DIY Built In Cabinets for Dining Room Using Stock Cabinetry
Learn how to use inexpensive stock cabinetry to create your own DIY built in cabinets. Use these tricks to add valuable storage and character to your space with standard kitchen cabinets, but install them like a pro even if it's your first time working with custom built-ins.
We’ve been working on our big dining room renovation project for months. After we removed the walls, we moved on to the first project in the dining room – the built-in cabinets.
Where the old giant pegboard wall was we planned to create an entire wall of cabinet storage using base cabinets & upper cabinets and add upper shelving to the back wall as well. The project added so much storage to the room and made a huge difference in the look and feel of the space.
Instead of creating built in cabinets for the dining room, we talked about buying pre-made cabinets and just setting them into place to mimic built-ins (which would have saved us some money). However, we decided that we’d be adding a lot more value to your home if we were to actually install real built-in cabinetry.
We also talked about building the cabinets from scratch ourselves using our handy Kreg jig and pocket holes, but buying stock cabinets was much more affordable than buying the wood.
While you can totally build your own cabinets, there’s really no need to go through all that trouble when they have well-built unfinished cabinets available at the big box home improvement stores. Seriously, have you seen lumber prices lately?!
YouTube Video
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Common Questions about Built Ins
What size cabinets did we use for our dining room?
o figure out exactly what size cabinets we needed to use for our dining room, we started by measuring the entire open wall space.
From there, it was a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle with different combinations of the stock cabinet sizes until we found the best way to fit the built-in cabinets. What we ended up with was a great option and I especially love that that there is a lot of drawer space, because those seem to work better for us.
For the base cabinets, we have 24″ cabinets in each corner with three 18″ sets of drawers in the middle. This combination gave us approximately 102″ and we had roughly 105″ of wall space, so that was perfect. For the extra inch or two on each side, we added a trim piece and you can’t even tell.
On the upper cabinets, we used two more 24″ cabinets, one up in each corner (lined up with the lower base cabinets). In the middle of the uppers, we added floating shelves.
Where can you find stock or prefab cabinets for your built ins?
Any big box store or local cabinet shop may have raw or stock cabinets. Also, check out your local Habitat for Humanity ReStores, which may get leftover cabinets from others that can be used.
What can you use for a countertop with stock cabinets?
You can use just about anything for a countertop with stock cabinets. Popular options are butcher block panels, laminate countertops or even quartz or granite stone counters.
Just remember that you need to have the entire length in one panel ideally. You’ll also need to have a certain depth to match your cabinets with the proper overhang.
What to keep in mind when planning your built in cabinets
Base cabinets will usually have a top drawer. Upper cabinets don’t have a drawer.
Base cabinets are deeper than uppers, so if you want a more shallow set for your own built-ins for a smaller space, you can use uppers for the base instead. You just won’t be able to have drawers. For comparison, base cabinets are 24″ deep whereas uppers are 12″ deep.
Upper cabinets are usually cheaper than lowers.
You can purchase unfinished cabinets that you can stain or paint yourself OR pre-painted cabinets, but you’re limited to their paint colors.
The cabinets come in various widths. Most often 12″, 15″, 18″, 24″, 30″ and 36″. If you need more size options, you can order them, which gives you more flexibility on the size and style.
Upper cabinets can be purchased in a few different heights, usually 12″, 18″ or 30″.
Base cabinets will usually measure 34.5″ high so that once a countertop is added it is 36″ tall.
You are usually limited to one (or maybe two) options of door front style so there’s not a lot of flexibility there (like you’d have with custom cabinetry).
The cabinets come fully assembled, which saves you a lot of time. You can usually go grab them at the store and take them home to install on the same day.
If there is a floor register where you want to put a base cabinet be sure to cut a vent in the toe kick to allow the air to get into your room.
Step-by-Step Process: How To Install Built In Cabinets
Supplies & tools you’ll need for the cabinet project:
Using pre-made stock cabinets is a great way to install built-in cabinets for beginners!
Step 1. Purchase and bring home stock cabinets
As mentioned earlier, most of the time you can go to the store and bring home your stock cabinets on the same day. You can check what is in stock before you head to Lowe’s or The Home Depot online first to make sure they have what you need.
Even though the stock cabinets look almost the same at Lowe’s vs Home Depot, we would recommend buying all of the cabinets at the same place for your cabinetry project because there can be slight differences which may be amplified when you get them side by side.
If you don’t have a vehicle that can transport all of the cabinets, you can arrange delivery through the store, but just be sure to plan some extra time for this.
Step 2. Stain cabinets
Chances are there will be some minor damage to the cabinets from transportation. You can just lightly sand blemishes but do not go through any veneers.
You’ll want to keep the sanding grit the same as the factory, which should be about 220 grit. If you don’t know then when fixing a scratch go ahead and lightly sand the entire surface. This will close the same amount of wood pores so the stain takes evenly.
If you have plenty of room you can stain all of your cabinets and the pieces at the same time (including base and upper cabinets, side panels, drawer fronts, and doors). However, we had to do our in “shifts” because our workshop was only so big. We started with just the cabinets and stained the drawer fronts and doors separately.
Before staining the base cabinets, you’ll want to remove the doors and hinges as well as the drawers and drawer slides so you can get the stain and sealer underneath the hardware.
Next, apply the wood stain color of your choice to the cabinets with a foam paint brush or staining rags. We wanted the built-in cabinets to match our kitchen cabinets, so we used Minwax Jacobean, which is one of my favorite dark wood stain colors.
Step 3. Seal cabinets
After the stain has had a chance to dry, apply a sealer to the cabinets, including the face frame, cabinet doors, and the sides of the cabinets.
