How a Custom Cabinet Project Comes Together, Step by Step

Published July 1, 2026

Homeowners often picture a custom cabinet job as one big event, but in the shop it is really a chain of smaller steps. Each step feeds the next, and getting the early ones right is what makes install day short and clean. Here is how a project moves from an empty kitchen to finished cabinets in a Yakima home.

Step One: The Field Measure

Everything starts with an accurate measure. We record every wall, outlet, window, and appliance gap, and we note where an older house near Nob Hill Boulevard has settled out of square. These numbers are the foundation for the entire build, so we take the real conditions rather than the ideal ones. A measure that is off by a quarter inch turns into a filler you can see later.

Step Two: Shop Drawings You Approve

Those measurements become shop drawings that show the door style, drawer layout, overlay, and finish. This is the step where you make decisions on paper, when changes cost nothing. Nobody cuts a panel of maple until you sign off on the drawing. If you want a bank of drawers instead of a door, or a different species, now is the moment. Our custom kitchen cabinets all begin from a drawing you have approved.

Step Three: Milling and Assembly

With the drawing signed, the plywood gets nested and cut, drawer boxes get dovetailed, and door parts are machined to the 32mm layout that keeps hinges and slides consistent. Boxes are assembled, squared, and checked before the doors are hung. This is the busiest stretch, and a typical kitchen spends about three to five weeks moving through it.

Step Four: Finishing

Before anything leaves the shop, the cabinets are sprayed with a catalyzed lacquer or conversion varnish and left to cure. Finishing in a controlled shop, not in your house, means no dust in the coat and no fumes in your kitchen. The finish is also tougher, which matters for cabinets that face steam and daily wear for years.

Step Five: Install Day

The last step is the fastest because the hard thinking is already done. We set the boxes level, shim to the real floor, scribe the fillers to the wall, and mount the soft-close hardware. We protect your floors, haul the old boxes, and leave the room ready for the countertop template. Most installs wrap in one to two days.

If you are planning a kitchen, bath, or built-in and want to see your project drawn before anything is cut, contact us to set up a free measure. Call Telex-music at (509) 626-4417 and we will get you on the calendar anywhere in the Yakima Valley.