Woodworker's Journal 2008-32-2, страница 49

In the first of a two-part kitchen cabinetry series, our expert helps you build a "top-shelf" base cabinet, featuring simple joinery and some well-seasoned casework construction tricks.

Completing a "kitchenful" of beautiful cabinets is the dream of many a hobby woodworker. Maybe it's yours, too. But the thought : i actually building two dozen of these basic boxes may seem daunting.

What you need is a starter project: a : asic cabinet with a drawer, a shelf or two and a pair of doors. Ifll give you r.ands-on experience and hopefully s:oke your ambition to build more. Let's get started!

Choosing a Cabinet Style

There are two fundamental styles of kitchen cabinetry. In the traditional approach, a face frame of solid-wood ?dles and rails is attached to the rdges of the box, outlining spaces for individual drawers and doors.

A second approach — and the one we'll use for this project — is known -s "Euro-style." It uses the drawer fronts and doors themselves to define the cabinet's facade. They crowd together with only narrow gaps between them, and they : verlay and conceal the edges of the box. Construction is efficient, and :he basic design offers maximum versatility for shelving or drawers.

Planning a Basic Base Cabinet

Our project cabinet has a full-width drawer above a compartment with two doors. The compartment has an adjustable shelf, though it could easily be fitted with two or more pull-out style trays.

It conforms to the prevailing size standards. It is 30" wide, 347₂" high and 24" deep (measured from the

faces of the doors and drawer to the back edge). The box itself is 30" wide, 3OV2" high and 2374" deep. The 4"-high, 20³/4^,j-deep base (sometimes called a pedestal) is a separate piece, because it's much easier to place and level than a full cabinet. This is especially true if you are installing more than one cabinet box in a row.

As you tackle the cabinet, keep in mind my 'Two Keys to Success":

1) Use good quality materials and

2) Cut all your parts dead square.

To make this basic cabinet, I opted

for prefinished maple plywood, although unfinished veneered plywood or melamine are other good options (see sidebar, page 56). Prefinished plywood has a durable, glossy finish on one or both faces — far better than you can brush on — and you can get it in 3/4", 1/2" and 1/4" thicknesses. Be sure to orient the finished face to the inside of the cabinet, which is the surface you'll see when the cabinet is sandwiched between others in a kitchen.

Cutting Sheet Goods

The first challenge of the project is cutting up the plywood. With the right table saw setup — a 52" capacity rip fence, big outfeed table and plenty of space on the infeed side of the saw — the only limit is your ability to heft the material.

If that's not your setup, your best option may be the circular saw. To guide the saw, I long ago made a pair of simple guides from 1/2" construction-grade plywood. One guide is 4' long, the other 8¹ long. I set the edge

Feeding a circular saw along a cutting guide is easier than hefting a plywood sheet onto the table saw and feeding it through a cut.

If you have a cabinet saw and 52 inches of rip fence capacity, cutting sheet goods down to size is more manageable — but still heavy work.

Trim the factory edges off of each piece in a process of reducing it to final size. Make sure the rip fence is parallel to the blade before cutting expensive plywood.

Woodworker's Journal April 2008

51