Cabinetry Intensive

Foundations of Cabinetmaking

7-Week Spring Intensive | May 3 - June 19

  • Class meets M-F, 9am to 5pm

  • Orientation Sunday, May 3 from 2pm - 6pm (opening light dinner served)

  • No Class on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day)

  • Students should also anticipate spending at least 20 additional studio hours on weekends and/or evenings to complete assignments and practice skills

  • Downtown Brattleboro location

HatchSpace is pleased to launch a 7-week, full-time, 300-hour intensive program in cabinetmaking beginning in the spring of 2026. Our intensive program is hands-on, skill-focused, and designed for individuals interested in custom cabinetmaking or related woodworking careers. Over the course of the program, students will gain a range of skills from the use of foundational stationary woodshop machines, to sourcing lumber and sheet goods, to an introduction to cabinet design and how global markets, economic trends and new technologies are impacting the work of today’s cabinetmakers. Utilizing HatchSpace’s digital fabrication studio, students will learn the basics of reading technical drawings and complete an introductory course to SketchUp, a CAD (computer aided design) software, as well as gain introductory hands-on experience utilizing CNC machines. 

Over the course of the program, students will develop the skills to design and build custom kitchens, vanities, closets, and other built-ins. Students leave with the skills needed to secure entry level cabinet shop positions, pursue further training and/or apprenticeship programs, and/or launch one’s own small business.

Delivered in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont, and surrounded by some of the world’s finest hardwood forests, students will gain not only the knowledge of fundamental woodworking practices as applied to the cabinetmaking industry, but also an awareness of the interconnected world of forestry products.

Students leave with a HatchSpace Certificate of Completion, and OSHA 10 Safety Certification.

The Program

The curriculum is divided into four modules across seven weeks, each of which focus on different conceptual and technical lessons for cabinetmaking. Students will benefit from a number of expert instructors and create one finished cabinet project across the seven weeks that demonstrates their newly acquired cabinetmaking skills.

Meet Our Instructors

  • Gail Grycel

    Gail Grycel has been a custom cabinetmaker since 1984. The balance of beauty and function exists in her cabinetry and furniture throughout New England. For over twenty years, and in three states, Gail has empowered women and girls through her class offerings in adult learning programs, woodworking courses in her studio, at HatchSpace, and the Claremont Makerspace, Rosie's Girls summer camp sessions, mixed gender workshops, and one-on-one tutoring. She is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and experience to all who want to explore the love of making things out of wood.

  • Heather Tauck serves as the Program Leader for the intensive and has been teaching at Hatchspace since 2022. She is a graduate of The Evergreen State College and The North Bennet Street School, and she brings 15 years of woodworking experience to her role. She cares deeply about creating a classroom atmosphere focused on safety, community building and self-expression. Heather believes that woodworking classes offer students more than practical hands-on skills—they inspire creativity, boost confidence, and foster a sense of belonging, which can have a meaningful impact on students’ lives and help them connect with what truly matters. In her personal practice, she is interested in making functional pieces that explore modern and contemporary forms, illustrate expert craftsmanship, and highlight the natural beauty of wood. Based in Western Massachusetts, Heather makes and exhibits her work locally. You can view her creations at HT Woodshop and on Instagram

  • Tom Bodett is a lifelong carpenter and woodworker who founded HatchSpace in 2019. In addition to his successful 40-year career in publishing and broadcasting, he now devotes himself to serving the rural communities he has lived in, and has always lived in. With half of his adult life spent in Alaska and the other half in Vermont, Bodett has learned to appreciate the beauty and the bounty of our natural landscape and the indomitable spirit of the communities that occupy it. Through hands-on effort and philanthropy, Tom and his wife Rita work to leave these places better than they found them, and have learned when to leave well enough alone.

  • Rowan Norlander-McCarty is the Director of Operations at HatchSpace. He is a cabinetmaker driven by curiosity and the pursuit of quality. He believes that in melding the industrial, applied, and fine arts, we all have the opportunity to live in a more harmonious, sustainable world. Rowan has worked as a cabinet maker, fabricator, machine operator, custom millwork installer and artist assistant for a range of design studios and creative businesses. A lover of trees from seed to stump, when not in the shop you’ll find Rowan in the forest or the garden.

  • Blake Johnson

    Blake Johnson started his woodworking career in a teaching environment, at art college, and hasn’t let that learning/teaching thing go ever since. He has built scribed log playgrounds, museum casework and exhibits, furniture, and renovated houses. He appreciates making for himself, and loved ones, objects that evoke joy and character for years to come. He loves the process of making things, the mental machinations, the problem-solving, and the many discoveries that come while working with a natural material. Each project becomes a process of getting to know the work, the wood, and in some ways, a bit of himself. This sense of empowerment and responsibility to a personal environment is something he hopes to spread in every place where he works. Some photos of his work can be seen at www.heartsparkarts.com and on Instagram at @runeshai.

