Finally finished the left side cabinet/bookcase (there's a right side that was done earlier this year). The cabinets flank the fireplace in the living room. Not sure if I like the glass doors yet, but DW does - she says they look very 'Craftsmen' like. I might want to "frost" the glass (??). Everything was painted white to match the existing fireplace/mantel. Carpet was cut away to install the cabinets - next project is to lay hardwood floor over the Christmas holidays.
Cabinet/Bookcase
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I like it! I really like the glass too. Of course it depends on what goes behind it that makes the difference. Books look good, crap looks bad.Comment
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Looks good, those glass doors really work well. As shep pointed out, crap looks bad, but they also help from not having a cabinet full of crap.
Hide it in the drawers.ErikComment
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Nicely done, Nick! Thank you for sharing the pictures!Chris
"The first key to wisdom is constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth." -Pierre Abelard 11th Century philosopher.Comment
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OK, you asked for the construction details...here are more than you probably wanted!!
The cabinet part is basically a box. The carcass is 3/4" Birch plywood glued and pinned. The face frame, and door frame are 1 X 6" poplar, ripped to appropriate width (one 1 x 6 yields two lengths of frame stock with only a little waste).
The drawers use full extension slides. I made the drawer fronts out of the 3/4" plywood. Could have used edge glued solid wood, which would have probably looked nicer and taken a cleaner routed edge, but there was plenty of plywood available. The shelves are also made of 3/4" stock. I first tried using 1/2" plywood, but it started sagging, so I changed to 3/4" stock - (should have known better
The door glass is tempered 1/4" clear glass. I was afraid being at floor level, regular 1/8" glass would not take kindly to being bumped by a vacuum cleaner. I am going to 'frost' the glass though- I don't care for the way the horizontal cabinet shelves show through, and visually clash with the 'dividers'. I copied the horizontal and vertical dividers idea from another project. Dividers are 1/4" thick, with a half lap dado where they meet in the middle. Pieces are glued in place. The whole thing is a little fragile during the construction process, but once in place in front of the glass, it's adequate. Door frames were made with conventional stile and rail construction.
The bookcase consists of two vertical pieces of the same plywood. The shelves are again 3/4", with the bottom shelf being fixed in place with dados in the vertical sides. The top two shelves are adjustable, using metal shelf pins and holes drilled into the vertical sides. I trimmed out the top of the bookcase with crown molding.
Primed everything with Kilz, then applied two coats of white semi-gloss.
Now I need to find another project to keep myself busy!!
NickComment
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Looks good. My family room has similar cabinets but with solid doors. On the right is the sterio stuff. On the left is magazines and other "crap". I also put black marble tile on the counter tops to match the fireplace surround.
JimComment
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That's nice looking. I think the glass goes well either frosted or left alone.
EdDo you know about kickback? Ray has a good writeup here... https://www.sawdustzone.org/articles...mare-explained
For a kickback demonstration video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910584...demonstration/Comment
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NICE! That really accents the fireplace.Larry R. Rogers
The Samurai Wood Butcher
http://splash54.multiply.com
http://community.webshots.com/user/splash54Comment
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Very cool Nick, thanks for the details on construction. I have to agree with the muntins clashing with the interior dividers, but you have to remember you are looking at it with builders eyes, once you throw your stuff in there it wont be as noticeable!I think in straight lines, but dream in curvesComment
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Nice job - quick tip on taking photos of your work - the lighting there is mainly natural light coming from the left side, and it is casting a lot of little shadows. If you put a simple workshop halogen light coming from the right side, sort of under your right hand, you would wipe them out and make some of the detail a lot clearer.Comment
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I was searching the forum for some ideas to a cabinet / bookcase I'm working on and found this thread. What a great looking bookcase you got there.
What I'm trying to figure out is how I can attach the bookcase to the top. How did you do this?
JesperComment
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All you really need is to fix the bottom edge of the sides to the countertop. You could just insert 6d or 8d finish nails in the countertop (perpendicular), and cut off the heads on an angle, and then drop down the cabinet on top of the protruding nails.
The cabinet top can be made loose, and the cabinet screwed to the top, and installed that way. Both the base cabinet and wall cabinet should be installed to the wall if possible.
Or if backs are installed they could be left long and screwed to the back edge of the countertop. The back should be rabbeted into the ends and top of the cabinet, and it can line up with the back edge of the countertop.
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I like the molding at the top. You can secure the cabinet to the wall at the top where you won't be able to see the brackets. You could also put some brackets in the back of the lower shelves to secure it to the wall. I would probably do the same with the lower cabinet. You can put brackets inside the cabinets where you won't be able to see them. As long as you attach the cabinets to the wall, I don't think you need to attach them to each other. I like the glass doors although I would probably go with frosted. If you do have some nice glass pieces that you want to show off, you could put lights inside the cabinets to illuminate the glass pieces you put in there.Trent - Looking for a NYC electrician for a remodel.Comment
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