Guides

Assembly, installation, and care.

Everything we sell is designed to be assembled, installed, and maintained by careful hands — yours or your builder's. Printed, illustrated versions ship with every order. Choosing between finishes instead? Our finishes, explained.

Assembling your flat-pack

Every box goes together with its joinery and a few included fasteners — no glue required, no specialty tools. Plan about twenty minutes for your first box; ten after that.

Assembling a flat-pack cabinet boxThe flat panels fold up and seat into a frameless cabinet box — base first, sides and back, shelf, then the top.
Assembled — joinery-fit, no fasteners into end grain
  1. Unpack on a soft surface and lay the panels out as they'll stand — the joinery only fits one way, so a dry layout makes the order obvious.
  2. Start with the bottom panel flat. Stand each side into its joint and seat it by hand; the fit should be snug but never forced.
  3. Add the back. It squares the box — check the diagonals match before going on.
  4. Seat the top, then drive the included fasteners into their pre-bored positions. None of them enter end grain.
  5. Fit shelf pins and shelves last, after the box is hanging level on its rail.

Assembling and anchoring a bookshelf

A bookshelf goes together like a cabinet box turned on its end: the sides carry everything, the fixed shelves lock the case square, and the anti-tip kit in the hardware packet is not optional. Plan about forty minutes for a tall unit.

  1. Lay one side flat, dadoes up. Seat the bottom, the top, and each fixed shelf into their dadoes, then drive the pegs through the pre-bored holes in the side — the tenons draw tight as the pegs seat.
  2. If you ordered a solid back, slide it into its grooves now, before the second side goes on. It floats: never glue or fasten it across the grain.
  3. Set the second side on, seat every dado, and peg it. Check the diagonals match before the glue-free joints fully draw up.
  4. Plinth units: press the plinth front onto its miters. Feet units: thread a foot into each corner insert and level as for a cabinet box.
  5. Stand the unit against its wall and fit the anti-tip anchor: the bracket bores into the top rear of each side and the strap runs to a stud. A tall hardwood case is heavy — anchor it before the first book goes on.
  6. Fit shelf pins and the adjustable shelves last, once the case is anchored and plumb.

Hanging with the wall rail

Our boxes hang on a steel wall rail with built-in leveling: mount the rail once, level it once, and every cabinet on that wall hangs true.

  1. Mark the rail height from your countertop plan, not the floor — floors lie.
  2. Fasten the rail into studs with the included structural screws; a level rail is the whole trick, so take your time here.
  3. Lift each box onto the rail. It will hold immediately — no second person needed for anything under 36″.
  4. Fine-tune with the leveling cams at the box's top corners until reveals are even.
  5. Lock the anti-lift tabs and clip on the covers.

Fitting fronts

Fronts arrive finished on all six faces. If you ordered hinge boring, the 35 mm cups are drilled to Blum's system dimensions — hinges press in without tools.

  1. Press the hinge cups in and drive the two anchor screws into the pre-bored pilots.
  2. Clip the hinge arms onto the mounting plates in the cabinet.
  3. Set the reveal with the three adjustment screws: depth, height, side. Start with side.
  4. For drawer fronts, use the adjusters on the drawer box to align, then lock.
  5. Wood moves with the seasons — expect to touch up alignment once after the first summer or winter in place.

Leveling on all-wood feet

Our adjustable feet are turned hardwood — thread, foot, and locknut — ordered as an option on the cabinet boxes themselves. They level base cabinets on floors that were never flat, and the toe-kick face clips onto the feet and pulls off any time you need to get under the run.

  1. Thread a foot into each corner insert and set the cabinet roughly in place.
  2. Level the cabinet front-to-back and side-to-side by turning the feet — a stubby screwdriver through the shelf-pin holes reaches the back feet.
  3. Snug each locknut up against the cabinet bottom to freeze the setting.
  4. Cut the kick face to length if you ordered it long, and press the clips on.
  5. The kick pulls off by hand whenever plumbing or leveling needs a second visit.

Caring for tung oil

Tung oil is a finish you can live with and repair. There is no film to chip and no refinishing contractor in your future — a rag and ten minutes handle almost everything.

  1. Daily: wipe with a damp cloth. Avoid ammonia cleaners and anything that promises shine.
  2. Water marks and dull spots: buff with a dry cloth first; most marks are surface-level.
  3. Scratches: light sand with the included pad, wipe on a thin coat of pure tung oil, wipe off after ten minutes.
  4. Once a year in dry climates, re-oil high-touch areas — you'll feel where the wood wants it.
  5. Full renewal is just the scratch process, panel-wide. No stripping, ever.

Working with hide-glue panels

Glued-up panels are laminated with hot hide glue — the reversible, repairable adhesive furniture has trusted for centuries. Solid wood moves; build so it can.

  1. Acclimate the panel in the room where it will live for a week before cutting.
  2. Cut with a fine blade and support both sides of the cut — solid hardwood rewards patience.
  3. Fasten across the grain with slotted holes or figure-8 fasteners so seasonal movement isn't fighting your screws.
  4. Finish all six faces, including the underside — one-sided finishing invites cupping.
  5. If a seam ever opens decades from now, any furniture restorer can reactivate hide glue with heat and moisture. That's the point of it.

Drawer modules & power

Lighting, receptacle, and USB-C modules arrive pre-fitted in the drawer box. Powered drawers use a listed low-profile connection at the cabinet back.

  1. Route the supplied cable through the cabinet's back grommet before hanging the box.
  2. The drawer-side connection is tool-free — it clicks in at the drawer back.
  3. Your electrician lands the cabinet-side connection on the circuit; the spec sheet in the box lists the listing numbers they'll ask for.
  4. Lighting wakes on drawer-open via the integrated switch — no settings, nothing to pair.
  5. Modules lift out with two screws if service is ever needed.