Help with corner cabinet

[Martin Debono]

I am building cabinets for a food prep room in an 1885Victorian. The ceilings are 11 feethigh. The room is 10 by 12. I am going to use face frame construction. The frames will be from reclaimed redwoodthat used to be the siding and moulding in the house. In the prep room I want to have open shelvesin the corner cabinet. My question ishow to construct this. My plan is to use ¾”ply for the carcass àfor the sides AND back. The reason forthis is that if I put a dado in the back I can support the long shelf on threesides. The longest shelf is 57”. I believe that a ¾” piece of ply, supportedon three sides will not sag.

For the other side of the corner, I will use a piece of plythat is held on two sides, and I will put a few dominos in the unsupported endto glue it to the longer shelf. If this is not enough to hold up the shelf, I can put a mini-post under it

I have never seen a kitchen cabinet where the back is ¾. Aside from cost, and the challenge of moving theboxes, is there any reason I can’t do this? Here are some diagrams that try to outline what I am trying to do.

pantry design 1.jpgpantry design w.jpg

[John TenEyck]

I used a 3/4" back in my kitchen corner cabinet to support the fixed lazy Susan shelf. It sure was heavy, but I've had no troubles with it in 20+ years. If I were doing it again, however, I'd more likely use a 1/2" or 1/4" plywood back, forget the dados, and just screw the back to the shelf.

FWIW, the Sagulator says your 57" shelf should be fine with up to 100 lbs on it: http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/ Also, if you screw or Domino the shelf to the faceframe it will be even more sag resistant.

John

[andy bessette]

...The longest shelf is 57”. I believe that a ¾” piece of ply, supportedon three sides will not sag....

If you load it, it will sag. Better to use a deep solid wood edge banding to mitigate this.

[Martin Debono]

Hi
Thanks for the response. Is solde wood edge banding simply using a piece of 1 by for the edge band inlieu of that wood tape?
M

[andy bessette]

...Is solde wood edge banding simply using a piece of 1 by for the edge band inlieu of that wood tape?
M

Yes, but make it much deeper than the shelf thickness, perhaps 1-1/2"-2".