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This approach to creating counter space is growing daily and will give identical appearance as some of the other more expensive counter top options. Using concrete on top of cabinetry or even a pass through shelve, can certainly change the look in any room or office. Outside of the concrete color or veining techniques, the mixing and pouring is essentially identical.
Here in this concrete counter form image with reinforced steel or rebar, 
we have used 4″ lag screws to anchor the #3 rebar, staggered every 24″O.C. The counter or shelve here is formed to 2″ in depth and 12″ wide with the length being 10′ long between the two end points of the adjacent walls. Because it sits atop a 2×4 framed wall, it will cantilever 2″ to the kitchen area and roughly 6″ pass the other side of the same wall into the living room.
The image to the right here shows the importance of protecting the wood framing beneath with flashing paper to act as a moisture barrier and future dry-rotting adherent. The small spacers under our #3 rebar allows the new aggregate pour to completely surround the reinforcement steel for optimum strength.
- plywood or melamine, plus screws to build the mold
- bagged counter-top mix (or “scratch” mix below)
- dyes or pigment if you’re coloring your counter-top
- grinder / polisher with water feed (can be rented)
- diamond polishing discs of various grit
- concrete mixer- concrete vibrating tool (can be rented)- dusts masks
…… Now DIY your own Concrete Counter-Top over almost any applicable surface!
This approach to creating counter space is growing daily and will give identical appearance as some of the other more expensive counter top options. Using concrete on top of cabinetry or even a pass through shelve, can certainly change the look in any room or office. Outside of the concrete color or veining techniques, the mixing and pouring is essentially identical.
Here in this concrete counter form image with reinforced steel or rebar, we have used 4″ lag screws to anchor the #3 rebar, staggered every 24″O.C. The counter or shelve here is formed to 2″ in depth and 12″ wide with the length being 10′ long between the two end points of the adjacent walls. Because it sits atop a 2×4 framed wall, it will cantilever 2″ to the kitchen area and roughly 6″ pass the other side of the same wall into the living room. 
The image to the left here shows the importance of protecting the wood framing beneath with flashing paper to act as a moisture barrier and future dry-rotting adherent. The small spacers under our #3 rebar allows the new aggregate pour to completely surround the reinforcement steel for optimum strength.
- plywood or melamine, plus screws to build the mold
- bagged countertop mix (or “scratch” mix below)
- dyes or pigment if you’re coloring your counter-top
- grinder / polisher with water feed (can be rented)
- diamond polishing discs of various grit
- Tupperware or similar sandwich containers to make concrete samples
- concrete mixer- concrete vibrating tool (can be rented)- dusts masks
- eye protection- ear protection
That’s why it’s a good idea to make sample pours first so that you can get an idea what you’re working with and how small variations in the concrete mix can make a difference.
Many people start with a premixed concrete countertop mix. They are specially formulated to be flowable and high strength with plasticizer that makes it flow well even at a low water / cement ratio.
A low water / cement ratio is important for a good result that resists cracking. The Quikrete mix has high enough flow that the need for mechanical vibration is minimized, and it’s made for minimal shrinkage.
Alternately, you could start with regular bagged concrete mix that is rated for a hardness of 5,000 psi or greater, available @ Home Depot or most of your home improvement centers.
Here is a counter top mix you can make “from scratch” that’s enough to make a small test block and that can be scaled up by weight.
You can use a kitchen or postal scale to weigh out the sample measurements. It is recommended that you use white sand and white cement to maximize your color options:
Product / Weight in Grams
Portland Cement 210g
Sand 625g
Nycon G nylon fiber 1g
Metakaolin 30g
Fritz-Pak FR1 Water Reducer 5g
Water 80-90g
If you’re using Quickrete Countertop Mix or Sackrete 5000, or some other pre-mixed countertop mix, start with about 875 grams of dry mix and about 85 grams of water to make a sample.
Whether you’re using a bag concrete mix or my “scratch” concrete countertop recipe, use the smallest amount of water necessary to craft a mix that you can work with.
Of course, you can only estimate how it’s going to look once it’s cured, but again, you have to start somewhere.
Write down how many grams of colorant you use in every batch so you’ll have a basis for guessing how much more or less you need in subsequent samples and so you’ll also know about how much you’ll need for the final product once you get the color you want.
If you want a darker concrete countertop – all the way to a dark charcoal gray – start with Home Depot’s Quickrete Countertop Mix, which is darker than the scratch recipe above, and add charcoal colorant.
Start with one bottle per bag of concrete countertop mix when mixing the final countertop.
Of course you can still experiment with the colorant in your sample slabs.
After you’ve poured your sample, allowed it to set and removed it, ask yourself what’s right and what’s wrong about it. Color will likely be the thing that determines what you should try next.
In fact, you should keep all of your samples so you can try out your concrete polishing and sealing techniques on them. Once you have your sample smoothed to the finish you want, you can seal it, according to the directions or you can seal it with beeswax (which may not be the best at standing up to what the average kitchen countertop endures) or even pure tung oil (like what is used on wood). It depends on the final look you want.
