My DIY Custom Garage Cabinets

[merim123]

In this thread I started http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121958 , I was looking for ideas for what to do in the garage. I knew I wanted deeper cabinets and I wanted a clean look. After seeing what everyone did, I did some more research and landed on this design from family handyman magazine and decided this is what I was going to build: http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-P...rage-Storage/installing-large-garage-cabinets

Mine is 16 feet long across the entire back of my garage and they are 24" deep and 48" tall. My garage ceiling is only about 8'6" so I don't have too much room, but it's not too bad either.

Here's the progress from today. The biggest modification I did to the design was around using 2x3 instead of 2x2 for the base. I couldn't trust that I'd find a lot of 2x2 stock that was straight and I was right. Plus 2x3s were easier to work with and I could use my air nailer to put the ladders together. The other thing I did is use some 3 1/2" lag screws that did not require predrilling. Enough setup, here's the first step, laying out the back wall:

After that I put the end panels on as the instructions laid out:

Then I assembled the lower and upper ladders. The upper ladders I did use 2x2 stock as I had enough in my own supply that was straight and so I followed the plans.

and this is with both top and bottom ladders

finally the dividers

and all dividers complete now

some close ups of how the panels go together

this is the end panel

and finished for the day.

Still have the rest of the bottom shelves to cut and put in and then need to trim it all out and put in my sliding door mechanism and then some paint

 

[green.bubbly]

Awesome!!!


I am afraid I will have to steel some of this form my shop as well. Thanks for the links.

What thickness plywood are you using?

 

[merim123]

Thanks, still have a ways to go. I used 3/4" birch, I used two sheets and that got me everything you see in the pictures at the end.

 

[Steevo]

Looks like a very sturdy design.
Nicely executed, as well.

 

[Outlander]

I like the step by step so comparisons can be made. Nice work!

 

[HarleyArley]

Nice work! Clean and functional!

 

[ChristopherLutz]

Very Nice - thanks for taking the time to document.

I'm interested in how you will adapt the sliding doors at front. I know the Family Handyman mag has track, but some have done dados in the 2x4. This is going to give you some very useful space.

 

[DIYKiah]

Wow those look like they will come out nice and you saved yourself a lof of money from having to by a garage cabinent "system" from some company for about $2,000 bucks!

 

[merim123]

Thanks for the compliments everyone, i need to head over to rockler this morning and see if I can find the track. I also need to decide how I want to do the shelving. I don't like how they did it permanent in the article, want to see what kind of track I could adapt so I can have some adjustability.

 

[MikeGyver]

Looking forward to the finished product. I'll be building my own in the next few weeks.

 

[brownbagg]

what holding the weight. I be affraid of more than 100 pound

 

[merim123]

what holding the weight. I be affraid of more than 100 pound

what are you basing that on?

 

[merim123]

rockler was ridiculous for the track, 4' sections for 17/piece. I would need a total of eight for about $160. I found these and got them for $60 shipped to my local store, will find out next weekend how they fit. These come in 6' sections so I ordered a total of 6.

Here's the link to where I got them:

http://www.doitbest.com/main.aspx?pageid=64&sku=224055

 

[Krash Kadillak]

I really like these cabinets - something that this guy can maybe handle with few goof-ups. Love the sliding doors, too.

 

[Zeke]

what holding the weight. I be affraid of more than 100 pound

The triangulation of the dividers attached to the nailers that are BOLTED to the wall should give these units the strength to hold anything the shelves will hold.

Nice job there, merin. I would suggest only one change for those that might want to build something similar: 3 channel door track. Nice to be able to get the doors completely off to the side of any bay for no restrictive access.

 

[merim123]

Thanks Zeke. I do agree that a 3 channel would have been a better for full bypass, but I designed myself into a 3/4" rail for the track so if I need full access, I'll just have to pop a door in/out which hopefully shouldn't be a big deal.

As for people on the fence of trying this, go for it! It took me 5 hours to get this far working by myself. I bought the plywood sheets ripped to 24x96 at home depot to make it easier to work with and cut them into panels right off the back of the van.

