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Floor cabinet
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A plywood box forms the heart of this project, while face features add style and grace
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By Steve Maxwell, photos by Roger Yip, illustration by Len Churchill
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Old on the outside, new on the inside. Apply traditional solid-wood frame-and-panel pine onto a 3/4"-thick birch-veneered plywood inner box
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If there are kids in your life, you've probably eaten more than your fair share of fund-raising chocolates, citrus fruit and cookie dough. But worse than the prospect of eating that tenth giant chocolate bar is the thought of selling it-and deliverance from that fate, along with raising money for a local nursery school, is why I built this project. Since building two projects is as easy as building one, I doubled the recipe and kept one for myself.
My design incorporates three features that I like in a cabinet: all four sides are finished; all sides are solid-wood frame-and-panel assemblies; and a hand-carved detail graces the door and attracts the eye.
Before getting started, note that the materials list includes measurements for all the project parts but only the inner box parts should be cut to the sizes listed. The other part sizes are estimated dimensions. Cut these parts to fit as they're built.
Build the Inner Box
First, cut the inner top, bottom, sides, shelf and back to size. Cap the front edges of the three horizontal parts with strips of solid wood. This hides the exposed plywood edges. Seal the inner plywood box faces with two coats of urethane before putting the box together-it's easier this way and there's less chance of missing any drips that remain on the final surface. Plunge the slots for #20 biscuits through the urethane and assemble. Wipe away any glue squeeze-out from the sealed surface and attach the back panel using only finishing nails only. The back edges will be hidden by solid wood.
Stile and Rail Secrets
Stand the plywood box upright on your workbench before cutting and fitting the stiles and rails. Cut the eight corner stiles to length and width first, then saw 45° angles along one edge of each stile using a tablesaw. Join the matching pairs of stiles with glue and masking tape. Before the glue dries, draw a screwdriver shaft along the length of the mitred corner. The pressure of the screwdriver shaft closes any small unsightly gaps that would otherwise stand out on the finished cabinet. Remove the glue squeeze-out from the inside corner of the mitres and set aside to dry.
Next, cut the side, back and door panels to size. Cut the pieces 1/2" larger than the measurements in the materials list-fine-tune these later after measuring the stiles and rails.
Remove the tape and clamp the corner stile assemblies to the plywood box. Next, measure and cut the rails to fit between them. Butt joints work well here because they're easy to strengthen with biscuits, floating tenons or dowels. Cut the rails 1/32" longer than needed, then loosen the clamps and fit the rails between the corner assemblies.
Once the rails are fitted on all four sides, mill 1/4"-wide by 1/2"-deep panel grooves along the inside edges of the stiles and rails with a table-mounted router and fence. Strengthen the joints with either biscuits, floating tenons or dowels.
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