Chris E Smith
10-11-2015, 11:38 AM
I am designing a 45" wide 16" deep frameless kitchen cabinet that will have a mid size microwave and Breville toaster oven sitting side by side on the bottom of the carcase with a combined weight of 49 Lbs.
The case is 43" tall with two sections of cabinet above the open microwave\toaster oven shelf section. This will be all one carcase with a total of four horizontal pieces including the top and bottom. The top and bottom will be secured with dominos, glue and pocket screws and I'm planning to put a 3/4" applied back on the cabinet for extra strength. The ply will be good quality from a lumber yard not a big box store. The bottom piece where the appliances sit can have an extra wide applied edge band and there will be an additional piece of 3/4" below the cabinet bottom that hides the LED under counter light strip and this can also be as wide as needed to add strength to the shelf above. The applied edges will be maple.
I want to be sure the appliance shelf does not sag over time and I'm wondering what if anything else is needed to make the shelf strong enough. I could make the entire shelf solid maple since I have a lot of this material. I'm pretty sure it is hard maple but it came from an auction of a closed down furniture manufacturer and was not labeled when I purchased it. By weight it seems to be hard maple.
The other options I have thought of are laminating two pieces of 3/4" ply for the shelf, screwing a piece of 3/4" bar channel across the width of the shelf bottom behind the piece of maple that hides the light strip, laminating a thin sheet of aluminum to both sides of the plywood bottom making sort of a stress skin panel.
I don't have a feel for what is needed for long term strength and appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks
Chris
The case is 43" tall with two sections of cabinet above the open microwave\toaster oven shelf section. This will be all one carcase with a total of four horizontal pieces including the top and bottom. The top and bottom will be secured with dominos, glue and pocket screws and I'm planning to put a 3/4" applied back on the cabinet for extra strength. The ply will be good quality from a lumber yard not a big box store. The bottom piece where the appliances sit can have an extra wide applied edge band and there will be an additional piece of 3/4" below the cabinet bottom that hides the LED under counter light strip and this can also be as wide as needed to add strength to the shelf above. The applied edges will be maple.
I want to be sure the appliance shelf does not sag over time and I'm wondering what if anything else is needed to make the shelf strong enough. I could make the entire shelf solid maple since I have a lot of this material. I'm pretty sure it is hard maple but it came from an auction of a closed down furniture manufacturer and was not labeled when I purchased it. By weight it seems to be hard maple.
The other options I have thought of are laminating two pieces of 3/4" ply for the shelf, screwing a piece of 3/4" bar channel across the width of the shelf bottom behind the piece of maple that hides the light strip, laminating a thin sheet of aluminum to both sides of the plywood bottom making sort of a stress skin panel.
I don't have a feel for what is needed for long term strength and appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks
Chris