Cabinet shelf question?///

[Mark Rios]

Can anyone please tell me how yo fasten your upper and lower cabinet shelves? Do you cut a dado or just butt the joint? I could see just gluing and using pocket holess or nailing through the cabinate side into the shelf on upper cabinets. But what about the big shelves in lower cabinets?

Thanks for your help.

[Cecil Arnold]

Mark, I dado, glue and nail fixed shelves, bottom and tops. The intermediate shelves, because they are not full width, are mounted on a runner slightly shorter than the shelf so it doesn't show, then the shelf is nailed to the runner. Probably not the most elegant fix for this.

[Jim Becker]

In the cabinetry I have built, any fixed shelving was glued and inserted into dados. In the future, I may just do what my cabinetmaker neighbor does... glued and screwed butt joints anyplace where the fasteners wouldn't show.

[Dave Falkenstein]

In cabinets I make I almost always use dado joints, glue and clamp. I have assembled tons of Mills Pride cabinets from Home Depot, which are typically melamine. All of those cabinets use butt joints and cam/screw fasteners. I have never had either type of joint fail. I have used butt joints and confirmat screws in a few shop-made cabinets, and they work well too, although not as handsome as dado joints.

[Steve Clardy]

I make mine all adjustable. It's actually easier for me.

[Russ Massery]

I'm with Steve, I think it's easier and more useful to make them moveable. I just used a piece a pegboard as a guide. For the middle shelves. As for the top and bottom if the cabinet shows I pocket screw the shelf. If it doesn't show then I just butt joint glue and screw.