Getting started
Like many of my projects, this one starts with rough-sawn cherry. Whether you dress it yourself, or have the lumberyard do it, plane all the boards to 7/8" thick. Sticker and stack the boards for a few weeks to acclimatize the wood, then lay out the pieces for the project, paying close attention to grain orientation. Make sure the grain and colour of the wood for the panels matches that of the frames. When choosing the pieces for the outside corners, match the grain and colour there too. The goal is to ensure a seamless look in the final project. When all the pieces are laid out, cut the rails, stiles, and panel boards for the main case and doors. The back of the dry sink is also built with frame and panels. Not only does this contribute to the heirloom quality of this project, but it also lets you hone your skills on three less conspicuous panels before diving in to the four that are more visible. When all the pieces are cut, glue up the seven panel blanks. Before gluing, true the edges using a Stanley No. 8 jointer plane or a powered jointer.
While the panel blanks are drying, mill the 1/4" dadoes in the edge of the rails and stiles to house the panels. A table-mounted router or tablesaw equipped with a narrow dado blade are the best options for this operation. Regardless of the tool you choose, make sure the grooves are perfectly centred.
Mortises and tenons
Lay out and cut all the mortises first. There's lots, so a dedicated mortising machine or a drill press fitted with a mortising attachment makes sense. When all the mortises are complete, clean them up with a sharp chisel. Now layout the tenons using one of the mortises as a template. Make the shoulder cuts for the the tenons first, then the cheek cuts. Use a tablesaw fitted with a tenoning jig, or make multiple passes over a dado blade and remove the waste with a chisel. Once all the tenons are cut, dry fit the frames.
The raised panels
After the glued-up panel blanks are dry, remove any hardened squeeze-out with a chisel. Dress the panel blanks using a smoothing plane or well-tuned scraper. Square the panels to their final dimensions and mark the profile of the raised panel on the edges. The width of the raised edge is 1 1/4"-too wide for a router and panel-raising bit to handle. I raised all of the panels by hand, using a Stanley No. 78 plane with both fences installed to define the shoulders. Plane the end grain edges first, followed by the long grain edges. That way any end grain tearout will be removed when the edges parallel to the grain are planed. If raising panels with a table-mounted router is your preference, consider reducing the width of the profile and using a vertical panel-raising bit. Dry fit the frames and panels that make up the sides and back. Completed panels should float freely in their frames without being sloppy.
The cabinet corners
The front and back stiles are attached to side stiles to create the corners of the cabinet. These joints will be edge glued together with biscuits for strength and alignment. Before the corners come together mill a roundover on the stiles using a router, a hand plane or a dedicated moulding plane. The roundover is 3/4" dia. quarter-round cut 1/8" deep, and is stopped before reaching each end of the stile. Cut the biscuit slots before milling the roundover so that the biscuit joiner's fence will have a square surface to register on. Dry fit the sides and back together but don't glue anything yet.
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