Back Rabbet Detail Plan view

Shelf

70 on

³/4"x 1" fitting strip —^ glued to side of cabinet

Bevel

Simple fitting strip Plan view

Shelf

_id _Si

V

Biscuits press-fit into slots (no glue) to hold fitting strip

-1¹/2 -

■ Backing strip

Complex fitting strip Plan view

BUILT-IN

BASICS

Making built-in furniture isn't tough. I've seen lots of first-time woodworkers build bookshelves that fit in the nooks by their fireplace.

But making built-ins that hug the wall, sit level and are anchored firmly to the house requires a little more know-how.

Making a built-in is easy once you understand scribing, fitting strips and French cleats. Here's a solid lesson in all three.

Luckily, with a little planning and a few modifications to the plans of almost any cabinet, you can make it a built-in. After trying different systems for making built-ins, this is the one that I prefer. It's simple, rock-solid and almost foolproof.

Cabinets in a Crooked House

If you've ever hung a cabinet or built in a few shelves, you've prob

ably noticed that your rooms aren't all square and your walls aren't all plumb. This is usually the result of your house settling. It's also possible your framers or dry-wallers were sloppy.

Either way, don't build your cabinets crooked to fit a catawum-pus corner or sloping wall. Always build your projects square and add a couple features to allow them to fit in an irregular space. There are two tricks to accommodating out-of-whack walls: oversized back rabbets and fitting strips.

Big Back Rabbets

All cabinets should have a back that rests in rabbets in the sides of the case. This ensure a tight fit between the back and sides. With freestanding furniture, if your back is ¹/2"-thick, then the rabbets for that back should be ^1/2" wide. This is not so with built-ins.

You need to cut a rabbet that is significantly wider. How wide? I usually make it between 1V4'¹ and 1¹/2", depending on how out of kilter the wall is.

What this large rabbet does is it creates two long tongues on the back of your cabinet that can

by Christopher Schwarz

Comments or questions? Contact Chris at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or chris.schwarz@fwpubs.com.

54 Popular Woodworking February 2003