Guides
Guides — practical cabinet-making know-how
Short, practical guides on the craft between design and workshop: cut lists, CNC files and the geometry that makes built-in furniture fit.
Design your first cabinet in ten minutes
Step-by-step walkthrough of the KWAL Cabinet Studio workbench: choose millimetres or inches, start from a preset, click a dimension to change it, read the warnings and the cut list, and export. Free in your browser, no account needed to start.
Read the guide →Add your own decors: a photo, or your supplier’s material set
Design in the decors you actually order: add your own with a single photo or a full material set (colour, structure, gloss). Includes the tile size, the setting that decides whether the grain looks real.
Read the guide →How to make a cut list for a cabinet
What a proper cabinet cut list contains: finish size vs saw size, edge banding deduction, kerf, and grain direction — plus how to generate one automatically.
Read the guide →From cabinet design to CNC-ready DXF files
What a CNC shop needs from your cabinet design: one DXF per panel, millimetres, grooves as operations and grain-safe nesting — without manual redrawing.
Read the guide →Designing an L-shaped corner cabinet that actually opens
How to design a built-in wardrobe around a corner: depth overlap, door clearance, corner filler panels and a continuous plinth — without colliding fronts.
Read the guide →Shaker doors from design to CNC
Two ways to make a shaker door: rout the profile into a slab, or build a true five-part frame. What each means for your cut list, your CNC files and glass or mirror panels.
Read the guide →Pricing custom cabinet work: from cut list to customer quote
A practical method for pricing custom cabinets: sheet material by decor and thickness, edge banding, hardware, order items, an honest labour model and where the margin goes.
Read the guide →Cabinet design software compared (2026)
PolyBoard, SketchUp + OpenCutList, Cabinet Vision, SketchList 3D, Fusion 360 and KWAL Cabinet Studio compared: platform, pricing model, outputs and who each one is really for.
Read the guide →