new guy needs help with bathroom vanity

[Dennis Goodrich]

Hello , it,s Goody the new guy and I want to make a bathroom vanity. It will be a couple of weeks until I start it, but being new to woodworking I want to get all my duckies in a row and try thinking out all my problems first. I really have at least 6 questions, but will post one every 1-3 days. That all said the vanity will be 48'' long x 21'' deep. There will be 3 drawers on the left and right side and 2 doors in the middle. If you stand in front of it the left side and the back will be against a wall. I want to make it mosty out of red oak. Solid oak face frame and solid oak door fronts and drawer fronts. But what should I use for the rest? On the right side I assume 1/2" oak veneer because you can see that side. what should I use on the left side as you will only see it if you pull out a drawer? What should I make the bottom floor out of ? What should I make the back pannel out of ? What should I make the drawers out of ? I do have unlimited supply of pine 1x8x12 feet long (box tops from work) Would planing them thinner make good drawers ? well thats todays question and keep an eye out for many more " vanity " questions in the comming days. ANY AND ALL COMMENTS ARE GREATLY APPRICIATED as I am very new and need to learn all the basics. Thanks Goody

[Richard Wolf]

Welcome!!
The back, sides and bottom should be made from sheet goods. That can be anything from press board, melimine or plywood. If it was mine I would use 3/4 inch birch ply. If you use the ply for the drawers the top edge must be covered with veneer tape but you could use the pine if its on hand.

Richard

[Mike Cutler]

Dennis. Nice to meet ya' and welcome to Sawmill Creek.
I have a couple of additional questions for you.
Why Red Oak? As someone who has an oak bathroom vanity, I can tell you that it requires a little attenetion to keep it looking nice. The grain is very open and needs to have the exterior finish reapplied every so often. I definitely wouldn't make the top out of oak.
For the exposed sides I would use a matching plywood. drawers can be made of pine and faced with the oak the internal side on the left can be either solid pine, oak ply or a cheaper ply since you can't see it. If you will be able to see the bottom, it should match the other exposed materials. It may also be a thicker oak ply.
If you are truly new at this, peruse your local bookstore's woodworking section and get some books on carcass frame construction techniques. It will save you alot of time, and money. I know that I've seen one that dealt with bathroom vanities and such. It gave good tips for rule of thumb dimensions and measurements, reveal, drawer construction, etc..

[Jim Becker]

I'm with Richard, I'd build the carcass out of birch ply, although I'd likely not put a back on it, only rails top and bottom for screwing to the wall. That way, you don't have the issue of cutting holes in specific places for pipes. I'd make a panel for the end that shows using solid oak to match the face frame, doors and drawers; either flat if that matches the design of your piece or frame and panel if appropriate. There is no rule that says you have to make the end out of oak plywood and by using solid stock for that portion you can have an exact match of color and grain with the rest of the project. Your birch carcass makes for a very nice interior, too...prefinish it first (shellac or water-based product only) before assembly. If you prefer, you can substitute white melamine sheet goods for the carcass to lower the cost and provide a finished interior without any work.

[Carl Eyman]

Plywood is OK, but particle board is not. If you have pine for drawer sides and back, 0k. Plane it down to 1/2" or less for drawer sides. If they are to be face frame cabinets, I'd suggest your red oak for the face frames using pocket hole screws. Plywood is good for drawer bottoms, Drawer fronts probably solid oak, but maybe plywood edge banded. Good luck.

[Todd Burch]

Like the others, I would use 3/4" paint grade birch ply for the box. (One box of it will fit through the doors and all - otherwise, 2 or 3 boxes). You'll use less material if you use 1 box.

I like to put white plastic laminate on the interior of my vanities in case of water leakage. It's bright and easy to clean.

If you will be making frame and panel cabinet front doors, make a big panel for the show end. It will tie together nicely, and can be applied right on the end of your box, or out just a bit depending on how you choose to layout your face frame and box insides, with regard to drawer slides, etc.

