General Rule of thumb for cabinet drawer boxes

[tim walker]

I see a lot of YouTube videos and if the drawer opening is say 8", the sides of the drawer box only come up 4 or 5". Why not bring it higher and give yourself more volume.? This will be my first foray at building cabinets and drawers for my workshop.

[glenn bradley]

Depends on the use of the drawer. Lower sides or chamfered top edges make lifting shirts or sweaters out easier without scraping the backs of your hands. For raw storage I make the sides just shy of maximum. Examples -

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[tim walker]

Hi Glenn, Thanks, was always puzzled. Your outfeed table is very nice. Did you design it or are there plans somewhere??

[Bill Dufour]

That low sided design looks special, handmade and it saves material costs. You can use a piece of scrap only six inches long for the front part of the drawer side.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

Since I got a 8" jointer I try to keep my drawers under 8" tall.
Bil lD

[Lee Schierer]

With the older roller 3/4 opening slides you had to make drawer sides short enough to slip the rollers on the back of the drawer up and over the rollers on the front of the slides mounted in the cabinet. Since these rollers were at least 3/4" in diameter you needed drawer sides to be about 1-1/2" shorter than the height of the opening. Newer side mounted slides slip into the rails so drawer height clearances can be less. Other than allowances for slides there are no hard and fast rules other than what the cabinet maker designs.

[glenn bradley]

Hi Glenn, Thanks, was always puzzled. Your outfeed table is very nice. Did you design it or are there plans somewhere??


I stole the idea for the top from a ShopNotes work table article. The rest I dreamed up. Thread here (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?230825-Tablesaw-Outfeed-Assembly-Table-Drawer-Unit&highlight=table). More detailed build thread here. (https://familywoodworking.org/forums/index.php?threads/tablesaw-outfeed-assembly-table-drawer-unit.35362/)