers with their toekick clips.
The thing I wonder about, working with all this cabinet stuff, is why almost all of it was developed in Europe, not here. Why do you think that is?
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I don't know which came first. Their habit of renting w/o those kind of fixtures installed, or the companies that sell em KD. Makes moving and changing the floor plan a bit easier. Also, would think you could keep production more evenflowing as some of the parts could be made well in advance, the finish pcs. then being the only ones you'd need to produce special. No real warehousing, just smoother production schedule.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
The system was developed in Europe during re-building after the war.
That makes sense! Many millions of displaced people. Rubble everywhere. Big demands for new housing and the kitchens that go inside. Wartime industries have developed plywoods and other types of sheet goods. Big needs for quick solutions. Industrialization has shown the benefits of standardization. Into this milieu is born line-drilled 32mm frameless cabinets.
I've got Blum's full line hardware catalog, actually a 3-ring binder with a number of catalogs inside, and I have to say it is the coolest presentation of cabinet hardware technical details imaginable.
Actually, started earlier than the post-war period....goes back to the Bauhaus, all about designing based on function and the capabilities of machines (32 mm was the closest they could get two drills, centre to centre....hence, 32mm system). became more widely adopted after the war when the need was great. I'm neck deep in teaching hardware systems to my students as we speak....it's a beautiful thing , done right.cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S