Inset doors and drawers look more like furniture. Overlays are faster and easier to mount, and are very forgiving in the alignment department.

Since you have pine, that's what I would make the drawers out of. A vanity is not like an heirloom (although there are countless heirlooms with pine interiors!!).

Jim's suggestion of leaving off the back is a good one and makes the install go much faster with fewer headaches. You'll be screwing it to a house, so it will be very stable even without a back.

If you go with overlay doors and drawers, take that into account when calculating your countertop depth. I like to see countertops extend out a inch at least beyond the front of the cabinet.

Consider 4 drawers on either side. Shallow bathroom drawers are very handy. Certainly do the 100% pullouts. With a 21" cabinet, use 20" slides.

Todd

[jack duren]

a 48" vanity will use one sheet of ply. buy one sheet of 3/4 oak ply and build the whole carcass from it. youll get a finished end,wall end,bottom and two partitions. you should also be able to get out the front toeboard as well.. back is optional and doesnt influence the installation enough to leave it off. if the house is older then the pipes most likely come through the floor anyway.plus youll need drawer bottoms.

mike cutler..Why Red Oak? As someone who has an oak bathroom vanity, I can tell you that it requires a little attenetion to keep it looking nice. The grain is very open and needs to have the exterior finish reapplied every so often.

requires no extra attention than anything else. does not require a exterior finish.oak as many other flavors of wood are excellent anywhere in the house...jack

[Mike Holbrook]

Hi Dennis,

I am making my first cabinets too. You might want to check out some of Danny Proulx's books. He has some great stuff on making cabinets and doors and drawers. Some basic plans can be very helpful your first time around.

http://www.woodworkerslibrary.com/search.php?substring=Danny+Proulx

[Dennis Goodrich]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the help and I did order some books and video's to help my learning curve.

[Bob Johnson2]

I agree with Jack, I've got red oak vanities, in the bath that the girls use the open grain collects and holds powder, I have found that another coat of finish every few years makes it look fresh again. Of course you could ban the baby powder... In the 2nd bath that doesn't see a daily dusting of powder the oak is fine. SUppose you could use filler.

[Lee Schierer]

Here's one I made.

http://home.earthlink.net/~us71na/BROOM3.JPG

The interior frames are all poplar. The bottom floor inside is oak boards glued up to make a wide panel, though you could use plywood. The back panel is 1/4" luan as it is almost impossible to even see it. I also had a 1/4" glass plate cut to cover the bottom to protect the wood from the chemicals. The door frames are all made with lap joints as these are easire when you don't have rail and stile bits for a router and tend to be stronger. The raised panels were all cut on my table saw with just a starter cut using the router. I have instructions at my web site that tell how to make raised panels on a table saw. I also used metal slides for the drawers because next to kitchen drawers, bathroom drawers get opened and closed the most.

The finish is three coats of polyurethane on the inside and outside surfaces. This will control the moisture absorption and seasonal changes much better than just finishing the outside.

[Darren Ford]

I have a question for everyone recommending birch ply for the carcass. Why birch and not red oak ply? Is it cost or another factor? Around here, red oak and birch ply are practically the same price, maybe $2 more per sheet for oak.

[Jim Becker]

Darren, birch ply can have a much smoother finish on the interior when you put on the shellac or water-based finish than oak plywood would. (Do not use an oil-bsaed varnish on the inside...you'll be smelling it "forever") It's the material of choice for many pros for this application, too. Keep in mind that I and several others are suggesting that you do your oak on the outside including an applied end-panel. Therefore, the birch will never show on the outside of the box.

The other thing is that "good" oak plywood is much more expensive that birch plywood. Much of the oak ply from "big box" sources and the lumber yards is rotary cut and will generally look very much out of character with your nice solid stock face frames, doors and drawer fronts. Getting oak ply with sliced veneers in the grain pattern you want adds many tens of dollars to the per-sheet price.

[Richard Wolf]

The birch ply has a much smoother surface that is not open grain, it makes it much easier to finish.

Richard

I didn't mean to be redundent, Jim just jumped infront of me.