I had the opportunity to build another white oak piece for the same clients as the previous two pieces. This was a smaller cabinet to place near their entry door.
Materials and Plan
Everything was made from white oak plywood and white oak lumber except for the drawer boxes. The overall dimension are about 33″ tall, 36″ wide and 18″ deep. It has two inset drawers and a large lower shelf for basket storage. The table also had to incorporate a charging port on the top surface for phones/tablets. As with all of my projects it starts with a trip to the lumber store to select some hardwood and plywood. Then it has to be final sorted and cut to rough length.
YOUTUBE VIDEO
Cabinet Carcass
After sorting the lumber and doing some initial milling, I start building the cabinet carcass from 3/4 plywood. I use dadoes, glue, and screws to hold everything together. I also have to remember to notch out an area for the charge port wiring
Face Frames and Side Panels
I get started by resawing and milling my material for the floating panels and then start to build my face frames and panel frames. The panel frames get a 1/4″ groove cut into them to accept the floating panel. For the frace frame, I use biscuits to help with alignment.
Bringing it Together
Gluing the side panel frames to the cabinet box is always a very stressful time. I first by ensuring there is a very good fit between the side panel edge and the back of the face frame. This seam would be very visible on the front corner of the cabinet. I would like to try a mitered corner one day, but I am not certain I can pull it off. Regardless, I had to use a card scrap to mill off a bit of the face frame in spots and then run my pane across the jointer to achieve a joint without gaps. Then it is time to add a bunch of glue and clamp the crap out of it.
Top, Drawers, and Sand
After the big glue up comes out of the clamps, I flush trim all the overlapping pieces and do a bunch of sanding. At this stage, I make the drawer boxes and size the drawer fronts as well. The top is made from four pieces glued together, sanded, routed, and rounded. I also need to cut a 2″ hole to mount the charge port and add some threaded inserts to mount to the cabinet.
More sanding, more sanding, and then time for polyurethane.
