face frame dimensions & cabinet logistics

[Robert Reece]

I am building a set of cabinets that has to fill a 128" opening. I'd like to have three banks of drawers that are inset, so this yields about a 40" wide drawer once you take out the face frames.

My thought is to make the bottom rail 2.25", the top rail 2" and each stile 2" (there are four stiles).

If those dimensions are reasonable, then I am onto how to construct the set of cabinets so that when they go together I get a 2" stile. As I see it, my left cabinet would have a 2" stile on the left and a 1" stile on the right. The center cabinet has two 1" stiles and the right cabinet has a 1" stile on the left and a 2" stile on the right. Then when assembled, all stiles appear as 2".

I have never seen a cabinet made with different stiles on the right and left, but I admittedly haven't looked for that detail before.

[Jeff Duncan]

" I have never seen a cabinet made with different stiles on the right and left, but I admittedly haven't looked for that detail before. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/quote.gif" (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1220334)



That's why it's custom;) You design and build it the way your want it.

I don't see any problem doing what your trying to do. If it were me I might make the faceframe as a solid unit and attach it onsite. But this depends on your capabilities working long stock.
good luck,
JeffD

[Jamie Buxton]

Or you could do your plan, but avoid the seam running down the middle of the two center stiles. You leave the right stile off the left cabinet, and make the left stile on the right cabinet two inches wide. At installation time, the wide stile overlaps the left cabinet to butt up against the rails on it.

[Byron Trantham]

40" wide drawer! Hum.

[Jim Rimmer]

Or you could do your plan, but avoid the seam running down the middle of the two center stiles. You leave the right stile off the left cabinet, and make the left stile on the right cabinet two inches wide. At installation time, the wide stile overlaps the left cabinet to butt up against the rails on it.
The seam was my concern, too. How would you cover that up? Seems like Jamie's idea would work.

[frank shic]

sure you don't want to make four cabinets with 30" drawers? 40" does seem a little on the wide side. you can make one large frame and then just pocket screw it on to the individual cabinets.

[Robert Reece]

I figured I'd push the limits of the drawer slides by making 40" drawers. I just hate the space you give up within each cabinet, so I figured I'd minimize that wasted space by pushing to a 40" drawer. Who knows, it might just all fall apart a year from now and I'll be rebuilding.

These are drawers for my miter saw station and they are also warmup / prototype for my kitchen (which will also have some ~40" drawers).

So what happens if I make a 40" drawer? Will it just be too heavy for slides? I'm just a hobbyist so these slides won't really see much use in their life and I plan on using good slides (probably Blum undermounts).

[Nathan Callender]

I figured I'd push the limits of the drawer slides by making 40" drawers. I just hate the space you give up within each cabinet, so I figured I'd minimize that wasted space by pushing to a 40" drawer. Who knows, it might just all fall apart a year from now and I'll be rebuilding.

These are drawers for my miter saw station and they are also warmup / prototype for my kitchen (which will also have some ~40" drawers).

So what happens if I make a 40" drawer? Will it just be too heavy for slides? I'm just a hobbyist so these slides won't really see much use in their life and I plan on using good slides (probably Blum undermounts).

I would think 40" drawers would be a little unwieldy from a user perspective, not to mention possible weight and slide racking issues. I think they might be fine for the shop, but in the kitchen, if someone is standing next to you they would have to move to let you open it, and they might get pretty heavy which means harder to open/close even with good slides. Just a thought...

Since it's for your shop, I'd build the face frame as one piece, if you can machine the 120" lengths. Otherwise, individual frames makes sense. You could cut the center pieces of wood from the same boards so the grain at least somewhat matches up.

[Robert Reece]

I had not thought about slide racking. Maybe I will make one 40" drawer and one 40" case and see how I like it. It seems like the drawers I have liked the most are the ones that are the biggest, but not so big that I can't reach the whole drawer from the position that I open it in.

The other issue with that 120" face frame is that I want this to be a tune up for my kitchen and I might have such a beast in the kitchen too. The current plan is for these cabinets to be painted, so I wanted to put the cabinets together completely in the shop, then paint the face frames. Then finally do the installation. However, it might be an ok idea to attach the face frames after the cabinets are installed? I just didn't know how easy it was to keep the fronts the cabinets perfectly square during installation.

I was also expecting to glue the face frames onto the cabinets, although if I go with installing after the carcass installation, I can just use pocket screws. Not a big deal since I have all drawers - no one would ever see the pocket screw holes as long as I positioned them reasonably.