Building Basic Cabinets

The simple base cabinet and hanging wall cabinet shown here use the same basic construction as professionally built kitchen cabinets, but because they are custom-designed, trimmed, and finished to blend into the room, they become permanent built-in features of your home.

These basic cabinets are built with oak plywood, which gives them the look of fine custom-made cabinets, but at a much reduced cost. The wall cabinet features glass-panel doors, purchased separately, that create an ideal display area for glassware or china. The base cabinet has extra-large drawers that are well suited for storing table linens.

You can use the methods shown here to build a single base cabinet with a wall cabinet above it, or several cabinets side by side (for a full wall of storage or display).

Everything You Need:

Tools:
electronic stud finder
cordless screwdriver
hammer
tape measure
router with bits (3/4" straight, 1/4" rabbet)
drill and bits
right-angle drill guide
pegboard scraps
pipe clamps
level

Materials:
power-driver screws (3/4", 2 1/2", 3 1/2")
wood glue
finish nails (1", 2", 3", 4")
shims
utility knife
pin-style shelf supports
2 × 4 brace
1 × 3 for ledger strip
finishing materials
drawer and door hardware
trim or base shoe molding

Wall Cabinet Project Details

Key | Material | Size
Side panels | 2 | B | 1/4" oak plywood | 30' Ã? 35 1/4"
Nailing strip | 1 | D | 3/4" oak plywood | 35 1/4" x 11 1/4"
Face frame | 12 linear ft.
Shelves | 2 | G |

Side panels made from 3/4" plywood have 3/4"-wide, 3/8"-deep dadoes where bottom and top panels will fit and 1/4" wide rabbets where back panel will fit. Rows of parallel peg holes, 1 1/2" in from edges, will hold pin-style shelf supports. | Back panel made from 1/4" plywood has a 1 × 3 nailing strip mounted 1 1/2" below top edge of the back panel and set in 3/8" on each side. It is fastened with glue and 3/4" screws driven through the back panel.