Critique My Material Efficient Cabinet Design

[Bessy]

Hi All,

Analysis Paralysis has had me scratching my head for ~25 months ~ trying to figure out the most material efficient manner to build a set of cabinets for my shop using sheet goods primarily - and I think I've finally landed on a reasonable design.



The rendering above incorporates four cabinets of the same design, for simplicity. The drawers in the cabinets along the wall will be interchangeable with the ones in the end of the outfeed table and be designed such that each drawer follows a standard height increment of 4, 8 or 12". In theory, every drawer should be transferable to any other slot, should my needs change. @lilscorpion's threads is where I picked this up, and while it was a trial to get the openings in each cabinet right, I think the design make sense this way.



With that in mind, before I cut into a sheet of plywood, I'm looking for your expert constructive critiques. The main question I have right now is for cabinets with drawers, do I need cabinet bottoms or would stringers (2 at 4" wide) being sufficient? I know keeping dust down and all it makes sense to have a full bottom panel, but how much does it really do strength wise once everything is glued and screwed? For context, I'm mounting these to the walls of the garage, so cabinet, contents and benchtop weight will be distributed across two french cleats (approximately three studs per cabinet, provided it lines up correctly), and four levelling feet. My question really is about whether there will be considerable racking given that the sides are effectively connected together along only 25% of the perimeter? More-over, because I do plan to take these cabinets with us when we eventually move, will I regret not having a solid bottom, or should they reasonably be expected to make a ~less than 1-hour~ move, provided they are emptied out of contents?



Maybe the difference in material is ultimately trivial?

 

[wyb2]

Not sure how a solid bottom alleviates any racking concern. A solid back would, but if you are attaching them to the wall, it will be fine.

If you are thinking about being able to move them around with stuff in them, you will likely want casters regardless of how sturdy or flimsy you build them.

 

[CraigStu]

- I am not clear on what you mean by a bottom but I'd make them 4 inches taller so you can have a toe kick under the bottom drawer. To see what I mean, tape piece of cardboard to fill in the toe kick in a kitchen cabinet. Now walk as if you were going to do something on the counter there. See how awkward it feels when your toe hits the cardboard.
- I'd consider more 4" tall drawers
- This is one of my toolboxes except that the right side has 4" drawers all the way to the bottom. You might consider this vs building. It is light duty but mine is 7 yrs old and still works fine.

Seville Classics UltraHD 11 Drawer Rolling Workbench, 77" W x 20" D x 37.5" H - Samsclub.com

Buy Seville Classics UltraHD 11 Drawer Rolling Workbench, 77" W x 20" D x 37.5" H at Samsclub.com

www.samsclub.com

 

[ez-duzit]

A solid bottom is likely unnecessary.

 

[Max]

@wyb2 is right - a solid back will make them more sturdy than a solid bottom. Particularly since you are using french cleats to hang the cabinets and the attachment to the wall will not stiffen up the cabinets.

When I build cabinets I think that the most expensive ingredient is my time. So I use good quality plywood (generally baltic birch or something similar) and I use plywood for all 5 sides.

BTW, @lilscorpion uses screws and no glue. After listening to him I do the same. I’ve had no strength issues and I when I had to modify a cabinet to make it smaller it was easy.

For what you are doing I’d use Kreg pocket screws for the sides and back. If you are only going to use stretchers for the bottom and back I’d probably glue them as you’ll have all of the force on a much smaller area.

 

[Bessy]

A solid bottom is likely unnecessary.

Thanks, Ez-duzit. This is pretty much what I was looking to confirm.

- I am not clear on what you mean by a bottom but I'd make them 4 inches taller so you can have a toe kick under the bottom drawer. To see what I mean, tape piece of cardboard to fill in the toe kick in a kitchen cabinet. Now walk as if you were going to do something on the counter there. See how awkward it feels when your toe hits the cardboard.
- I'd consider more 4" tall drawers
- This is one of my toolboxes except that the right side has 4" drawers all the way to the bottom. You might consider this vs building. It is light duty but mine is 7 yrs old and still works fine.

Seville Classics UltraHD 11 Drawer Rolling Workbench, 77" W x 20" D x 37.5" H - Samsclub.com

Buy Seville Classics UltraHD 11 Drawer Rolling Workbench, 77" W x 20" D x 37.5" H at Samsclub.com

www.samsclub.com

Craig,
What I was referring to was a bottom of the cabinet box itself, with a fully closed bottom instead of just two stringers holding the sides together (see image):



This effectively gives the cabinets a 2-3/4" toe-kick height, just without the actual toe kick installed under them. I'll be using four levelling feet per cabinet that will share the weight with the french cleats on the wall.

I have designed these to take combinations of 4", 8" and 12" drawers. The drawer fronts in the first rendering I posted last night were just set in, and copied over for simplicity; they were not representative of the final drawer layout. I haven't necessarily settled on how many 4", 8" and possibly 12" drawers I want, but I will generally say that 4" is my preference a,d if you've read my earlier thread Reminiscing the Days of Shallow Drawers, you'll know how I feel about deep drawers in tool boxes specifically. With that said, this is in the woodshop portion of my garage, so there is a bit more of a propensity for storing and using bulkier or taller items in this area of the garage than there is specifically hand tools only. I'll likely do more shallow drawers in the end of my outfeed table to accommodate hand tool storage, but that remains to be seen, as I haven't build these cabinets or the outfeed table yet. There is a chance that one or two of these could get even a temporary solid bottom and doors instead of drawers, and likewise, I may opt to do shelf pin holes on spec while I'm batching out pieces.

 

[CraigStu]

Now I see what you mean. With your current use, I'd think that the 2 stringers would be fine but... then you will be moving them at some point. Maybe that justifies the extra wood to do a full bottom.

 

[ez-duzit]

...]@lilscorpion uses screws and no glue...

I do just the opposite: (WEST epoxy) glue and no screws, for cabinets on yachts. But screwed and glued is extremely strong.

 

[rocksnstumps]

I see you mention leveling feet so cabinets may not sit flush with floor. In my garage on occasion and definitely in my pole barn, mice can be a problem in building nests with just the smallest crack to gain entry. A solid bottom would be my solution if you have any concerns there. Have more than one set of old kitchen cabinets used in my polebarn shop that are getting tossed for that reason. Slowly replacing with metal cabinets solid everywhere that should solve that issue.

 

[Max]

I do just the opposite: (WEST epoxy) glue and no screws, for cabinets on yachts. But screwed and glued is extremely strong.

Sure. It’s a trade-off between reusability and strength.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I took a different approach, solid bottoms and added drawers in the toe kick. Left 5" space so I get a 4" deep drawer the same size as the cabinet. The extra storage is well worth the extra material.