"Vic Baron" wrote in message
A friend and I ( both amateur wooddorkers) have been going around and
around
over the order in constructing cabinets. He's an AVID pockethole man and
says he always starts by making the faceframe first and then constructing
the cabinet to fit.

I tend to do it the other way - seems to me that if an adjustment need to
be
made, it's much easier to adjust the faceframe to fit rather than vice
versa.

If I'm making a piece of furniture I always construct the carcase first
and
fit the faceframe toward the end.

Or is it just personal preference.

For me it really depends upon the number of cabinets as to which way I will
go.

For one-off cabinets, it is pretty much six of one half a dozen of the
other. However, with a row of cabinets, like a new kitchen, my strong
preference is to the do FF's first.

My reasoning is that if I take great care in fabricating square, perfectly
sized face frames, square, perfectly sized carcasses are almost a given,
making it easier to build the doors and drawers and saving a ton of
installation time.

When I start a new kitchen project, which I am in the throes of as we
speak, I make all the FF's long before I even order the sheetgoods (other
than a sample I obtain to set the dado stack). To me it is _much_ easier to
redo a FF if things need tweaking due to last minute changes, then it is to
redo an entire cabinet.

Besides, once I have a FF ready, I can put together the parts of a cabinet
on a prepared FF in just a few minutes.

.... and yes, I am an _avid_ believer in the use of pocket hole joinery for
FF's, particularly in kitchen cabinets and bath vanities. IMO, there is no
more appropriate joint for that application.

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Last update: 11/06/04