woodshop cabinets “+10,000 Step By Step Plans ...even if you don't have a large workshop or expensive tools!“ Yes, Get Access T...
woodshop cabinets
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I designed the basic structure with Sketchup. This helped me to have an idea of different pieces I will need to fabricate. design is that I won't be using any MDF or plywood to build the cabinets. Alright, so first I cut two boards 10 cm wide and 3.6 m long. These will be used as a base frame, and also as a toe kick. I screwed them together with some 2x4s to make this ladder-shaped structure, which was 50cm wide. I checked the levels with a spirit level, and it was clear I will need to make some adjustments as my garage floor is not very level. To make leveling easier, I made some wedges out of this piece of 2x6 on my table saw. I started putting those wedges until everything was level on both directions. Then I attached the rear board to the concrete foundation with some screws and nylon plugs. Here you can see that the corner of the floor is quite a bit higher than the rest of the floor. To ensure this leveled frame doesn't move, I cut some 1x2s and attached them with screws in multiple places so the whole weight of the cabinets would be sitting on the floor, and not on the wedges. These wedges then could be removed. Then I marked the line on the wall with a spirit level and a pencil to have a reference where to attach the rear board, so the cabinets would be supported by the wall studs. I located the studs with some magnets, because drywall sheets are attached to the studs with metal screws, obviously. I marked those places so the magnets could be removed. I milled a couple of 2x4s and attached them to the wall with these 140mm flat-headed screws I managed to do this quite precisely. I then needed to make these vertical boards out of some 1x2s. I decided to join them with pocket holes by using this simple pocket hole jig. I pre-drilled the holes for the screws at the top and fixed the board in place. Then I adjusted it to be plum, and attached it to the bottom frame. Half an hour later, all these pieces were in place. Next I needed to make these wider boards and attach them to the front. For that, I also drilled some pocket holes and mounted these boards about 50 mm out so they would form a toe kick. After those were in place, I needed to attach these horizontal pieces with pocket holes as well. These front pieces were mounted to make the cabinet widths even, and also to attach the countertop to them later. These middle boards are not required for the structure, but they will come in handy when I will be attaching drawer slides. I made this spacer piece to eliminate measuring and make this work a bit faster. So, the basic frame of the cabinets was assembled, I proceeded to making the drawers. I bought 12 pairs of these 500 mm drawer slides for 12 drawers I will be making. This is a cheap option, I paid less than €5 for a pair. As for making the drawers, I used these rough 120x20 mm boards, which are painted as they are left overs from some other projects. I cut them to approximate lengths, then I jointed one face and one edge on the jointer, and then I trimmed the opposing edge. I now had boards of equal widths, so I milled them with a thickness planer to make them all of the equal thickness as well. Then I marked the exact lengths of each board and cut them with a crosscut sled. After that, I gave each board a light sanding as it is much easier now rather than when the drawers are assembled. Here you can see the simple process I used to make the drawer frames. First, I made countersunk holes for the screws. Then I put some glue on the ends of the boards, and put some screws. Gluing ends of the boards would make a weak joint, so I had to use nails, or screws. I chose screws for some extra strength and ability to make adjustments if needed. To attach a drawer slide, I measured equal spaces from the front and bottom of the drawer, marked the spots for the screws, disassembled the slide and attached it to the drawer with 3 small screws. Then I attached the slides to the cabinet frame by using this spacer board to maintain the equal distance from the bottom. After all drawer frames were built and all slides where in place, I installed all the drawers to see if they fit and slide properly. And they did. The next step was to fit the floor and walls to these two cabinets, as they will have shelves instead of drawers. I had some thin glued boards, which at first I thought I would use for making the drawers. Actually I had just enough of them to make the bottom for one of the two cabinets. I milled them with a thickness planer, cut their ends to length, and nailed them in place with 18 gauge nail-gun. For the other cabinet I decided to use separate boards. I milled them with a thickness planer as well, cut them to length and nailed them. For the back and side walls I used these tongue and groove boards, which have been