Need to build some upper cabinets for my shop. I want a combination of cabinets with door, cubbies, shelves, etc. Need some inspiration. Photos or links to plans i can purchase are most appreciated!
[OP]
Contributor
Need to build some upper cabinets for my shop. I want a combination of cabinets with door, cubbies, shelves, etc. Need some inspiration. Photos or links to plans i can purchase are most appreciated!
Contributor
In all honesty - this https://sommerfeldtools.com/ has become my go-to for all things cabinet making related. Once you make one cabinet - the whole process just sort of falls in place & you're off and running.
I've built two complete kitchens and a half dozen cabinets I used to add on to existing cabinets with mine.
HOWEVER - having said that - I believe I would happily switch over to this - https://www.finewoodworking.com/2016...go-32mm-system if I were just starting out on making cabinets.
The beauty of the 32 mm method is in how many doo-dads are just "drop in" available.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
Moderator
My biggest suggestion for this is the same one I have for kitchen uppers...make them deeper. The old 12" cabinets just don't work well in a modern world. My new standard is 15" depth with face frames (or 15" minus the thickness of the material for full overlay doors on frameless), leaving "about" 14" of usable interior depth, depending on how they are hung and the thickness of the rear panel if there is one.
You really shouldn't need plans for something like this...just know the thickness of the material you are using so you can cut your components with that in mind. 3/4" material IS NOT 3/4" thick, in other words. Same for other thicknesses. Cabinet boxes are simple...two sides full height and width; top and bottom full width minus two times the material thickness plus the depth of dados/grooves if you are not doing butt joints. Locate the bottom up from the bottom of the sides by the height of the lower face frame rail if you have one. Shelves the same size if fixed and fastened in the same way as top and bottom. (in grooves or butt joints) Movable shelves about 1/8" to 3/16" shorter in length or whatever is appropriate to accommodate your selected movable shelf support product. Use the same cabinet design in general for any permutation of doors, drawers, cubbies, shelves, etc., so it's easy to turn out boxes quickly and accurately. Consider hanging them on French Cleats so you have flexibility over time to move them around, but even if they will never move, this method is easy to hang them consistently and with good weight handling.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
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Recently renovated my garage, 3 car garage. The garage is my workshop but it also needs to store momma's car and 1 motorcycle, so I have to maximize the potential for what I am working with. My methods and criteria may be different from yours, maybe they are not the best either? Anyway, also was doing this on a budget and really did not want to spend $1500 on garage cabinets/storage.
I think I spent around $400 in total; 9 heavy duty shelf brackets rated at 500# each, 20 shelf brackets rated at 150# each, 4 sheets of 3/4" MDF, 20 or so 2x4 8', and 4 2x6 8'
First thing was the open shelving, I think the ceiling height in the garage is about 9 feet, so I planned for the first shelf to be 20" wide and about 20" down from the ceiling, this allows me to store 5 gallon paint buckets and other not very common items up high and out of the way. The shelf runs almost the full depth of the garage.
The next set of shelves are 12" wide, 18" lower than the top shelf and run almost the full depth of the garage.
3rd row of shelves same as above.
Then I made a bench out of the left over MDF, a miter saw bench, 6 feet of table on the left and right, with about a 30" wide center that is 5" lower. Found some 4x4 to make the tops out of, came off of flat beds/semi trucks so it is not high quality but it is definitely "use-able" for my needs in this situation. Below the bench top is open cabinet area where I store all my tools in cases; jig-saw, sanders, saw-z-all, roto zip, pneumatic nailer/staplers, vice....................
I place my shelves and bench on the side of the garage that has that 20"/22" set back from the garage door, that way it does not interfere with the queen's parking.
I did use 2x4's under the MDF shelves, ran those on the outside edge and the inside edge.
I prefer to keep my shelves somewhat shallow if I can, my opinion deep shelves just get piled into and you can never find what you are looking for, I also try to keep all of my stuff labeled and sorted to some degree.
