Thread: Question for the cabinet makers???

I'd suggest pin and cam fixings, but it also depends on what you're making it out of

Some questions back to you

What are you making the unit from solid timber or manufactured board?

are you suing solid panels or frame and panel construction?

Is there a reason the unit doesn't have rails?

Height of the top?

what is the span between the legs?

Normaly you just use small steel right angled bracketsor timber cleats, although that design is not good construction there is no support for the top, unless you are using solid timber you will not realy have any concerns with expansion and contraction

Assuming solid timber construction ...
If the grain is running L to R on the top and the drawer enclosures, you theoretically won't need to worry about expansion, as they'll all expand in the same direction, but I'd use screws up through oversized holes in the drawer enclosure into the top, just in case. You could separate the top and enclosure with Elastrator rings if you wish.

In all the work that I have done in the past, I just screwed through the rails into the bottom of the top and never had a problem with expansion. All the stuff I did was with natural timber tops and particle board units underneath.

A couple photos of my now retired desk as an example.

Thanks for the suggestions guys but I think I worked out a way to do it today anyway. It will be solid timber right through - Rose Mahogany - with the grain running the length of the top. The cabinets will be frame and panel simply to use up a lot of small thin offcuts I've got. There wont be a rail at the front, at least not a full length one.
What I think I'll do is screw the front of the cabinets directly to the top but use 'buttons' (not sure of the terminology for the gadgets you hold table tops down with!) to secure the back ends of the cabinets as I decided to put a rail at the back of the two cabinets to help support the weight. This should secure the cabinets well enough and still allow the top to move freely.
Some of my early cabinets have small but annoying gaps in the tops where I didn't allow for movement so I want to get things right with this furniture - 'cos I going to be living with it til day dot!