Need Wall unit design help

[Bobby O'Neal]

My wife has a vision for a wall unit for our front room. The main purposes will be to house the kids' toys and books and also a computer. I've done some basic sketches so far. Setup will be two 8'x32"x18" cabinets sandwiching a toy box that is 24"x32"x18". My question is what would be the best way to temporarily connect them all for stability? I'd thought about cleating the two tall cabinets to the wall and just dropping the toybox between them.

Also, I'm not sure how to keep the three pieces fitting tightly together while allowing for the top of the toybox to open without rubbing the sides of the cabinets. This is mostly an asthetic concern. I'd like all three pieces to look as seemless as possible.

Any thoughts?

[David Thompson 27577]

You need to think like a cabinet installer, while you're being a cabinet designer.

If these three pieces will have face-frame construction, then you'll be able to clamp the face frames together, while running in a screw or two.

Assuming that the center box won't have such a frame, since the door is more likely to be a lid........ screw through the 'tower' face frame, into the side of the toy box.


And the concept is the same for frameless-carcasses -- just be careful when choosing hinges, so that overlays and "back edge swing" won't be a problem.

And please, please, please, screw through the backs of the towers, into wall studs. Don't think of this as optional, since your kids safety is at stake. Finding the studs should be easy enough, and cabinet-install screws are readily available at home centers.

Two or three such screws in each tower, and you're confident for the rest of your life that the unit will not fall.