Armoir made with the amazing piece of mahogany- need help with drawers

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Here is what I came up with for the amazing piece of mahogany. If you missed the thread, here is that piece of wood:
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Sorry, posting from the phone, so pics will be sideways. Maybe the next one I will take the pic sideways and it will be upright!

I am literally sitting at a restaurant with my sketch pad, drawing the armoir that I want to build with this. It would be maple, and the mahogany would be book matched for the panels. The smaller board would be the drawers. Here is where I am stuck. The doors will be a shaker rail and stile. The drawers would be solid, so they would align with the outer edge of the stiles of the doors. I don’t like that. I like the darker mahogany of the drawers to align with the darker mahogany of the doors. This is how I drew it:

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Of course I photograph it sideways and it comes out sideways. Let’s try again.

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Dude. I photographed it upright and it comes out sideways. I give up. Hold your head sideways. So, the drawers in the pic line up with the darker mahogany. Should I nix that and just have them come all the way to the edge? Should I have a rail between them or just make them fit together bookmatched?

[Bill Carey]

Hey Malcolm - IMHO the drawers should be as you drew them - lined up with the darker mahogany. And I would make the drawers match the shaker rail and stile of the doors. I think anything but a symmetrical layout of the doors and drawers will take your eye away from that beautiful piece of wood. And I got nothin on the pics - everything has been sideways for me lately.

I look forward to your build - share the adventure.

[William Fretwell]

I also think the door panels should line up with the drawers. The gap between the door panels should equal the gap between the bottom of the door panels and the top drawer, that keeps everything balanced. However the gap between the drawers should be half the aforementioned gap. That creates an efficient appearance, not “twee”. The lower gap does not have to be the same as the top as that half gap “frees up” that constraint.
Yes i agonize over similar decisions, as one should, it will be around for 100 years at least and the proportions choices will be appreciated by many people over the years.

[Mel Fulks]

I like it the way it's drawn now. Long lean vertical and, horizontal 'fat bottom' for stability!

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with William that vertical should rule ....but only where it can rule wisely!
A friend has a spectacular high-boy made about 1690. It has some drawers vertical and some horizontal. The small
(narrow ) ones are vertical, they show well and make sure you see the piece as tall. The long drawers are horizontal
and it makes for complex showmanship, and...lasting work... with a piece made of air dried wood. All the drawers are
cross-banded. Some of them have "oyster shell " veneer.....and some don't .

[Phil Mueller]

I think I agree with Bill, if I understand it correctly. The drawers would be the same full width as the doors. The mahogany part of the drawers would match the width of the door mahogany panels. The drawers would have maple rail and stile surround???

[David Utterback]

You might be able to get the alignment by extending the door panels to the edge of the front while having a face frame around inset drawers. The shadow lines left by the door's bottom edge may look funky, though. The shadow might be reduced with rabbeted backs on the doors which I believe is called an overlay.

My approach would be to 'sleep on' the ideas and let the best image percolate for a while. One or more models could be constructed.

[Jay Aubuchon]

Is your sketch (a very appealing sketch, by the way) lying on the table? On what edge of the screen is the shutter button when you take the picture?

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Is your sketch (a very appealing sketch, by the way) lying on the table? On what edge of the screen is the shutter button when you take the picture?

I held it up vertical to take the photo.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Thanks for the replies. Here is a cabinet that I have which is similar to what I want to do, but I want drawers at the bottom, because this would be for a bedroom most likely in an older home with few closets. I could make the doors go to the edge, but I wanted a reveal for the stiles- it just looks better to me that way.

This has always been my dilemma- I am a hyper-perfectionist when it comes to balance, but it works in my favor in the end. It’s just that I am my own worst enemy during the design phase. I never seem to be able to accept the easy way. :-)

I could make the drawers out of maple, and use the narrow board to make panels for the two side cabinets, but I really don’t have the time to make three cabinets. I prefer one big armoir and have the drawers out of the smaller board.

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Seems you have to use horizontal format only when taking pics. That one worked.

[Mel Fulks]

Fun Facts: Vertical grain on horizontally placed board is international symbol for "fat guy in 'slimming ' pin striped suit"

[David Utterback]

[QUOTE=Malcolm Schweizer;3087439]Thanks for the replies. Here is a cabinet that I have which is similar to what I want to do, but I want drawers at the bottom, because this would be for a bedroom most likely in an older home with few closets. I could make the doors go to the edge, but I wanted a reveal for the stiles- it just looks better to me that way.

This has always been my dilemma- I am a hyper-perfectionist when it comes to balance, but it works in my favor in the end. It’s just that I am my own worst enemy during the design phase. I never seem to be able to accept the easy way. :-)

I could make the drawers out of maple, and use the narrow board to make panels for the two side cabinets, but I really don’t have the time to make three cabinets. I prefer one big armoir and have the drawers out of the smaller board.

00DA5992-6FF2-436F-9F44-A271BF2F916B.jpg

You appear to be very productive despite your perfectionism. Keep it up!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Well, this changes everything. I found a third piece that is a book match of the first. Hold on to your hats, because this is going to be an amazing piece. I will now do full-sized book-matched doors for this armoir, i.e. top to bottom with no exposed drawer. There will likely be internal drawers.FAF324AC-7943-4547-BDE5-9D9120E1D532.jpg