Drawer sides made from prefinished melamine consist with a dado cut 1/4″ deep running the length of the drawer depth. Building a drawer pullout is simply a box, with a drawer front screwed to the drawer face and a drawer knob attached to the drawer face. A typical drawer bottom is 1/4″ white melamine cut on a table saw. 
Any cabinet can use some sort of box to pullout and fill with just about anything. The dimension can vary and prefinished drawer sides can be purchased up to 12″ deep for larger capacity. Hardwood drawer fronts and backs are considered mostly for the durability. Once the drawer box has been assembled with finished nails, gun or hand nails will suffice. The drawer slides can be mounted and installed inside the cabinet. All drawer slide hardware has adjustable slots or cams for fine tuning. You may now install the drawer faces and pull hardware.
Every Home Improvement warehouse store, in their cabinet organize sections, sell predrilled cabinet side panels for adjustable shelving. While fabricating these diy cabinets, these 8′ lengths of predrilled white melamine pieces come in 11 1/4″ or 15 3/4″ widths for finishing out at the common lower and upper DIY cabinet dimensions respectively. 
12″ and 16 1/2″ of areas well served for every thinkable storage item imagined. A diy home improvement kitchen remodel that can literally change the way you do business in the kitchen. Most of these panels come in other wood finishes too. Even custom orders are taken but with the right diy kitchen doors no one but you really inspects the inside of your cabinets, so go with the least expensive (white Melamine) and make a bigger wow statement with the much more visible diy kitchen doors. And end up getting the most out of your DIY kitchen cabinets square footage dollar.
When fabricating a bathroom vanity with a face frame, the face frame is assemble most effective before it will be mounted on the cabinets face. A single door front with a row of 3 drawers equaling the door height. DIY cabinets will consist of several facets, during which after your scaled drawing is conceived and you have chosen all of the drawer slide components and door hinge. You should now have the exact face frame dimensions cut and ready for assembly. The cabinets face frame gets pre bored with a face frame tool that is designed specifically for this purpose. This face frame cabinet tool is called a Kreg jig.
This tool is a real sweetheart for an easy pilot hole boring on the backside of all your face frame cabinet pieces. The outside rails on the face frame gets the cross pieces glue and screwed into it. This hardwood stock averages about 2″ wide and should get 2 screw holes per end. The Kreg jig can be bought in a complete kit or a single jig will get her done just fine. Typically it comes with 1 bit and a hole guide with an adjustable stop collar as well. Straight forward and easy to use, we, here couldn’t build a cabinet without one.
In every form of cabinetry the toe kick gets overlooked. All diy cabinets can facilitate a toe kick, as in a strong foundation builds the forgoing future. At the base of cabinetry sits the frame that supports the boxes they rest on, and most of these allow the front toe kick to be visible.
Unless, as the image here shows, the end box or only cabinet (such as a bathroom vanity) has a side panel that is notched for a finish toe kick panel.
If the conditions are such that 3 boxes fill a space between two walls, for instance, the toe kick may end up being 10′ or so and will fasten below at the face of the frame the 3 boxes sit upon. In this case a back ledger and several sub span joist of 3/4″ ply every 24″ can be applied to create the base frame. Standard dimensions are 2″ to 3″ recessed back and 4″ high for comfort and cleaning. As the layout enables every cabinet, so in a sense they will have equal support for a good solid install. Now the finish front toe kick can be installed to complete the base portion of the cabinets.
As in every trade there’s a tolerance, and for framing a wall for instance this can be up to 1/2″ in some conditions. But with all diy cabinets we can say proudly that accuracy is an 1/16″ or less. It is not a given that the walls will be plumb and square every time so, often the face frame on an end unit diy cabinet can be ran wild or long for scribe execution. With a plane or even a belt sander the face frame is milled down for a nice tight fit and leaving the diy cabinet plumb, level and square. 
This frame is easily assembled with a Kreg jig, a simple self guiding hole drilling apparatus that is 100% perfect every time. Take a few extra minutes before hand and evaluate the sites condition’s to alleviate any further problems. A level and a framing square will show you where any maladies lie and help you to get a good mental picture of what needs to be accomplished.
A product of one’s own environment never held truer than the simple thought tract. With any diy cabinets the start will be in your mind. Can I do this? The answer is always in the desire, your biggest hurdle is the idea that you can’t! But in today’s world information or shall we say the right info @ the right time will get you through that next step. Believe that you can first and then go to any number of DIY sites and something will definitely click for you.
You will need a few essential tools of course, power tools such as a table saw is paramount. A small compressor and a pin nail gun will aide 100 X’s over but not necessary if you can use a hammer. 90% of cabinets are just plywood cut square to fabricate a box or cube, a face frame is the hardwood grid that attaches to the front of the box. A Kreg jig will be the cheapest and best bet to assemble the face frame. This little beauty helps you hide the screws that fasten the frame together. Add a little glue and you’ve got the pro’s strength and longevity. Slab doors with no detail ( recessed panels) for example just need the right hardware and now the doors are on, there are places out there folks that will custom build doors for you, that are super reasonable per expense. With out going on and on here, the point is you can do it yourself period, and with a little bit of assistance, before long you may even change your vocation before you can say “did you say add some crown moulding ?”