Thread: Cabinetry guide

delbs, you're looking for a " section drawing of a cabinet ". There are many ways to skin a cupboard. http://www.modinteriors.com/pdfs/0400.pdf

Sorry for the long winded initial post, didnt know exactly what they were called. Thanks for your help!

Delbs

They will be wide cabinets. Personally, I'd be inclined towards making 4 units at 1200 each, with each door being around 600 each. There's probably a reason why most kitchen cupboards are usually a max of about 1200!

To strengthen the cabinets, you could use timber bracing on its edge (ie vertical) rather than flat (horizontal) below the top. That will also give you more depth at the top if you want a finger pull door.

I've made a set of kitchen cupboards before and it is pretty easy. The hardest bit is getting a good finish on the timber that you are using.

Feel free to come past and see my cabinets if you like. I'm at home during the week if you have time to come past.

Trav

Ahh yes I was considering the 4 x 1200. I'm open to really any design I just want it to be built correctly and in proportion. I remember your old post trav of the cabinets you made in your workshop and thry looked great. Yeah i might take you up on that. I'm off Monday and Tuesday next week so that could work.

There is an excellent book by Bill Hylton published by American Woodworker that may well suit your needs.
It is Illustrated Cabinetmaking - How to Design and Construct Furniture that Counts.
I have found it very helpful.
Available in many places.
Here is one:
Illustrated Cabinetmaking

Cheers
SG

Delbs, your initial post covered a lot about what you want to do, and mentioned the loads on the top, but not how you intend to make the top.

From working in a cab shop, I can suggest that the amount of support you will need to give things is a function of the load applied, the top surface material, and the span between cab sides.

38mm laminated chipboard benchtop would be fairly self supporting over a 1200 span, 18mm ply, MDF, melamine etc would not be.

I can give you general details of kicker assy, individual cab assy, tops etc if you want and identify what your top plans are.

Originally Posted by delbs

To explain a littler further im building a cabinet made out of plywood for our living room, it will be 600deep and 600 high by 4800L. Im building it in 3 or 4 sections and each section will have 2 doors on the front so each part will be roughly 1600 long. .i have included a photo that i quickly just drew then in paint to show my point. By no means is this my plan, my sketch and measurements i have on paper are a lot detailed. this is to give you an idea. this cabinet wont hold the TV as that's mounted to the wall, its only going to have a few lite weight things sitting on top as it will mainly be used to store things in each cabinet.
cabinet.png

I am looking for something that shows the internal construction of a normal cabinet either for a Kitchen or cupboard to see where bracing is placed. I want it to be sturdy and spacious so there wont be any shelving, once you open each cupboard door you will have roughly that 600H by 600D space to work with. To make each door handle a little inconspicuous i will be routing a profile on the top of each door to open it, this will keep the kids out of it for a while at least, along with some strong magnets to keep them shut.

I suggest that you also think about the area in front of the cabinet you will need to open the doors.
6 doors implies each is around 800 wide which in turn means a minimum 800 clearance in front of the cabinet
8 doors would require a minimum 600 clearnce
12 doors only requires 400 clearance

for the construction material, have you thought about using 19mm laminated pine panels? It's probably easier to come by than furniture grade ply
Even if you don't initially intend to fit shelves, I suggest you predrill the sides of each storage cell so 1 or 2 shelves can be fitted later

Sturdy construction?
solid bottom shelf
use biscuits to align and screws to hold each vertical divider to the bottom shelf
a front and back construction rail rebated into the dividers at the top and fixed with screws -- the construction rails would be dovetailed into the end vertical dividers.
the unit's top would be screwed onto the construction rail.
a 4800 long one piece top may be a challenge to get into your house -- make sure it is 20mm (minimum) wider than you want so it can be scribed to the wall behind the cabinet.

When I was working for a cabinet maker, he had a rule that no door should be over a max of 500 wide. They are just too heavy for just two hinges. Mostly we kept them to between 400 and 500 for that reason.