Here is a quick post of the pantry progress.  I took these pictures with my phone, so I apologize for the quality.

Saturday, was spent putting up the face frame and the luan board for the back.  I expected this to take no more than a couple of hours, but as usual, my estimate was way off and it ended up taking the entire day.  The nail gun had issues, and getting the face frame completely square was trying since the walls are not even, but here’s how I did it:

I put the right piece of the face frame on first, making sure it was flush with the right side of the pantry.  I attached the left side of the face frame at bottom of the left side of the pantry and cut a board the exact width between the left and right face frame.  Like this:

I made sure the board was level and used that as a guide for the left face frame, so everything will be the same distance apart.  Once I had the left and right side of the face frame up, I then attached the top and bottom, and installed the luan panel for the back.  I measured up the exact distance of the outlets and cable and cut those out before installing the panel.

Today, I primed and painted the piece, but it still needs another coat.  I also installed a couple of shelves.  I decided to use dowel pegs for the shelving.  I used a piece of peg board as a template for drilling the dowel holes.  I then did the same thing on the other side of the pantry.

I still need to drill more holes so the shelves are adjustable.  I was just in a hurry to get my two shelves up today.

And then I had to try it out for size!

I still have two more shelves to add.  The bottom shelf is going to house mostly pet supplies and bulk items.   I was also careful to leave enough room between the shelves to allow us to open the blender so we no longer have to move it to the counter to hook it up.

I am pleased with it, so far.  Once I get the other shelves installed, then it is time to move on to the doors.  This is what I have in mind:

… and I’m already dreading it!   Me and my cabinet doors! :-)

Well the pantry is well underway, and I thought I’d share the progress I have made, so far. 

Since I still don’t have a firm grasp on cabinet construction, I had to research and draw everything out to the nth degree.  Norm, however, can see an image in his head and commence building. Not me. I have to think about how things are constructed, research the heck out of it, and then draw it up in Sketchup. So, with that completed, yesterday I was ready to commence framing it out.

Our garage is full of scrap wood, so I was determined to use what we have. Remember the mudroom project that never really got off the ground?  We purchased some PureBond 3/4″ ply for that project, and had it in the garage just waiting to be used. We had ripped the 4×8 sheets into 16″ wide sheets for the mudroom bench, so that determined the depth of the pantry. We had several 2×4′s which I used to frame up the base and top.

The first thing i had to do though, was remove the baseboards and beadboard moulding. I used one of these oscillating tools so we would have a flush cut.  I did not allow enough room for the face frame of the cabinet, so I will have to do this again later.

(Below image from Harborfreight.com)

Once the moulding was removed, I used a stud finder to locate the studs in the wall and installed a piece of luan board above the beadboard so the side panel would lay flush with the wall.  Then I attached the 3/4″ plywood side of the pantry to the wall making sure to attach it to studs. Then I put the top frame and bottom frame on, which were constructed out of 2×4′s, screwing them into the studs, and then finally, the other 3/4″ plywood side of the pantry.

(What you can’t see in the above blurry photo, is the new outlet Norm installed.  Since we are going to cover the back with luan board, he made an access panel to make pulling wire and tv cable easier.  This house has an odd amount of “fire stops”, which is 2×4 placed horizontally between the studs.  It makes wiring a nightmare.)

Anyway, this pantry is going to extend all the way up to the ceiling, so it needs some support in the middle.  For that, I used some scrap wood and L brackets to brace them. This will hold a shelf while giving some support to the structure.

Before I could install the L brackets, though, I measured the width of the cabinet at the top and the bottom to make sure they were the same.  They were about a 1/4″ off, so I shimmed the top frame to get the measurements equal. Otherwise, the face frame would not be straight and that could make the doors tricky.  As if they aren’t trick enough.

Can you see where I shimmed it up between the 2×4 and cabinet side?

Then I could install the L brackets making sure the width was the same as the top and bottom:

Anyway, it now time to tackle the face frame.  AND, I’ve decided I’m going to attempt to make doors like the one in the picture below.

Should be interesting and hopefully it won’t take me as long as the last cabinet doors I made!