He pre-drills the toe kicks for pocket screws using a small clamp-on jig (which also travels to the job site in case there's a need to adjust the screw location or depth on site). Cleveland prefers to set his custom-built kitchen base cabinets on toe-kick platforms that he and Peters build in the wood shop, separately from the cabinets that will sit on top of them. Last week, Coastal Connection spent a couple of days in the wood shop and on the job with cabinetmakers Jeff Cleveland and Joe Peters, of Coastal Custom Design in Portland, Maine.

As a consequence of this broad freedom, there are many styles and methods of cabinet construction, and many techniques for cabinet installation. Cabinetmakers learn by experience how to fabricate and install their product, and they're allowed to do it pretty much whichever way they have found to be their favorite method. Unlike structural framing, for example, cabinetmaking isn't governed by prescriptive codes. Making and installing custom cabinets is perhaps more an art than a science.

Sub zero kick plate installation