Office Cabinets

[Jim German]

I'm getting ready to build some cabinets for my home office. I've never done any cabinets before, so I figured I'd start a thread to keep all the questions I'll undoubtedly have in one spot. I've already built the desktop, made it out of Cherry with some Walnut trim. The cabinets will also be made of cherry, with some glass doors on the upper ones. I'm planning on using a Domino to build the carcasses as well as to do the face frame, and too attach it to the carcasses. Is that a good plan, or is it better to do the more traditional dado's and rabbits?

Secondly, I'm hoping to use pre-finished plywood for the carcases, however, the ends are going to be exposed. However as I understand it, pre finished plywood is typically maple. Whats the best way to deal with that? Is it possible to get Pre-finished ply that is cherry on one side and maple on the other? Or should I just use the prefinished maple and put a cherry veneer over it?

Below is a quick sketchup of the plan (everything will be the same color and style, those were just the most convient pre-made models I found, thanks Kraftmaid!)

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Here's what the desk looks like so far:

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Thanks!

[Dabney Walker]

Many many thanks for sharing your Office Cabinets information, I am highly appreciated. This site is looking very beautiful.

Thanks a lot.
Dabney Walker

[Jamie Buxton]

I've never seen prefinished ply with two species.
Veneering on to prefinished may be difficult. Perhaps epoxy will glue to the finish, but the usual woodworking glues -- yellow carpenters glue, urea formadehyde -- don't.
Using prefinished for the shelves presents a challenge in edgebanding the front edge. You want to trim it flush without scratching the prefinished surface. The cheap-and-easy way is to use vinyl veneer tape with hot-melt glue on the back. But it looks like plastic. The better-looking way is to use real wood, but then the flush-trimming and sanding step is a bear. I've given up using prefinished for shelves.

[Joe A Faulkner]

... I'm hoping to use pre-finished plywood for the carcases, however, the ends are going to be exposed. However as I understand it, pre finished plywood is typically maple. Whats the best way to deal with that? Is it possible to get Pre-finished ply that is cherry on one side and maple on the other? Or should I just use the prefinished maple and put a cherry veneer over it?


I've only purchased pre-finished cabinet grade sheet goods once. In this case, it was only finished on one side. I'd suggest simply getting regular Cherry veneer. I'd go ahead and finish the interior to match the exterior. For an office setting, I think this will look the best.

For your shelves, I'd rip some 3/4 x 1/2 inch strips of solid cherry and glue it on the exposed edges, front and back of your shelves not the ends. Plan for this when ripping the shelves (subtract an inch from the finished width). This will really stiffen up the shelves - a technique that I've seen in retail as well as custom cabinets. I'm assuming you are going to use 3/4" sheet goods for the shelves. If you were going with hardwood shelves then this doesn't apply. Aside from the shelves, the only other exposed edges you will have are the top and bottom edges of your cabinet sides which typically are simply finished as is.

It just occured to me that you might be thinking of using sheet goods for the cabinet doors. Those edges require veneer. You can use the iron on stuff. Go to Rockler and search for 13/16'' x 8 ft Plyedge Hot Melt Edging. I've used a regular household iron for this and had good luck with red oak - no reason you wouldn't get similar results with Cherry. Note: you could use the iron on stuff to edge the sheet goods for your shelves, but adding a 1/2 to 3/4" think hardwood edge adds strength to the shelf and will help it handle the spans. If you load those shelves up with books, you are putting a lot of weight on that shelf.

Hope this helps