Basement cabinets

[Rob Blaustein]

The non-shop portion of our basement houses our washer and dryer, spare fridge, hot water heater, HVAC stuff, and just about everything else that we toss down there. It is very cluttered and I'd like to build several cabinets to go along one of the walls (the one that has the fridge). I've got about 13 ft of wall space to work with, and thought I'd keep it pretty simple and build 4 nearly identical cabinets (one has to be shorter because of ductwork) with adjustable shelves. I have some questions about the best approach but first I'll describe some of the basic features that I have in mind:

-Dimensions: around 38" wide, 6' 6" high, and around 24" deep. We have lots of stuff stored in those plastic bins and that will allow for efficient use of space since many are around 17-18" wide and 22" long and we could then fit two side by side.

-Style/material: simple euro-style frameless boxes with adjustable hinges. I plan to use pre-finished maple ply, mostly 3/4". Shelves to adjust via 32 mm hole system. Double doors (see pics).

I've sketched out some possible designs and would like some input. In this first sketch #1 has the doors closed with shelves shown as dotted lines. At the base are adjustable legs covered with toekick. #2 shows doors opened. #3 is the same carcass but breaking up the doors by having a lower portion and upper portion on each side that open independently. It doesn't change the inside, but I was wondering if it looks better than #1.
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I've never built something like these so don't have a feel for whether 38" is too wide a span. I could add a center panel and have shelves that are only around 18" wide as in this pic:
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Here's how they would look along the wall stacked together using the single pane door style, and then breaking the doors up into lower and upper portions:
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Some questions:

1. Do I need that center vertical panel? If so, can you put shelf pins on both sides of a 3/4" panel at the same levels or would it be better to have two 3/4" panels? If the latter, it might be easier to build 19" wide cabs and just join them up. But that adds a lot more material.

2. Single pane doors (3rd sketch), or upper and lower doors (4th one)?

3. Is it easier to build a 4" high base, level that, and then mount all the cabinets on that, or is it easy to use lots of leveling feet? How many feet would I need to support the weight of the cabs (I don't anticipate very heavy things inside).

4. How many hinges would I need to use to support a 3/4" plywood door that is 19" wide and around 6' tall?

5. Have a fixed shelf in each unit for added stability?

I'm sure I'll think of other questions, but that should get me started. Thanks for you help.
--Rob

[Jeff Kahan]

1. I think you will need a vertical pane. A 38" span for plywood without a strongback is a long way. I would anticipate substantial sag with virtually any kind of load on plywood that long. Jeff Miller wrote an article in the March/April '07 FWW that included a chart on shelf sag. For an 11" deep shelf spanning 36", he states the shelf will have a six pound weight limit before sagging becomes unacceptable. Even if he's off my a factor of two or three, that's a pretty light duty shelf. I think cutting the span in half with a 3/4" divider is more efficient than strongbacking each shelf with 2" material, which Miller states will provide a three-fold increase in weight handling -- increasing the sag limit on a 36" shelf to a measley 18 pounds. At the other end of the specturm, closer to your 18" divided shelves, Miller states that 3/4" fir ply will take a 32 pound load. Apparently, shorter shelves are the way to maximize the load bearing of plywood.

I would use the divider, rather than building separate cabinets. The material savings will be substantial. If the shelf pins would interfere with one another through the divider why not offset toward the sides of the divider on one side. You could do this simply, by using a filler strip on a shelf pin jig when drilling one side of the divider. This would allow the shelves to be on the same levels on each side of the cabinet without any interference problem.

2. My inclination would be toward simplicity for basement cabinets, with one door to a side. Less edge banding, less alignment, without much (if any) loss of utility.

3. Definitely the toe kick over the levelers. Build the toe kick from plywood or straight hardwood. Don't try cheaping out with the only straight 2X4 you find at HD. It'll turn into a potato chip after three days in your basement and you'll be miserable (trust me, I have just such a toe kick in my basement, mocking me each time I enter the shop). Shimming a toe kick level is relatively simple, if slightly time consuming, and once done you'll have a foundation you can easily build on.

4. Hinge numbers will depend on the weight of the door. Check the manufacturer's charts. But for plywood, I would doubt you'll need more than three euros each.

5. A fixed shelf would be nice, but if you nail a the back across the fixed divider, you'll probably have adequate shearing strength. If in doubt, and you're adverse to a fixed shelf, you could also add a 4" to 6" nailer at the top of each cabinet, screwed in from the sides and top. You'll probably want them in any way to anchor the cabinets to the wall, and they certainly add racking resistance.

