Kitchen Cabinet Installation in a Home Under Construction
Hey, everyone. This is Brandon Freeman with Freeman’s Construction. Welcome back to this beautiful new custom home we’re building in Ramona, California. We just finished the kitchen cabinet installation here.
I want to talk to you about the design process of how and when all these cabinets get designed. Then I want to walk through this kitchen, pull out some drawers, open up some doors, and show you the cool features in this kitchen to make it usable. So let’s take a look.
Kitchen Cabinet Design Timeline
All right. I want to discuss the design process and timeline to get all these cabinets in. We’re probably in the two-thirds to complete this build, but there’s a lot of work still to do. The cabinets still need to be painted, the flooring needs to be installed, and all the finishes need to go in. But a lot of leg work has been done to get to this point.
Obviously, whenever we start the design, there’s a general idea of what we’re doing in the kitchen and laundry before we even break ground. But when the time comes to get the floor plans and the cabinets and start the production of those, we begin framing this after the foundation is poured. So we’re hammering on that cabinet design once these walls begin to stand up.
Why the Cabinet Installation Process Starts Early
It takes a long time to build these cabinets. Stuff has to get ordered, the materials, and all that. But the more significant reason is that it’s necessary for the electrical layout, plumbing layout, etc. before those rough-in trades start in the build.
So, for example, the pendant lighting hanging over the island depends on where these are in the different spaces. There’s also a pot filler coming out of the wall that will go above range, and the cabinet design has to be set and done before that even starts going in the walls.
Is Cabinet Planning Difficult?
It’s one of those things we start working on well before seeing the finished product in the house. It’s a fun process. It takes a lot of forethought, but when all these cabinets start going in, you can step back and go, “Wow, there they are. I’ve been thinking about and dreaming about that all these months.”
It’s an exciting project phase for builders like us and clients. After all, now they can walk into a space and feel it. They can stand at their sink and say, “Okay, this is what this will be like.” So we’ve reached that milestone, and it’s great to see it all here.
Quick Kitchen Tour
I want to take a minute and walk through this kitchen and show you some elegant yet functional features.
Kitchen Island
We will have a stain-grade island made out of alder. One of the things we do is called a finished end. All the doors and drawers are made of recessed or shaker panel. You can see this panel is recessed from the frame of the door. If you look here at the end of this island, a style is added right in the middle to make it look like the rest of the kitchen and house.
Range
We’ve got a range and a kitchen work area on each side. One of our client’s most incredible things in this home was a built-in silverware drawer and a knife rack in one of the drawers. These are things that can be done. There’s an endless possibility of combinations you can do, but this is what they chose. Really functional.
Kitchen Cabinet Pull-Out Drawer
Then there is a taller drawer right next to the range. It has a large container for cooking utensils, knives, or anything, so nothing is shaken around while opening and closing the drawer.
On the other side, we have some canisters here for spoons, spatulas, and anything like that. These things allow you to store cutleries without laying them flat, so you won’t have to worry about being unable to shut your drawer.
Moving on, we also have a drawer in a drawer. We have a thinner, low-profile one inside that is about an inch and a half tall. It can be used as a junk drawer if you want to put stuff in here, and it’s more discreet and very functional however you decide to use it.
Soft-Close Drawers
A drawer behind the cabinet door makes the space more functional, so you’re not reaching for anything at the back of it. It wouldn’t be the world’s end if these were shelves, but it offers another layer of convenience. With this drawer, you can pull it out, and anything you need will be in front of you. It makes this space much more usable.
These are all soft close too. Even if I wanted to slam this, I couldn’t. The cabinet doors close softly and quietly as well.
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More About the Island
This is a double-active island, meaning it has two layers. We have the front with the dishwasher, trash rollout, and cookie tray rollout. On the back, we have the cabinets.
A common request is to use something other than hardware for these cabinets because this side of the island is a sitting area. So if you have a knob or a pole under the island, it will feel fantastic when you smack your kneecap on it, and you’ll be frustrated about putting hardware there.
No-Handle Drawers
To eliminate that possibility, we use touch latches. You push on the cabinet door, and it pops out, so you can grab it. It’s a feature to allows us not to use any hardware. Aside from aesthetics, we also have drawers behind the doors to make the space more usable.
Sturdiness Matters
I wanted to point out another thing about the kitchen island: you can see this black piece of metal. That’s just steel support for this overhang we will have. We have about a 13-inch overhang that will be made of a quartz material, which is stable. Although that piece isn’t going to crack, the island gets support about every two feet. This is a half-inch steel that runs back about another 18 inches back onto the frame of where the first part of the active front of the island is. This will create a very stable space for our overhang.
Hood
This is a custom-built hood to match the style and the size of the rest of the kitchen cabinetry. A recessed hood vent will go in here once our appliances get installed. All of that is also custom-built and figured out during our design process.
Kitchen Cabinet Design Specifics
This is going to be a beautiful-looking kitchen. There are paint-grade lowers on the bottom here, and then this hood is paint-grade, and then we have stain-grade uppers on each side with glass doors on the top. We have two cabinets here, and both will get lighting in them. It’s just a nice place to showcase all those trophies you got as a kid that you’re still really proud of.
Wrapping Up
I hope you enjoyed seeing this beautiful kitchen and how it turned out. If you’d like more information about building a custom home or an ADU, we’re doing a whole-house remodel, check out our website and click on the Resources tab for more details. Take a look at our comprehensive collection of similar videos on our YouTube channel, The Real Property Show.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next time.
2 Comments
It does make sense to consider investing in new kitchen cabinets since this gives you extra kitchen storage options! My friend wants to own an old home and upgrade its interior appearance. I should recommend that we find a local cabinet supplier that can help realize his modern aesthetic plan!
That would be a great recommendation!