At a glance
Finished dimensions
Overall sizes
- Overall
- 32 × 16 × 34 in high
- Door opening
- 30-1/2 × 29-1/2 in
- Inside, each half
- Two 14-3/8 in high spaces above and below the shelf
Materials
| Item | Quantity | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 3/4 in plywood | One 4 × 8 ft sheet | Measure its real thickness before cutting dadoes |
| 1/4 in plywood or hardboard | One 4 × 8 ft sheet | Back and doors; measure the door stock for the grooves |
| Edge banding | About 15 ft | Front edges of the case |
| Wood glue, screws or nails for the back | — | — |
Cut list
| Part | Qty | Dimensions | Material |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side | 2 | 3/4 × 15-3/4 × 34 in | 3/4 in plywood |
| Top | 1 | 3/4 × 15-3/4 × 31-1/4 in | 3/4 in plywood; length for 3/4 in stock |
| Bottom | 1 | 3/4 × 15-3/4 × 31-1/4 in | 3/4 in plywood |
| Shelf | 1 | 3/4 × 14-1/2 × 31-1/4 in | 3/4 in plywood |
| Kick | 1 | 3/4 × 3 × 30-1/2 in | 3/4 in plywood |
| Back | 1 | 1/4 × 31-1/4 × 34 in | 1/4 in plywood |
| Door | 2 | 1/4 × 15-3/4 × 29-13/16 in | 1/4 in plywood or hardboard |
Tools
- Track saw or table saw
- Router or dado stack for grooves, dadoes and rabbets
- Drill with a 3/4 in bit for finger holes
- Clamps
The design
The case is two plywood sides with the top in rabbets and the bottom in dadoes 3 in up, all 3/8 in deep; a kick fills the space under the bottom, and a 1/4 in back sits in rabbets. A fixed shelf at mid-height, in stopped dadoes, is 14-1/2 in deep so its front edge stays 1-1/4 in behind the case front, clear of the doors. Two 1/4 in doors run in a pair of grooves, one door in each, and overlap by 1 in when closed.
The sliding-door arithmetic
- Opening height = 34 − 3/4 (top) − 3-3/4 (bottom and kick) = 29-1/2 in.
- Grooves: 3/8 in deep in the top's underside, 3/16 in deep in the bottom's top face, at the same positions — 1/2 to 3/4 in and 7/8 to 1-1/8 in from the front edge — and as wide as your door stock's measured thickness plus a light sliding clearance.
- Door height = opening + bottom groove depth + 1/8 in engagement at the top = 29-1/2 + 3/16 + 1/8 = 29-13/16 in. To fit a door, push it up into the deep top groove; its bottom edge then clears the bottom panel by 1/16 in (29-13/16 − 3/8 = 29-7/16 in, under the 29-1/2 in opening), and it drops into the bottom groove.
- Door width = (opening width + overlap) ÷ 2 = (30-1/2 + 1) ÷ 2 = 15-3/4 in.
Building it
Case, grooves and doors
Cut the case parts
Break down the sheet to the cut list, working the top, bottom and shelf lengths from your plywood's measured thickness as in the bookcase plan. See how to use plywood.
Cut the sides' joints
Rabbet each side's top end and back edge, cut the bottom dado with its top 3-3/4 in from the floor end, and cut the shelf's stopped dado 1-1/4 in short of the front edge.
Groove the top and bottom
With the router or saw set to the door stock's measured thickness, cut both grooves in the top's underside 3/8 in deep and in the bottom's top face 3/16 in deep, all running the full length.
Assemble the case
Edge-band the front edges, then glue the top, bottom and shelf between the sides, fit the kick set back 1/2 in, and fasten the back into its rabbets with the case square. See how to use wood glue.
Make and fit the doors
Cut the doors to 15-3/4 × 29-13/16 in, drill a 3/4 in finger hole near each door's outer edge, ease all edges, then lift each door into the top groove and drop it into the bottom groove. Wax the grooves if they drag.
Finish
Finish the case and doors before the final fit — applying a wood finish — keeping finish thin in the grooves.
Safety— What it is, and is not
This is a general storage cabinet, not a dresser. In the US, free-standing clothing storage units — dressers, chests of drawers, armoires — at least 27 in tall, 30 lb and 3.2 cubic feet in enclosed volume come under CPSC's mandatory stability standard (16 CFR part 1261), and BenchRoot gives no dresser plans. CPSC advises securing furniture against tipping; anchor this cabinet with hardware chosen for your wall. No load rating is claimed. Cutting follows woodworking safety rules.
Before cutting the grooves
- Door stock's thickness measured
- Top grooves 3/8 in deep, bottom grooves 3/16 in, at matching positions
- Shelf dado stopped 1-1/4 in from the front
- Door height worked from the real opening after assembly
All the furniture plans are listed in the coffee table plan.
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Sources
A BenchRoot design; every dimension is on the drawing and in the cut list as final sizes, with plywood at its nominal 3/4 in and doors at a nominal 1/4 in. Groove widths are cut to the measured door stock. The design uses no hinges or drawer slides, so no hardware maker's dimensions are assumed. The design was not built or tested for this page, and no load rating is claimed.
- 1.
Chapter 11: Wood-Based Composite Materials: Panel Products, Glued Laminated Timber, Structural Composite Lumber, and Wood–Nonwood Composites. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook, FPL-GTR-282, 2021.
Used for: Plywood's dimensional stability, which lets thin plywood doors run in fixed grooves and the case be glued up as panels.
- 2.
Clothing Storage Units (16 CFR part 1261) FAQ. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Free-standing clothing storage units — dressers, chests, armoires — at least 27 in tall, 30 lb and 3.2 cubic feet being subject to a mandatory stability standard (16 CFR part 1261), which is why this plan is not a dresser.
- 3.
AnchorIt.gov. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Securing furniture against tipping and keeping tempting items off its top.
About this project
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