Fitting Cabinets in Older Austin Bungalows

A pencil rolled across the floor of an old Hyde Park kitchen picks up speed toward one wall, and that slope decides how the cabinets have to be built. Every measuring visit logged at cabinet maker austin studio antwork in a bungalow found a floor, a wall or a ceiling that was not where the drawings assumed. Cabinets made for Austin houses of that age are fitted to the room, not forced into it.

Why the room is not square

Much of Austin sits on clay that swells in wet weather and shrinks in dry spells, and houses built on pier and beam foundations in Hyde Park, Travis Heights and Clarksville have had decades to move. The Balcones Fault runs through the city, but the slow shift in older floors comes mostly from soil and from settled piers. A wall that looks plumb can lean an inch over eight feet, and a floor can drop toward the middle of the house.

Scribing the cabinet to the wall

A scribe strip is extra material left on the edge of a cabinet side or face frame so it can be trimmed to follow the wall exactly. The maker holds the box in place, sets a compass to the widest gap, and runs it down the wall to transfer the line onto the cabinet. A block plane or a belt sander takes the material to the line. A frameless cabinet takes a scribe on the end panel, and a face frame cabinet takes one on the stile.

Shimming and levelling

Base cabinets are levelled from the highest point of the floor, with shims or adjustable legs below the toe kick. Wall cabinets hang off a level line on the wall and are screwed through the hanging rail into studs, never into plaster alone. A carcass that is pulled tight to a crooked wall twists, and a twisted box shows up as a door that will not stay shut.

Tight kitchens and short runs

Bungalow kitchens are small, with a window and a doorway where a modern layout would put a run of cabinets. A maker builds narrow cabinets, a short drawer box and a slim pantry rather than forcing a standard size. Tarrytown and Mueller homes of different ages need different handling. A mid-century house in Tarrytown often has a cleaner room than a 1920s house near Clarksville.

Refacing and refinishing old cabinets

Some older cabinets are worth keeping. Refacing replaces the doors and drawer fronts and covers the face frame with new veneer, while refinishing strips and recoats what is there. A solid box in a house with a view of Mount Bonnell may be better than anything new, so a maker checks the carcass and the joints before recommending a full rebuild in Austin, TX.