New Cabinets for the Laundry Room

After a lot of calculation, we figured out how to get the most practical storage and workspace into the laundry room while staying within our budget. Nearly everything we needed was discounted on Black Friday, so we ordered the things that weren’t in stock and paid for curb pickup for what was.

This is what we ordered. The 24″ wide wall cabinets that are 36″ high give the best storage for the money and we could make them fit. The two pantry cabinets are only 84″ high, but give the best value for what we are doing.

This is the price before we got another 10% off for Black Friday on nearly everything.

We put the cabinets that were in stock in the garage while we waited for the ones we ordered to come in. And waited and waited…. Finally they agreed that they were lost, so they sent them out again. This time they came in just a few days, but too late for the week Cliff had taken off to put them up.

The two pantry towers that we ordered had a lot of stuff stapled to them. The first step was to pull all the staples out. The sides are unfinished, so I was going to glue on finished end panels, but I still had to sand the little bumps down.

We leaned the pantries over so I could glue down the sides. I read a lot of methods recommended, but I decided to just glue them down with wood glue. It worked fine. The panels were wider than the pantry, which give me left over pieces for some other spots. I pre-stained the edge that was going to be next to the wall, so I wouldn’t have to cut in when we were staining everything.

Over the weekend, we started putting the cabinets up. We started with the first corner. Cliff made this scaffold to support the cabinets at the right height while he attaches them to the wall.

Cliff decided to put up this railing. At first it was an idea so that he could put the cabinets up without any help. Then we decided to keep it there. I can add some hooks to it. It will help support all the weight I plan to put in the cabinets. And I think it will look nice.

The first wood was really crooked. This crown molding was nice and straight. From Sweden!

We got the first few up and found that one was smashed on the corner. So, we reordered that one and waited again.

Finally, once the other corner came in, Cliff could put the cabinets on the wall over the washer and dryer. He measured and trimmed some wood to make the cabinets fit perfectly.

All the doors were off when he put them up, but he put the doors back on. (He didn’t realize that I had to have them off to stain the cabinets.)

He put everything together except the last pantry.

He put a lot of support for the countertop, since he is pretty confident I am going to stand on it.

He measured, marked, and clamped the square to the cabinet to create a guide for the saw.

He put some blue tape where he was going to cut. Cut them to fit and…

Can you believe this? The grooves that are cut out for the bolts that hold the countertop together at the corner don’t match up!

To turn a corner with Formica countertops, you have two angled pieces that are held together with miter bolts. The bolts are put into these groves and tightened. The mitered seam closes and makes the Formica countertop have smooth surface.

Nothing is open. And we have now been living with everything from the laundry room all over the house since Thanksgiving. (And my car keys were lost somewhere in that mess.)

Cliff cut new grooves so that he could make this countertop work.

The grooves were too big now, but he held the bolts in place with blue tape until he could get everything locked in place.

I had planned to lightly stain everything, but the cabinet wood was not even enough.

But, with just one coat applied with a brush, everything looks very even. And I might like it even better.

I am still staining the cabinet doors. I’m doing a couple a day so I don’t have to work in the cold garage. I am filling them up. And I found my car keys today.