How to Build Rustic Cabinets

Old World Style

There are many styles and design themes for cabinets. Deciding on one theme over another can seem daunting. But when the process is broken down into incremental steps, the desired outcome becomes clear. When designing the kitchen cabinetry for a new home with a decidedly French Provincial motif, the variety of cabinetry and millwork options matching the motif narrow. One way to authenticate an Old World style is to add rustic elements.

Things You'll Need

• Chains
• Old rectangular nails
• Chisel
• Rasp
• Hammer
• Power hand planer with a dull, misshapen blade
• Orbital sander
• 80, 120, and 220 grit sand paper
• Glaze stain
• Clear, low sheen lacquer
• Pigmented, low sheen lacquer
• Rustic exposed hinges
• Rustic handles and knobs

Instructions

1. Build the cabinetry elements. Manufacture or acquire the base, pantry and wall boxes, as well as the doors, end panels, drawer fronts, moldings and accessories. These should all be designed and manufactured to meet the French Provincial style.

2. Distress each piece individually. Drop the chains on varying parts of the cabinetry elements. Scatter the old rectangular nails sparsely across the surfaces, pounding indented impressions of them into the surfaces.

3. Use the chisel to gouge out a few spots sporadically throughout the entire collection of cabinetry elements. Drag the rasp across some of the corners and edge profiles.

4. Adjust the hand joiner blade depth to just over 1/16 inch and plane across all of the flat surfaces. Do not use the planer against the grain.

5. Sand all of the surfaces to an 80 grit smoothness. Pay close attention to the gouges created by the hand planer. Round out the gouges with the 80 grit sandpaper to accentuate the peaks and valleys.

6. Sand all of the surfaces to a 120 and then 220 grit smoothness, continuing to accentuate the peaks and valleys.

7. Apply a light coat of clear, low sheen lacquer to all of the surfaces. Scuff all of the surfaces by hand with 220 grit sand paper.

8. Rub glaze stain across all of the surfaces, focusing your attention on the distress marks--the nail indentation, rasp marks, etc.

9. Apply two coats of pigmented, low sheen lacquer. Scuff all of the surfaces aggressively by hand with 120 grit sand paper. Scuff again with 220 grit sand paper.

10. Apply two to three coats of clear, low sheen lacquer, scuffing between each coat with 220 grit sand paper.

11. Install and trim out the cabinetry boxes and hang the doors and drawer fronts. Install the handles and knobs.

Tips & Warnings

• Even though the exterior of the cabinetry is to appear antiquated, you should build the infrastructure to modern standards, with all the conveniences and innovation associated with current building technologies.

• When distressing, pay close attention to the process, always keeping the end style in mind.