We used a spray lacquer and usually do about 3-4 light coats. We love the ease of spraying it on vs brushing on (which can leave behind brush marks).
Let dry thoroughly as directed in product instructions before moving on.
Lastly, we always rub everything down with #0000 steel wool after spraying lacquer to get it feeling smooth. This also takes away any remaining nubs from the lacquer. Move the steel wool with the direction of the wood grain.
Step 4. Install base cabinets
First, get some wood shims and find out which wall is the most square to work off of. If you have them, use some laser lines so you don’t get off track. Using clamps and the shims start setting your cabinets into place using the square wall as your guide.
Don’t nail or screw anything down until you have all your cabinets adjusted to fit properly and your lines are good and level. You’ll be surprised how simple it is to get off-level or out of square with cabinets.
Once you have everything dry fitted and clamped together you’ll want to check a few things before attaching anything.
- Check for level across the top of the cabinets.
- Next, check the face of the cabinets with the back wall. Your countertop will eventually be going on top and if you slowly get farther from the wall you’ll run into major issues with overhang and gaps.
- If you are using fill strips on the sides of your cabinets, make sure these two gaps are the same so things are symmetrical. See Step 8 on the installation of these.
After triple-checking that everything is set, level, and square, go ahead and secure the cabinets to the wall using an impact driver and the 2 1/2″ construction screws. Be sure to line up your screws so they will go into the studs in the wall.
Lastly, attach the base cabinets to one another by nailing finish nails through the edges of the face frames from both sides. We strategically located these nails where the door hinges also were to hide the nail holes.
After all of the base cabinets are installed, you can reattach the drawer slides that you removed before staining.
Step 5. Install upper cabinets
Our uppers were simple but an easy trick is to take some scrap wood and screw it in just below the level line you want your uppers at. This makes it much easier to set the uppers and adjust them.
Then you can simply put the uppers on top of the scrap wood and secure it to the wall using the 2 1/2″ construction screws.
When using raw stock cabinets, the sides are typically unfinished. They could be up against a wall or another cabinet so sometimes there is no need to finish them.
However, in our case, we had open shelving in between the uppers so we purchased a premade side panel and finished it to match the rest of the cabinets. After the uppers were hung on the wall, we attached the side panels to the edges of the uppers using spray adhesive to avoid nail holes.
Step 6. Add drawers in base cabinets
We finished our drawer fronts separately from the cabinets because we had limited space in our workshop. We unscrewed them from the drawers to finish them. Be sure to save all the screws in a Ziplock back so you don’t lose any.
When we separated them we were sure to label them on the back of the drawer front and the actual drawer that it belonged to so it was easy to match them back up later. The screw holes don’t necessarily match up from the factory on all the drawers the same, so this is crucial.
After the drawer fronts have been sanded, stained, and sealed like the cabinets were, you can reattach them to the drawers.
Step 7. Add doors to cabinet fronts
The doors are more standard and will probably match the cabinets regardless of which one you removed them from. However, in practice, it is a good idea to use the doors on the cabinet from which you removed them.
Again, once the doors are sanded, stained, and sealed you can attach them back onto the hinges with the screws to attach the doors.
Step 8. Cut the countertop down to size
Unless your countertop is the exact right size for your built-in cabinets, you’ll need to cut it down to the correct size.
We purchased a 10′ long laminate countertop that looked like marble and needed to cut roughly 15″ off of the countertop so it would fit.
To cut laminate counters, here’s the general process:
- Measure and make a line on the countertop where you want to cut
- Cover cut line with painter’s tape
- Clamp scrap wood piece as a guide next to your cut line
- Cut along the line slowly with a circular saw using a trim blade
Step 9. Attach countertop
Countertops should fit pretty tightly so don’t be afraid to damage your walls a bit to get them to fit properly, especially if your walls aren’t perfectly square. However, be careful not to beat and break the finish off of any cheaper countertops you may use.
You can gently tap the countertop into place using a tapping block and rubber mallet.
The big thing to check here is that your overhang is consistent and the gaps around the countertop aren’t so big that a backsplash or caulking can’t cover. If you aren’t using a backsplash then some of the gaps can be filled with drywall mud but keep the gaps as tight as possible.
Use 100% silicone applied on the top of the cabinets with a caulking gun to attach your countertop into place. Let dry thoroughly before moving on.
Step 10. Add filler boards and trim
If you have gaps around your base cabinets, you’ll need to use fill strips on these. Finish the fill strips just like you did the rest of the cabinets with stain and sealer and then you can install them where needed.
Attach the fill strips from the inside edges of the adjoining face frames with a finish nailer and 2″ finish nails.
On the top edges of the uppers (where they meet the ceiling), you can add crown molding. After staining and sealing, attach the crown with a finish nailer and 2″ finish nails.
Step 11. Add hardware
Adding cabinet hardware to the doors and drawers is simple if you have the proper jigs. We used the Kreg Cabinet Hardware Jig Pro to help make installation easy. You just set the drill guides to the correct spacing for your pulls and the certain height of where you’d like the pull installed on each drawer.
You can also use the jig to place your knobs on the doors.
Regarding cabinet hardware placement, there are a lot of options. Usually, we center the drawer pull left to right, and center top to bottom for just the top drawer. Then we match the center left to right and the depth for the bottom bigger drawers.
Alternatively, you could center the height of the pull for every drawer for a different look. But we like the handles on the bottom drawers being up a little higher for ease of use. Either option works though!
Step 11. Add toe kick
The last step is to add the toe kick front piece to the bottom of the cabinet bases. Before installing be sure that it is cut to size, sanded, stained, and sealed. Attach the toe kick with some spray adhesive and press it into place.
So, what do you think about our DIY built in cabinets that we added to the dining room? Do you have a place in your home where you dream of having extra storage, like this?
