Q & A On Recycling Used Cabinets

Q.

Peggy,

Greetings! I purchased a gorgeous, custom-made kitchen from a home and missed the fact that the cabinets were glued at the fronts, between the different cabinet units, as well as screwed.

How can I get them apart at the fronts without ruining the cabinets?

Can I attach a straight-edge as a guide and run a fine carbide blade in my saw, along the glue seam and cut them apart? I am not worried about the 1/8 or so of an inch that I will lose to the blade-cut.

Should I try a vinegar or some other kind of solvent to try and lessen the grip of the glue? I have seen that, although it does not disolve the glue, it weakens it and the cabinets can be pulled apart.

Heat?

I wanted to re-purpose this fine kitchen, but have run into a snag. I am not sure if you are the right person to ask this question, but I am hoping that you will be able to direct me to someone who has been re-purposing others' kitchens. It is important to me to be as green as I can be.....I have run into a snag.........

Please advise.

Sheri

A.

Hi Sheri,

What a snafu!
You poor kid!
That's a beautiful set of cabinets and certainly worth saving if you can do it.

It's REALLY unusual to see cabinets glued together as you describe.
Normally installers just clamp and screw them together.

Are you certain that they are separate cabinets?
Custom cabinetmakers usually build face-frame type cabinets in "runs" to cut down on face frame material.
You can tell for sure by looking under the wall cabinets to see if they are individual cabinets (you've probably already done that, but just to be sure).

Assuming they are separate cabinets glued together; cutting them apart with a VERY fine blade is possibly workable. Fine blades tend to wander more than heavier ones, so you'll have to be very careful to set up a good jig to keep the saw blade cutting straight. The glue in the seam will also make the blade want to wander to the softer wood on either side.

If you don't get perfectly straight cuts, then the cabinets won't reassemble well, unless you are putting them back exactly the same as they are.

Looks like full-overlay hinges too. So you'd better check the door swing by opening two back to back doors to see how much room there is between them when open, and whether they need all of the room between them to operate freely.

If you can't cut them apart as we have proposed, with straight edges and enough room for the hinges to operate; just cut them apart and build new face frames and finish them and replace them. Face frames are pretty easy to build. Just a matter of matching the wood and stain and finish. They are mostly hidden behind the doors anyway. Or a kindly cabinetmaker could help.

You are probably dealing with a carpenter's wood glue, or "Elmer's". That stuff cures out like stone. I don't know of anything that will soften or remove it myself, especially when it's in a seam. A good paint store is where I would go to ask that question, but I think it's futile.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your cabinet recycling.

Peggy