[Jim Knishka]

Rob, I've built similar cabinets in my present and former garage. I was tutored by my FIL, who helped me on the first set. (I owe him hugely since he is a tool guy, and from him my wife became acustomed to the fact that you sometimes/always need at least one new tool to do a project!)

Anyway, on his recommendation I went with just under 32 inch widths and 16 (14 I believe on the first house) inch depths, so that doors and sheves can be 16 inches wide. That way you can get 3 doors and length of shelves out of a sheet of material. You might want to go just under 24 on your depths if you containers allow you to.

For both I used 3/4 partical board for the cases with a softwood face frames. On the new house I used mdf for the doors - nicer paint finish. Both are 8 feet tall, with 2 foot upper cabinets and 6 foot lowers, all divided for shelves (no drawers). The shelves are plywood.

I didn't use vertical risers and there hasn't been any sag. Each door is hung on three self closing cabinet hinges - never an issue there. In the old garage I lined one cabinet with cedar for keeping fabric items like beach blankets, a hammock, etc, which worked quite nicely.

Good luck! It's a satisfying feeling when you're done.

[Rob Blaustein]

Thanks Jeff. I actually just grabbed a piece of 37" by 27" 3/4" plywood and set it on some supports and loaded some typical bins on it and there was minimal sag. The 24" depth of the shelves helps--the sagulator calculates that my shelves (without a center pane) would sag by .03" or around 1/32 of an inch for a 50 lb load and .06 for a 100 lb load. I'm guessing we'd have 50 lbs tops, but I could always build 1-2 with a center pane for heavier things. Or use thicker shelves, say gluing two 1/2" thick pieces together. That would sag only .03 for a 100 lb load. Or I could use a hardwood edge.

[Rob Blaustein]

You might want to go just under 24 on your depths if you containers allow you to.

Jim, yes, I was hoping to rip the 48" sheet exactly in half (after crosscutting to length of 6' 6") to end up with just under 24" each for the side panels. Doesn't leave much room for error though.

[Dewayne Reding]

Glad you started this thread Rob. I have similar plans this winter for the basement and garage. Regardless of any chart data, mine will be just a little over-engineered because I have seen too many plywood storage projects ruined by sag over time. I am almost certainly using some vertical support. I am concerned not only with shelf sag, but also case movement which will make the door alignment look bad. Don't want to have to send my wife to Air Force loadmaster training to use them. I know I'll get "the look" if we drop a ton of money on cabinet building supplies, and then she can't store the canned tomatoes any way she pleases.

I am leaning face frame style using my Kreg kit, sixteen inches deep . For the big stuff, thought about a bank of 24s like you are considering. Think I am going to do an initial plywood rough cut, then summon help as needed to feed all the large sheet stock through the table saw. I know it's just storage, but it's always a bust for me when I try to split a sheet exactly with one cut.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, when I made basement cabinets, instead of using a toekick as part of the cabinet, I made a 3 1/2 inch high ladder frame out of plywood for the cabinets to sit on.

The ladder frame had propel nuts at each interesection of the rails and stiles, which lined up with the gables in the cabinets I made.

I used 3/8-16 propel nuts, so I installed a 1 1/2 inch long 3/8-16 capscrew in each propel nut to use as a leveller.

I put the frame on the floor, used a 72 inch long level and adjusted each capscrew to level the frame.

I then placed the cabinets on the frame, and added a small L bracket at the top of each cabinet to secure it to the wall.

Now the cabinets are all level, and the frame is anywhere from 1/2 to 1 inch above the concrete floor, preventing any water spills in the laundry room from touching the wooden components of the cabinets.

Regards, Rod.

[Hank Knight]

Is there some reason you need enclosed cabinets? I installed some long, floor-to-ceiling runs of wire rack shelving in my basement, the kind you get at the BORG. LOML stores all of her seasonal decorations and just about everthing else on them. They come in various depths (widths?) but I used ones wide enough to handle large plastic storage containers. Works like a charm and is a LOT simpler than building cabinets. Cheaper too.

Hank

[Rob Blaustein]

Rod--yes, that's one way I was thinking of doing it, and I've done that with some cabinets in the past. But the late Danny Proulx and others seem to like using the leveling feet rather than leveling the base, that's why I asked about them. Hank--I do want everything enclosed. I just don't want to see all the boxes, and various items, and I'm happy to pay for that privilege. I have used open shelving in places (we used the Elfa system to do a few closets) and like it for that application, but these will get doors.