Now that my bench is roughed in, and the Ikea countertop is in place, I thought it would be a good time to cut and assemble a cabinet with a pull out drawer on one of the sides. The idea is rudimentary, I wanted to build a simple kitchen cabinet and instead of it having shelves, since it’s in the corner I thought it should have one large pull-out drawer with shelves for tons of stroage. How hard can it be? I’ve watched the DIY shows on HGTV, D.I.Y. network, and This Old House, and those guys can knock a basic box out in no time.
I'm not much of a sketcher - this is the rough drawing of the overall size of the box I was going to build for the left of my workbench
As always, the first step was to sketch a basic design.  While I am an artist, I can’t draw worth beans, so don’t laugh when you see my sketch.  All I wanted was a way to remember the basic sizes, and dimensions.  I also knew I wanted the  sides , top, and bottom were to be dadoed, glued, and screwed for strength, and I wanted a little toe kick in front for style and comfort.
There are a few standard dimensions I wanted to follow – The top of the cabinet box needed to be the same height as the countertop, which is 36 1/2 inches heigh (this is a bit taller than standard because I’m over 6 feet tall). Â And the other dimension was a 24 inch depth (the standard in the industry). Â All in all this was going to be a simple plywood box, the kind that is the basis for most cabinet deign in the world.
It ended up that I decided to make the box a bit deeper, too.  As I began to actually look at the space, I thought the area above this would be a great place to have some additional shelf storage.  Maybe a charger station  for the cordless tools I would one someday acquire, a couple of shelves for paperwork and books, and some additional power outlets  - but more on all that in another post.
Tools needed:
- Measuring Kit
- Table Saw
- Circular Saw/Jig Saw
- Dado Blade
- Drill/Driver
- Countersink bit
- Glue
The first step was to get some birch plywood.  This is where I encountered my biggest problem.  We have a 2000 Honda Civic that we share.  Since I work from home, there really isn’t a need for us to have 2 cars.  And it’s a 2-door for fuel economy, as well.  There is no way a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of 3/4 cabinet grade ply is gonna fit in the trunk.  And I’m not one of those guys who ties stuff to the roof, either.  Thankfully the guys at Fine Lumber and Plywood will rough cut a sheet in the dimensions I request (I like to buy local when I can).  They won’t cut the wood to exact size of my project, but they can slice a sheet into  two 3×4 and 1 2×4 piece.  This makes the pieces fit perfectly into my trunk when the seats are folded down.
Before I fired up the table saw, Ibegan to layout my cut marks with a pencil directly on the insides of the panels. Â I dimensioned the left and right sides, the top and bottom, and the back panel. Â Then I added the lines for the dado cuts, as well as the 4×3.5 inch cutout for the toe kick on the two sides. Â This took about 30 minutes, and I highly recommend doing this step for accuracy. Â It really helps to see where the cuts are, and how the pieces will fit togehter.
I find it very helpful to draw layout lines directly on the wood. This shows the piece I'm going to cut out for the Toe Kick, as well as a Dado for the Bottom of the cabinet.
Then it was time for the first cuts. Â I headed over to my old table saw, and carefully measured the distances between the inside of the blade and the fence for the cuts. Â Since the pieces of plywood were already cut into a manageable size, I didn’t need an assistant to help. Â But using a table saw is dangerous. Â I always wear safety glasses, and am sure to not raise the blade too high, either. Â In addition, I always keep the work area around the saw clear of obstructions. Â After 10 minutes of cutting, I had the exact size pieces for the basic box.
Stay tuned for step 2, tomorrow which will include the dado cuts, as well as the toe kick cut out procedure.
