A little help with cabinet dimensions?

[Tony Shea]

I am building a smallish jewelry/nick nack cabinet for my girlfriend's birthday present. I'm using a lot of traditional handtool methods as far as joinery and dimensioning lumber, not that it really matters for my question. I've completed the door and am going to build the cabinet around this. The case is going to be dovetailed corners with the door being partially inset, top and bottom panels will be flush with door front surface. This cabinet build is coming from my head with inspiration from Krenov and a cabinet I saw at the Lie Nielsen store on display. I have no plans of any sort.

So that is where my dilema/question arises. I need to come up with how deep to make this cabinet, which I understand is somewhat subjective due to different tastes. I just would like something that will look proportionally pleasing to the eye and have never really made cabinets of this sort. This cabinet is designed to sit on top of a dresser or something of that sort therefore shouldn't be very deep and cumbersome. But I'm concerned with making it too shallow. The door dimesions are 14.5"W x 19.5" tall. I was contemplating on using a board I have on hand that is 8.5" wide and will dress out to somewhere around 8" for the case sides. Would this be too narrow looking of a cabinet in other's opinion? Sorry for being so long winded.
159745

159746

[Tony Bilello]

Get a cardboard box and bend and tape it to shape and see how it looks.
Most people would have made the box first for various reasons. One of them being that you can get a better idea of proportions as you prepare your box. Also, it's easier to match the door to the box than the box to the door.
I make simple - very simple - skecthes on graph paper to get my proportions. Working right from your head is not always a good idea. Right now that door looks aweful big for a jewelry box and will make opening and closing very awkward. Consider splitting the door into two doors.