Hi everyone!  Thank you for all your support for our show premiering on DIY Network next Tuesday (Dec 15, 2015 at 10PM EST).  We are humbled by your kindness, and know none of this would ever be possible without you.  Truly, thank you.

We are so excited to show you our cabin, and how it was built.  Just five days to go!

So what do you do for a kitchen in remote Alaska?  There's no kitchen cabinet store out here, and with a pile of scrap wood, you bet I'm going shopping in the wood shop.

Only thing is, this is the wood shop.  It's does have a killer view, making up for the mosquitoes and the dirt.

The drone is from the tv film crew to get different angles.  

To make these kitchen cabinets (more details in plan below) I used 3/4" plywood, ripped first into strips the depth of the cabinets, and then cut into pieces for the sides and bottom.  The boys were using all the sawhorses, so to cut, I put scrap foam insulation down in the dirt, placed my plywood on top, clamped a straight edge to guide my saw, and cut.  If the saw blade cuts into the foam insulation a little, it won't matter.

Now to build it.  To make things less expensive and easier to build, I decided to build my cabinets townhouse style instead of detached single family. 

This is one cabinet, not three put togeher. It is nearly eight feet long, with the center being the sink base.  This was much faster than having to build three cabinets (and doubling up material for the sides and face frames). And then having to get three cabinets to line up just right.

Another thing I did to save plywood was use scrap 2x4s to create the toekick base, raising the carcass up on this base.  The toekick later gets painted or covered in trim, so it really doesn't matter what it looks like.  It just elevates the cabinet.  This means alot of cool things for the DIYer -

• You don't have to cut toekicks out of the side panels of the cabinets
• Your plywood side lengths are shorter (which is a big deal since the sides now are right at 31", a perfect number for maximizing material use on an 8 foot sheet of plywood)
• The bottom of the cabinet is continuous, across all three cabinets, so this helps make the cabinet stronger, squarer, and easier to build.
• It's easier to build the carcass, as you just attach everything square with outside edges (instead of the bottom being elevated on the sides)

Sorry, I take my woodworking way too seriously.

 To finish out the front and make everything look pretty, I used 1x2s to make a giant face frame that covers the entire front of the 8 foot long cabinet.  

We didn't have any way to make nice doors out in the wild, so I thought why not create an apothecary style door that looks like a bunch of drawers?  To make sure everything fit, each door was built inside the face frame, leaving a 1/8" gap between all the boards.  The gap allows the wood to expand and contract, so no fancy joinery methods needed - just some 1-1/4" screws.

Here is the first demo drawer I made to test out the idea (and sell it to the hubs).  I orignially had planned for the Charcoal (it's Chalked by Rustoleum) but after painting the test door, Country Gray was the hands down winner.

It's nice to use Rustoleum Chalked because it has no enamel and you can easily sand and distress it.  We distressed all of the doors and face frames by lightly sanding.  

This was the hardest part.  All that hardware, and it has to line up perfectly.  I speak the truth when I say I'd rather build the cabinet than put the hardware on.

We created a pattern and Uncle Bill drilled all the holes and installed the hardware (I can't wait for you to meet him when the show airs).

For the hardware I found these cup bin pulls for a little over $2 a piece.  

This is not the time to splurge on hardware - not when you have 24 pulls in your kitchen.

Then we just used these hinges to attached the doors to the face frames.  I love this type of hinge for inset cabinet doors because they are easy to install and look beautiful.

It's a plywood box, on a 2x4 base, with a pretty face frame and scrap wood doors put over top.

The drawers and doors are so believeable, I've found myself trying to pull drawers out that area really cabinets.  Also notice the large drawer is one 1x6, with saw cuts in the face to look like a 1x2.

The cabinet on the other side of the stove was made using the same steps, but this time, just one door/drawer.  The drawer slides are attached on the insides of the cabinet sidewalls at the front (we shimmed to bring the side in to match the face frame) and sockets were used to attach to the back.

Here they are all together!

All of those base cabinets cost about $400 to make and took one day to build (working on it full time with help here and there).

This is not the first kitchen we've ever made from scratch.  But it's my favorite.

Because it is unique and hand crafted and resourceful.  

And it is truly something that most anyone could build.

Check out the customizeable plans following (if this is the homepage you'll need to click READ MORE below) to make your own DIY kitchen!

Have an awesome day!

Ana

PS - There's just five days left in our Alaska Dream Vacation Giveaway, and you can enter every day for more chances to win!