Cabinet Project Day 4: Beginning the Drawers

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Cabinet Project Day 4: Beginning the Drawers

Drawers are fun to make - especially when you dovetail the front joints and have to make several of the same size.

I chose poplar for the sides and backs, it's a smooth wood that takes a finish perfectly, yet isn't too expensive. In this case, five drawers took 32 linear feet of 1/2 by 6 poplar.

First I cut the boards to length, taking into account the width of the cabinet face frame, depth of the cabinet, thickness of the drawer slides (to be added later) and the dadoes of the drawer sides.

Then I cut a 1/4 inch dado at the bottom of each board to accept the drawer bottom.

Now the drawer sides had to be cut to accept the fronts and backs. I cut dadoes at the back and rabbets at the front. It's sort of a production line since there are so many the same size.



After the sides are glued and tacked to the back, the bottom plank was cut and slid into place.



Now it's time for the fronts - a bit of glue and there you have it, drawers.



Next, I'll make the visible drawer fronts from 1 x 10 oak, rout the edges, sand, stain, then install the pulls and the slides on the drawers and inside the cabinet and the project will be complete.