  • Heather Dawson is a furniture designer, studio woodworker, and woodworking instructor based in western Massachusetts. A 2014 alumnus of the collaborative Certificate in Furniture Design at Massachusetts College of Art & Design and North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA, Heather is an assistant professor in the program today. She is an experienced journeyman cabinetmaker and project manager and has devoted over a decade to developing curricula for adults to learn new skills in community woodshops. Heather's personal studio practice focuses on thoughtfully sculpted joinery, sustainability, and the invocation of delight. She has exhibited widely and is currently making new work in her Easthampton, MA studio. View Heather's work on her website

  • Erin Bell is the owner and operator of Curiosity Woodworks, serving the Upper Valley community and the surrounding New England area since 2017 with sustainable and locally made furniture and woodworking design. Instead of specializing in one certain genre of furniture, Erin revels in the opportunity to work with different clients on bespoke projects that serve their needs and dreams through imaginative design, innovative resourcing and engineering, and classic hand and power tool fabrication. View Erin's work on Instagram

  • Daniel Brown is a Philadelphia-based designer and educator, and the founder of SketchUpTrainer.com. For more than 15 years, he has worked full-time as a SketchUp trainer and consultant, helping architects, designers, and contractors build production-ready 3D modeling workflows for their projects. He launched SketchUpTrainer.com in 2007 to bridge the gap between what SketchUp can do and how professionals actually work, and his company is part of Trimble’s Authorized Training Center (ATC) network. Daniel holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

How to Enroll

Important Dates:

  • Sunday, May 3 - Friday, June 19

  • Class meets M-F, 9am to 5pm

  • Orientation Sun. May 3 from 2pm - 6pm (opening light dinner served)

  • No Class on Mon. May 25 (Memorial Day)

  • Students should also anticipate spending at least 20 additional studio hours on weekends and/or evenings to complete assignments and practice skills

Other Considerations

  • Attendance - students are expected to attend all scheduled class sessions. The pace is rigorous, and absences not only present difficulty for the individual student, but disrupt the learning of the cohort. A limited number of excused absences, usually up to three, may be permitted with the permission of the lead instructor. Students with unexcused or excessive absences may be dismissed without a refund.

  • Community Standards - Students are expected to uphold all community standards, values, policies and member agreements of HatchSpace. Most standards may be viewed online here, but class specific standards will also be reviewed and agreed to at Orientation. Students who do not uphold standards may be dismissed without a refund.

  • Technical Standards - Students must be able to lift and/or maneuver tools or materials weighing up to 50lbs, possess gross and fine motor skills to manipulate tools and materials, work sitting or standing at a workbench for up to 8 hours (with reasonable breaks), be mobile within the work facility, crouch, stoop, crawl or kneel to adjust tools and materials, work in close proximity to classmates, work in a loud environment, be able to visualize three dimensional objects, receive instruction in English and communicate with instructors/staff in English, and generally be prepared for an educationally and creatively stimulating, challenging and fast paced program. 

Note: the program is now fully enrolled and accepting waitlist / general interest only.

No application deadline. Participants are reviewed and selected on a rolling basis.

Our intensive is perfect for advanced beginners and intermediate woodworkers looking to take their practice to the next level.

Our intensive welcomes those at the beginning of their woodworking journey, though we strongly recommend students complete at least one short-term woodworking class before joining the intensive, or have some prior experience in woodworking or carpentry-related fields. We offer a range of short-term classes that can easily be completed before the intensive begins, and we’re happy to advise interested students on which short courses may work best. Please reach out to us to discuss at info@hatchspace.org.

Tuition for Spring 2026 is $6,100. Tuition includes:

  • Seven weeks of expert instruction

  • A private and devoted Sjoberg workbench and station in a shared studio workshop that is used only by other students and instructors of the intensive

  • Access and training for safe use of all needed stationary machines and non-consumable equipment

Tuition does not include:

  • Most materials (i.e. most lumber, some hand tools). Students should budget a minimum of $800 for lumber and personal tools. A specific list will be provided to enrolled students. Required Lumber will be purchased through the HatchSpace store.

  • Consumables (i.e. glue, sandpaper, finishes)

  • Housing or board / food

Deposit Required.
A $600 deposit is required to reserve your seat in the intensive.

Payment Plan Available

Our payment plan distributes the cost of tuition across three installments with payments due on the following schedule: 

  • $600 due at time of registration

  • $1,866 due by March 1

  • $1,867 due by April 1 

  • $1,867 due by May 1

For any student registering after March 1, the payment plan will be adjusted to two installments. 

Withdrawals, Refunds & Cancellations
A student who withdraws from the course 45 days or more from the start of class (by April 20) will receive 100% of their deposit and fees, less a $95 non-refundable registration fee. No refunds will be issued for withdrawals less than 45 days from the start of the class (April 21 or after).

Other Scholarships
HatchSpace seeks to make our programs accessible to early career & economically disadvantaged individuals. We also acknowledge how women, LGBTQIA+ community members, and people of color have historically been under-represented and under-celebrated  in trade and craft careers. With this in mind, HatchSpace makes a limited number of need-based, partial scholarships available via the HatchSpace Scholarship Fund. Awards range in amounts up to 75%, though the highest level of awards will be most limited and most competitive. Those students who wish to be considered for need-based scholarships should indicate their intention on the enrollment for, and we strongly encourage students seeking scholarship funds to apply no later than March 7, 2026. A $600 deposit is still required at time of registration while awaiting scholarship consideration. In the event a student seeking scholarship is unsuccessful in obtaining an award that meets their needs for participation, the deposit will be fully refunded.

Awards will be determined by April 1 for those who applied by March 7, and any remainder funds distributed on a rolling basis thereafter.

Payment Plans are also available to all students.

Note: HatchSpace reserves the right to update and/or modify registration and/or program policies.

✺ Frequently Asked Questions ✺

Why HatchSpace?

Founded in 2019, HatchSpace is home to a growing community of innovators working with wood like no other. We provide access to the tools and training necessary to build what you love, and launch careers in the trades and crafts. As our founder, Tom Bodett says, we’re all at our best when we’re making. Learn more about HatchSpace by watching the video below, and by visiting our About page above.