Simple cabinet techniques make for good storage
For most people, making your own kitchen cabinets can seem like a daunting task, so I designed this cherry cupboard as a sampler to show the basics of simple cabinet construction. The cupboard is perfect as a stand-alone wall cabinet for mugs and cups, but by modifying a few of the dimensions, you can easily turn it into an actual kitchen cabinet. The case is cherry plywood while the rest of the cabinet is made out of solid cherry. The full-overlay door swings on cup hinges which are standard in most kitchens today. Not only are these hinges easy to install, but they are fully adjustable allowing you to tweak the door until it fits just right. I chose to have the raised panel face the inside of the case but you can have it on the outside too. The two cut-out cherries on the front of the door are a nod to the cherry wood. Hopefully, this project will give you the building blocks to design and make more cabinets in the future.
A simple box with a frame and panel door
The case is made from 3/4” hardwood plywood, joined at the corners with rabbet joints reinforced with trim head screws. The screw holes are then filled to hide the screw heads. The plywood back panel fits into rabbets and the forward edges of the plywood are covered with 1/4” thick edge banding. The solid wood, frame-and-panel door is assembled with cope-and-stick joints and is hung with European-style cup hinges. Solid wood top and bottom pieces cover the ends of the plywood sides and add a little style. Inside, adjustable solid wood shelves sit on pins to provide flexible storage. I chose to install the solid wood door panel with its raised field facing the inside of the case to better showcase the pierced cherry cutout.
Make the case
As you cut the plywood parts to size, leave the pieces a little oversize as you break down the sheet. Then rip all four pieces to 5-1/4” wide and set stops on your crosscut sled or miter gauge as you cut them to final length. Rabbet the sides for the corner joints and the sides, case top, and case bottom to receive the back. Dry fit the case together before gluing it up. After the glue sets, reinforce the joints with screws. Then drill for the shelf holes. Finally mill four strips of edge banding to 1/4 × 7/8 × 22-1/8” and cover the forward edges of the plywood.
Begin with the zipper panel. Cut faceplate, boxing, and zipper boxing pieces to size on the grain, and cut the welt strips—as many as needed to add up to your total welt strip length—on the bias. Sew the two zipper boxing strips together along their long side, with a 1⁄2” seam allowance. Iron this panel flat and pin the zipper to the underside of the panel. Be sure to place the zipper head down.
Rabbet the sides. Bury a 7⁄8” wide dado stack in an auxiliary fence. Set its height to 3⁄8” and expose 3⁄4” of its width. Rabbet the ends of the side pieces, pushing them with a follower block for added stability.
Rabbet and trim. Rabbet the sides, case top, and case bottom for the back. Then trim away the resulting tongue on the top and bottom, as shown. This ensures these pieces are exactly the right width.
Drill for shelf pins. Drill 5mm holes along the length of a 11⁄2” wide story stick, spacing them as shown left for the shelf pins. Then register the stick on the case bottom as you drill the sides.
Hide the edges. Rip 1⁄4” × 1” solid wood strips for the edging. Glue the sides first then trim the top and bottom pieces to fit in between. I position the strips as flush as possible to the inside of the case, then clean up the outside with my auxiliary trim fence on the table saw.
Long sides first. Rout the inside edges of the stiles and rails with their good face down on the table. The fence should be positioned so its face is tangent to the bit’s bearing.
Then the ends. I like to make a simple, two-piece sled for routing the ends of the rails. Load the rails so the end you’re cutting butts against the fence and close the toggle clamps for stability.
Measure for the panel. To get an accurate measurement inside the frame, insert two scraps into the grooves, pinch them together and mark. Then remove the scraps, realign the marks, and measure from end to end.
Make the door panel
Edge glue enough stock to make a wide piece for the panel. Cut the panel to size. Then score and bevel around the edges to create a raised field.
Check for square. Before gluing up the door, dry fit it together and measure the diagonals to check for square. The measurements should match.
Hang the door and finish
Trim your door to match your case with either a handplane or perhaps by running it across the table saw. Drill the back of one stile for the cup hinges. Mark the inside of the case and install the mounting plates. Then mount the hinges in the stile, clip the door in place, and tweak the adjustment screws to make it straighten up and fly right. Mill the shelves and the decorative top and bottom to size. Profile these pieces at the router table before screwing the top and bottom pieces in place and adding the back. Scroll saw the cherry cutout in the door if desired. Putty the screw holes and apply your favorite finish. I used General Finishes’ Arm-R-Seal. Screw through the back to hang the cabinet.
Drill for the hinges. Mark the door and drill the 35 mm holes for the hinges, placing them according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In a pinch a 13⁄8” drill bit will work.
Install the hinge plates. Draw the center lines for the hinges on the inside of the case. Mark for the mounting plate screws. Blum makes a nice template for this, or you can use one of the plates as a guide.
Add the decorative top and bottom. With the case lying on its back, center the top and bottom laterally and attach them, driving screws through the bottom into the case, and through the case into the top to hide the screw heads.