Would doors and plush looking cabinetry been nicer/better looking?, sure, just not necessary for me.
If any of this sounds interesting to you I can e-mail you pictures?
Either way Good Luck!
Member
I like making stuff to suit my needs but on this one I prefer a steel industrial cabinet for storage that's relatively dust free. Search ebay and CL to see what out there.
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WWW.woodmagazine.com has lots of free plans and articles about basic cabinet building that you may be interested in.
Contributor
Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUtIhveUPTk
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I've done a fair amount of face frame cabinets for my garage and basement. I prefer them to shelves as once the door is closed, everything looks nice! I also bought a bunch of the paint color I like (red) so they all match, Blum hinges on Amazon ($14 for 10), and door handles that I like (plain black rod). Now when I want a cabinet, I have all the stuff and just build it.
I do french cleats on everything so it's easier to hang by myself. The cleat goes on the wall easy with one person, always hits studs, then you just drop the cabinet on. I would really suggest this for your shop if you are doing a bunch of cabinets. It also makes it easy when you want to make sandpaper organizers, bin holders, etc. You can shuffle cabinets over and put things where you want.
[OP]
Contributor
Some great ideas there. Thanks!!
Originally Posted by Doug Garson
Contributor
Timothy Wilmots has one of the most inspiring shops I've seen.
This video is one of the many he has made about his shop, start here. He also has plans available, I purchased the one for the MFSC. The plan was very detailed and comprehensive......Rod.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeR-khSMh2I
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I build 90% of cabs frameless. IMO its the only way to go. If you go this route, you'll need a few tools if you do glue on edge banding, and drilling shelf pin holes, euro hinge cups, etc. I highly recommend Danny Proulx's excellent book on frameless cabinetry.
Key to cabinetmaking is all the parts are square and uniformly cut like parts same dimension. Don't assume your sheet stock is square, check it first. That requires an accurate square. I recommend a Starrett framing square.
Construction is also a decision you'll have to make - rabbets or not, dados or not, screws, pocket screws, tongue and groove (ala Marc Sommerfeld), how to do the backs -- many ways to do it. The only show side is the end cabs, so I simply use butt joints and screws. If its not painted I usually pocket screw the show side on through the top and bottom or apply a panel that matches the doors. I recommend keep the cab widths 30" or under.
Hope this helps!! BTW I've build a lot of shop cabs from lumber available at Home Depot, particularly the "Radiata Pine" if thats available in your area and its cheap enough if (when) you make a mistake
Contributor
Tim Wilmots power tools are a dream...so is his workshop size!
Moderator
I agree. Unfortunately, at least for us, Tim is now farming full time (they have a MASSIVE food crop operation) and isn't doing much in the way of woodworking at this point. He's still doing some interesting videos, however, and come up with some kewel stuff for the tractor.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Contributor
I am always amused when I watch those well made videos....
While I am sure Tim is a serious and talented ww, those videos (and those from other ww's) seem as if making a project such as the one in the video is, bam, bam, bam, DONE. While I understand its edited, it still is NOTHING like me taking on a project like that, which has 15 start/stops, tools breaking down, needing to order more components I forgot, calibrating tools for hours, mis cuts due to dumb set up error, design errors, etc. etc.
I can see for those who have not yet entered the hobby, those videos can give a misleading impression of the simplicity of the cabinet project he performed in the video.
Regardless, I love watching the videos, as I always pick up a tip or two. Kudos to all those ww who take the time to share their process and experience as even shooting the video, editing it, posting it, responding to comments etc, is an additional time sink.
Contributor
I built a pair of clam-shell cabinets that Fine Woodworking featured in a magazine maybe 10? years ago. I googled for it but did not come up with a link to it. However, they were similar to this cabinet I found from the Woodcraft Magazine plans site. I added a third cabinet between the 2 clam-shell cabinets that is open and houses the tools that I very frequently use.
Brian
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger or more complicated...it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - E.F. Schumacher
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