laying around in my dad's garage for like 30 years. They are quite poor quality, so I planed one side with a thickness planer to make them a bit nicer. I used these 25mm brad nails to attach the boards to the cabinet frame. When the backs were nailed in place, I did the same for the sides. And through this amazing magic of video editing, this job was done. As you may have noticed, my drawers did not have bottoms, which is not how drawers should be designed. So my dad gave me a few pieces of this thin plywood, which I sanded from both sides. And yes, this is a very old plywood, it even has some soviet markings on it, so it's probably my age or even older. To attach a drawer bottom to the frame, I spread some wood glue, then I carefully aligned two edges of the plywood to the frame, and nailed it with some 25mm brad nails. I unscrewed a drawer slide from one side, so I could put it against the fence of my table saw, and trimmed the opposing edge and another edge which needed trimming. By the way, I had this kickback while trimming the edges, because while making a cut, I realized that I had to move the fence a bit, and wanted to pull the drawer back, which is a big no no with a table saw. I was lucky nothing happened, but this scared me a bit, so lesson learned. As this plywood is really thin, I will probably make some dividers for the drawers to make them more sturdy and also more organized. But that's gonna be a future project. Next, I wanted to cover the gap under the toe kick, which opened up after leveling the bottom cabinet framing. I scribed and cut these narrow strips and I nailed them in place. I also used some acrylic sealant to avoid dust getting under the cabins. I wanted to hide all the rough framing, so I made these face frame boards and nailed them to the cabinet frame. The next thing I decided to do was the cabinet doors. I cut off the live edges of these boards I had laying around. Then I planed them with a thickness planer, and glued together. And while the glue was curing, I decided to paint the drawers. I had a big bucket of this anthracite paint, so decided to use it. As this is not a furniture grade paint, I had to put some varnish on it later to make it more wearing resistant. I also painted the face frame, the inside of the cabinets, and the whole inside structure as it will be somewhat visible when the drawers and cabinet doors are open. Then I painted the inside of all 12 drawers, as you can see in this clip. As the cabinet door glue was cured, I trimmed the top and the bottom, as well as one side of the door. Then I marked the places for the door hinges and drilled the holes with a forstner bit. I attached the hinges with screws which were included with the hinges. Then I attached hinge fixings to the cabinet walls, and installed the door. After both doors were in place, I adjusted the hinges to make the gaps equal on all sides as much as I could. Then I sanded the door, applied a couple of layers of paint, and the door job was done. My next task was to make drawer fronts. As I had no more thin boards, I had to make them out of 2x4s. I cut some boards to approximate lengths, jointed one face and one edge on my jointer, and resaw them in half to make two thin boards. I trimmed one edge of each of the boards to make both edges square and parallel to each other. Then I milled them with my thickness planer to make them all of the same thickness. I glued the boards to approximate widths. There will be 3 different dimensions of the drawer fronts, so I glued them accordingly. After the glue was dry, I removed the excess glue with a paint scraper, ripped and crosscut the boards to their final dimensions, routed the sharp edges with a chamfer bit, and sanded them. To attach the bottom drawer front, I clamped this board at the bottom so the drawer front can rest on it. For the left and right gaps I simply eye-balled them. To attach the drawer fronts to the drawer frames, I used these 40mm screws. No glue or double-sided tape was necessary, as I could access the drawers from inside, which was quite convenient. For the middle drawer I simply added some cardboard to add a gap. After I mounted all 3 drawers of one cabinet, I soon realized one issue. I made drawer fronts almost flush with the drawer bottoms. The problem with that is that when I will put some weight in these drawers, the bottom might sag a bit, and rub against the top of the lower drawer face. To overcome this issue, I trimmed the bottom of the lowest drawer front by 10mm, and moved the middle and top drawer faces a bit lower as well. This resulted in a bigger gap at the top, but I am totally fine with that, because these drawers made out of construction grade lumber might change their shape a bit, so gaps are not necessarily bad. When all 12 drawer fronts were installed, I decided to leave two middle cabinet drawers in their natural color, and paint only two cabinet drawers on the right, because I did not like the blue color of the wood. So