 

[ChristopherLutz]

Merim - thanks for the track update. I'm quite curious to see how you solution the adjustable shelves. I too didn't like the permanent nature of the "magazine" variety...but, the simplicity is nice.

as a novice, I'm curious about the use of 2x3 and 2x2....are they really that much cheaper than 2x4?

Most of the timber I see in that dimension is pretty warped. Not that the 2x4s are a ton better...but, HD has their "Premium" version which are at least a little straighter.

Please take lots of pics of the face/sliding door mechanism. I'm looking to do this right after I finish two more of these:

The above is the second cabinet I built...but, the first keeper. It's sitting on a a ledger (two sistered 2x4's), bolted to a mounting plate at top and has two legs in front. Very solid.

I hated my first free standing unit - really happy with the way these came out.

 

[merim123]

as a novice, I'm curious about the use of 2x3 and 2x2....are they really that much cheaper than 2x4?

Most of the timber I see in that dimension is pretty warped. Not that the 2x4s are a ton better...but, HD has their "Premium" version which are at least a little straighter.

your cabinets look very nice, good work!

As for the 2x4 vs 2x3 vs 2x2, it wasn't cost that made me take this route. I had about 60 2x2 at home already and sadly still had to go buy 4 more because I couldn't find more than 6 straight one's in that lot. The decision was based on how the cabinet would look and make it easier for me to build. I used 2x3's on the bottom ladder because I wanted a little more heft in working with it since I was doing it by myself, plus I didn't want to predrill all the 2x2 stock and hand nail it, I wanted to use my air framing nailer so I can get it done quicker. The 2x2s on the top ladder, I couldn't air nail with the framing nailer because of the splitting, but I glued and used my finish nailer and put in about 4-5 nails in each rung to hold it all together while the glue setup. with the 2x2 on top and 2x3 on the bottom, my fascia boards will be 1x3 and 1x4 respectively. If I did it all with 2x4, I would need fascia basically in 1x5 and that's a big thick fascia I didn't want at the top and bottom of the cabinets. Might look ok on the bottom, but don't know about the top. Hope that helps.

 

[merim123]

Made some more progress this weekend thought I would share. Got to spend another 4 hours in the garage. I finished all the cabinet bottoms and started on the shelves. This time I went to my local woodworking yard and not home depot. I bought 4 sheets of birch and it cost me $10 in labor to get this to exact dimensions I needed. I'll never cut big sheets of plywood ever again!

on a side note, I noticed this at Menard's and want to share it here if anyone else is looking at a ladder cabinet system like this, didn't take the time to measure while there to see if it's on 16" or not, but worth checking out for someone. Reasonably priced and square.

For the shelves, I was hoping to buy some simple template, but didn't feel like spending $40 at Rockler for one. So I made my own from the precision cuts I got from my lumber yard left over stock. I just made sure my line down the middle was straight and then spaced out the supports 1 1/4".

Also, if anyone does this, mark which side is down so you don't drill your holes uneven. I used a 3/16" drill bit for the shelf supports I bought which are also 3/16"

Starting to look like a cabinet now.

And finally where I left it for the day. I have about 45min more to notch the remaining shelves. Then on to the sliding track, facia and doors. I'm thinking the doors will be 1/4" MDF. Cheers until next weekend!

 

[FleaDog]

so how'd it turn out?

 

[Reit38]

subd

 

[double-d-garage]

Merim, Love what you have done with the cabinets. In the last house I owned, I filled a 2 car garage with cabinets build from these same plans, they were strong as anything and I could sit in the base of the cabinet while working on them (I am not a small guy) I went for them for the same reason you did, get some size and depth to cabinets that would store a lot of stuff. Good luck with the final outcome, last I saw our old house the cabinets were still in there and doing well (only 15 years old or so)

DD

 

[merim123]

just an update to close this thread. We ended up selling the house not far after. The current owner is using them well. I had all kinds of weight on them with no issues.