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by
Dave Bond
photos: Tracy Cox
illustration: Len Churchill |
BATHROOM WALL CABINET |
| Build
some extra storage space in the bathroom |
Most bathrooms
are small and don’t have enough room for all the products
and gear used in the daily routines of the entire family. Make
room for clutter and keep it organized and behind closed doors
by building this attractive cabinet. This project looks best
when made with thicker-than-standard materials. Anything thinner
than 7/8" looks flimsy running up the side of a six-foot-tall
piece, and that’s how a thickness planer and jointer come
in handy. Although it’s possible to build the project
from standard, 3/4"-thick lumber (with a few adjustments
to part sizes), I recommend you follow my heftier lead.
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| This
classic cabinet makes good use of overlooked space
in the bathroom, providing storage without eating
up floor space. |
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| Frame-and-panel
doors hide items often consigned to a medicine cabinet,
freeing space over the sink for an attractive mirror |
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Begin
by selecting material for the two sides and five shelves. Cut
these parts to rough size, leaving two or three inches of extra
length before dressing them to finished thickness. Joint one
edge and rip the sides and the bottom shelf to 7 1/2" wide.
The wide shelves need to be 7 1/8" wide and the narrow
shelf 6 1/8". Crosscut the two sides to 72" long,
but don’t make the bottom ends quite square. Instead,
angle these back 1º from square, so the front edge of each
side is slightly longer than the back. This tilts the completed
cabinet backward slightly, making it more stable. When the cabinet’s
done you’ll also anchor it to the wall as another safety
measure.
Lay Out the Sides
Next, place the sides on your bench, inside face up, and prepare
to mark shelf locations. Before you begin, check that both sides
are exactly the same length and that you have the front edge
of each side clearly identified. Remember, the front is the
longer edge.
Start at the top and measure down
2 1/2". This marks the bottom edge of the top shelf, allowing
2 1/4" for crown moulding with 1/4" of the shelf revealed
below it. Scribe a line across both sides with a square, then
mark an X on the upward side of this line to show where the
shelf will land.
Next, measure 11 1/2" down
from the top. This marks the spot for the bottom edge of the
narrow shelf. Again, mark another X on the upward side of this
line, also making note that the narrow shelf is set back one
inch from the front edges of the sides to make room for the
doors.
It’s time for another mark
now, this time 21 1/2" down from the top. Scribe a line
across the sides and draw an X above it. This is where one of
the wide shelves will go; this shelf’s top edge defines
the bottom extent of the door opening.
Mark a spot 37" down from
the top, for the location of another wide shelf piece, then
mark another line 42" down. This last mark locates the
bottom edge of the bottom shelf, leaving 30" to the bottom
of the sides. This dimension allows the cabinet to straddle
most toilets, but if any adjustments need to be made to accommodate
an unusual toilet height, make the changes now. Tweak the distance
between the doors and the drawers, or upper and lower middle
shelves as needed.
With your shelf lines drawn, rout
a 3/8" x 3/8" rabbet along the back inside edges of
both sides. Rout from the top down to the middle of the bottom
shelf position, the place where the back slats stop.
This project is held together
with #20 biscuits, so mark their locations and cut slots for
them. To boost accuracy, avoid measuring and marking individual
slot locations. Instead, hold the shelf in place against the
sides and make one continuous pencil mark across both side pieces.
Position biscuit slots about 1 1/2" in from both front
and back edges. When you’ve finished all the pencil work,
cut the biscuit slots.
Lay both sides on your workbench
again and insert biscuits into the slots without glue. It’s
not unusual for complex biscuit-joined assemblies such as this
project to run into snags as parts come together, and you don’t
want that to happen with glue complicating the issue. Fit shelves
onto the biscuits and dry-assemble the entire framework with
the help of some clamps. Mark the shelf locations on back edges
to avoid confusion during final assembly with glue. Check that
the corners are square and make sure all pieces are easily aligned.
This is also a good opportunity to lay out and cut the central
drawer divider. Mark this on the bottom and lower middle shelf.
Measure the distance between the two shelves and cut this piece
with the grain running the same way as that on the sides. Take
apart the framework and sand all the interior surfaces with
a 120-grit abrasive in preparation for final glue-up.
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PART 1 | PART 2 | PART
3 |
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