Curved Front Large Cabinet

[themachine]

I wanted to make a cabinet that would be suited for either an entertainment center or maybe a sideboard in a dining or living room. And I wanted to stretch my skills and materials by attempting some different inlays, materials and joinery. This is the result. The frame is cherry, the door inserts and drawer fronts are maple, and the top is cork flooring. The side panels, which don't show well in this photograph (sorry all of the photos are mediocre quality) are cherry frames with a rippled plastic panel designed as a backsplash inserted like a traditional floating panel. The tiles are small bronze tiles I bought from a variety of merchants, and the gold inlay is special square wire set in a groove. The doors slide side to side and are held in grooves with plastic runners. All of the drawers have false fronts attached to drawers with modified dovetail sides (detail not shown). Also not shown is the engineered oak flooring used to make the drawer bottoms - try it sometime, they are very sturdy and well finished. Because there are so many details here, I will not explain everything so if anyone has a specific question fire away.

[Neal]

Very nice.

I like the detail in the drawers. Looks like you used a circle jig with a router on both sides for this. Very cool effect.

I like the inlayed cork top as well as the other inlay details.

[poolhound]

OMG that is just beautiful and what an interesting collection of techniques and materials.

After doing all this which iof the effects do you personally think got the best result and what would you not do again (if anything).

Also, if you are able I would be interested to see the draw detail you mentioned.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Beautiful - inspirational work, well done!

[atgcpaul]

Impressive. That's a lot of different, challenging design elements you have in there.

Is it just the top that is curved or are the drawers and doors curved, too?

I really like the diamond and gold inlay accent.

[Black wallnut]

Nicely done. I like all the artistic touches.

[jussi]

Nice. A while back I think I've saw that technique on the panels before in one of the woodworking mags but don't remember the particulars. What's the name again? Is it done with a router and an arc jig?

[themachine]

To answer a few questions: the door fronts were done with a router with a pegboard baseplate that rode on a pivot. It is from Fine Woodworking from 2013, but I modified it. I will add a picture if people want. It was very difficult to clean out the holes as there is no support for the router bit when doing the other side and you break through. I would probably stick to a single side from both directions the next time. And the whole front including doors is curved. I love the splashback but would choose a lighter color. Woodworkers should look to this source for door panels as the options are staggering. That may be the only thing I change, although I am also on the fence with the mosaic tiles. They are gorgeous but I am not sure about this application.

[Neal]

I would love to see the setup used to cut the radius pattern in the doors if you don't mind posting.

Thanks,

[themachine]

Cutting the radius grooves

I have attached three pictures showing the basic setup for the grooves. I attached a pegboard as a base for the router so now I have a series of spaced holes to establish a distance and cutting arcs (circles) of differing radii. You can obviously use this to cut entire circles if you don't mind a pin in the center of your workpiece. The next picture shows the blank insert placed in a frame to hold it in place. At the bottom of the frame is the pin that the router spins on. The last picture shows what it looks like after cutting in the frame. To get holes all the way through, flip the piece over, rotate 180 degrees and place back in the frame holder and route with the same holes in the pegboard over the pin. You can also rout twice on the same side by going over once, rotate the door panel 180 degrees and rout a set of complimentary grooves starting from the other end. You can get some gorgeous patterns this way. Try off-setting the pin from the center of the panel, for instance. Sanding these grooves is a pain so be forewarned.

[JR]

Great project!

Those door panels are really interesting, as are all the other design elements.

Well done.

[Pappy]

Wild door faces. I might maintain my sanity through one, but not 4 of them!