DIY shaker style cabinet

With its clean lines and large storage capacity this modern Shaker-style cabinet would be perfect in any room in a home. I made this single cabinet and a double cabinet for my dining room.

 

 

 

 

What's different about the assembly of this cabinet is that I designed it specifically for all you beginner DIYers out there. By cutting out a single front frame, the amount of joining has been reduced. It might cost slightly more this way, but you will still be saving yourself easily over a thousand Rand by making it yourself.

 

 

To cut down on the amount of joinery required for this Shaker cabinet, the front panel is a single, cut-out frame rather than individual sections that would normally have to be assembled.

 

 

To make the cabinet you will start off with a box: two sides attached to a top and bottom. Note that the top and bottom sections overlap the sides by 20mm. I used pocketholes to join the sides to the top, but you can just as easily use brackets or braces, or even drill and countersink through the top and bottom and fill these will wood filler.

 

 

As mentioned above, the front panel is a single piece and I used the drawer front and door pieces to work out where to cut the openings. As a guideline, add an extra 2mm around the drawer front and door frames to allow for the painted finish, and add 5mm to the side of each door for fitting hinges.

 

 

The decorative base is attached to the bottom by drilling and countersinking through the base. Any holes will later be filled with wood filler so that they are invisible. The front piece was cut out using a jigsaw and then screw through the base, as well as into the side frame.

 

 

 

 

This might not be a conventional way to fit drawer runners, but it's definitely an easy one! By fitting one side of the drawer runner to a piece of 44 x 44mm PAR pine, I then made the drawers to fit the space, rather than the other way around.

 

 

After attaching my hinges onto the doors, I use a 5mm-thick scrap of wood and a clamp to hold the door in place to mount the doors onto the frame. This nifty trick is handy when you don't have someone around to hold the door for you, but the scrap of wood must be 5mm thick or the gaps will be too small / large.