that's what I did. I painted 6 drawer fronts the same dark grey color, and for the rest 6 of them I put a couple of coats of this water based varnish. I bought these simple black handles for the drawers and doors. The included bolts where a bit too short, so I counter-sunk them a couple of millimeters with a wider brad drill bit. I made this simple jig to simplify the drawer handle installation. I marked the center line between these holes on this board, and also marked the middle line on the drawer front itself. I clamped this jig to the drawer front, making sure both lines are aligned, and drilled the holes for the bolts. I counter-sunk these holes from behind, and attached the first handle. I really like how it looks. I used a similar approach for the cabinet door handles, the difference was just that they were not in the middle. Now the cabinets started taking their final shape which was quite satisfying. The last big step was making the countertop. I decided to make it out of 2x6s. As this countertop had to be 3.6m long, I decided to make it in two pieces, 1.8m each. It was much easier to handle the milling process, as well as gluing. So, I cut 10 pieces of 2x6s with a circular saw. As usual, I jointed one face and one edge of each board on the jointer, then I ripped another edge on my table saw, and then put all the boards through the thickness planer. I had to do a lot of passes, because all the boards where quite different in their thickness, and I did not want to remove to much material at a time as it would be a bit hard for this small machine to handle. I needed 5 boards for one half of the counter top to make it around 65cm wide. But I did not want to do this glue up in one go, so I glued 3 boards with these pipe clamps, and when I ran out of clamps, I came up with another method. I took these 200 mm screws, pre-drilled the holes for them with this drill bit, applied a decent amount of glue on one edge of one board, and clamped both boards with the screws until I saw the glue squeezing. When the glue was dry, I removed the screws. The next thing I had to do is to glue this 3 board piece with this freshly glued two board piece. I glued and clamped everything and called it a day. The next day I removed the excess glue and trimmed one end of each of these wide boards. Then I marked the line for another end, and used my spirit level as a fence for the circular saw. After both ends of both boards were cut, I placed these two pieces of the countertop on top of the cabinets to see how they fit. I had three issues: first one is this gap where both parts of the countertop meet, another issue is that one counter top is wider, so I need to trim it to make them both equal, and the last issue was the gap where the countertop meets the wall, so I needed to scribe it and cut it at a certain angle. So, one problem at a time. First, I marked and trimmed the edge of the wider countertop. Then I scribed and cut off the end of the counter top which goes to the corner against two walls. It was a decent fit. Then I scribed the end of another countertop, cut it off and it fitted quite nicely as well. Next step was to route the sharp edges with a chamfer bit. I routed both top and bottom edges. Then I spent a few hours sanding the top and the edges with the 80 grit sandpaper. It was starting to look better and better. Then I flipped the counter top and varnished the bottom, just to make it a bit more moisture resistant. When the bottom surface was dry, I was ready to attach the countertop to the cabinet frame. In the rear, I used these metal brackets and attached them to the cabinet frame and the countertop with 40mm screws. In the front, I used 50mm screws and screwed them through these boards of the cabinet frame. I made sure both countertop pieces are level. When both countertops where attached, I used some painter's tape for the wall and the countertop to caulk the gap between the countertop and the wall. I caulked with this white acrylic sealant. Then I removed the tape from the countertop, but left it on the wall at this stage, because I wanted to apply the varnish on countertop and sealant, but not the wall. After applying 3 coats of varnish, I pealed off the rest of the painter's tape, and the job was done. Next, I put all the stuff into the cabinets and drawers to make this place a bit more tidy. It also took a few hours to organize stuff. And finally, this project was complete! I would say, it looks quite nice. In terms of the money I spent, this was very cheap. I paid €70 for the drawer slides and hinges, €30 for the handles, and €30 for the paint, glue and fixings. And the lumber was left overs from construction and some scrap wood. So this project took much more time and labor than money, but I think it was definitely worth it. I am really pleased of how this turned out. Thanks for watching this episode and please consider subscribing. Thanks and take care! ...
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