Kitchen Base Cabinet: Single Drawer with Double Doors by Cabinets from Scratch Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 1
Disclaimer Our Home from Scratch LLC and its legal owners cannot be held responsible for any loss, damage, disappointment, injury or death resulting from following the procedures or techniques described in these plans. Our Home from Scratch LLC and its legal owners assume no risk and cannot be held responsible for any misuse of these plans either directly or indirectly. They make no statements as to the weight or strength capacity of the item described in these plans. These plans may contain errors and Our Home from Scratch LLC and its legal owners cannot be held responsible for any error. No guarantee is made as to the quality of any product that is described herein. Always use appropriate Personal Protection Equipment when working with tools and exercise caution if taking any action associated with these plans. Attempt at your own risk. Some woodworking skills are required. Sorry if that s a bummer. This procedure contains affiliate links. Distribution Policy By downloading these plans you consent to this distribution policy. These plans are not to be distributed in anyway without the express consent of Our Home from Scratch LLC or its legal owners. The individual pictures or procedures contained herein are also not to be copied or shared. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 2
Introduction These plans for a base kitchen cabinet are nearly identical to the kitchen cabinets I built from scratch in my first home in Philadelphia. They design has been updated to include better joinery methods and the doors and drawers are overlay instead of inset, which makes the project easier for entry level woodworkers. The cabinet box is made from 3/4 thick plywood and includes a 3/4" thick back board. While this thicker back board makes the cabinet heavier and slightly more expensive, it also adds strength, rigidity and reduces the different types of plywood you ll need to purchase and manage. It s the same approach I took in my kitchen cabinets. Feel free to add additional fasteners to this project if the sides of the cabinet will be between other cabinets or walls. The drawers are made from solid maple hardwood and birch plywood and I recommend you stick with that material since it s more attractive and it will hold up much better over time compared to pine or other softwoods. If you get stuck on any particular part of these woodworking plans, feel free to email me at John@ourhomefromscratch.com with any questions. For full cabinet building training, visit for more information on our comprehensive video training course. I hope you enjoy the challenge of building this project. R, John Gerard Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 3
Getting Started These woodworking plans will take you step by step through the build of a kitchen base cabinet with a single drawer and two doors. The first thing you should do is read through these procedures to familiarize yourself with the materials, tools and skill requirements necessary to complete them. Tools The tools and miscellaneous supplies I used for this project include the following: 1. Table Saw with 60 tooth saw blade 2. Miter Saw (also with 60 tooth saw blade) 3. Pneumatic Brad Nail Gun with Pancake Compressor 4. Pocket Screws 5. Dado Blade Set 6. Cordless Drill 7. Wood Glue 8. 3/4" Long Brad Nails 9. K-Body Clamps Dimensions This cabinet is designed to the following dimensions: 1. Width: 36 2. Height: 34 ½ 3. Depth: 24 This version of the cabinet has ¾ overlay doors and drawers. Feel free to modify the plans to meet your needs. A customizable version of these plans in MS Excel are available to Cabinets from Scratch subscribers. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 4
Material: Listed below in Table 1 is a list of all the lumber you ll need to build one cabinet. All of this lumber should be available at your local large hardware store (Lowe s, Home Depot, True Value, etc.), except for the maple. Half-inch thick hardwood maple boards can be purchased from your local lumberyard or ordered online. Many lumberyards will also plane down a ¾ thick maple board to ½ thick upon request and possibly for a small fee. If you can t find ½ thick maple, feel free to substitute it with ½ thick oak, which is more readily stocked at large home improvement stores. Avoid softwoods like pine for this project. TABLE 1: LUMBER PURCHASE LIST Item Description Width Length (in) Qty 1 3/4" Thick Birch or Oak Plywood 48 96 1 2 3/4" Thick Birch or Oak Plywood 24 48 1 3 3/4 Thick Poplar or Oak Hardwood 2 ½ 96 4 4 3/4" Thick Poplar or Oak Hardwood 7 ½ 36 1 5 1/2" Thick Birch or Oak Plywood 24 48 1 6 1/2 Thick Maple Hardwood 4 ½ 96 1 7 1/4" Thick Birch Plywood 48 48 1 Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 5
Hardware: You ll also need to purchase the following material to complete your cabinet build. The drawer parts were sized to accept a Blum drawer runner. If you decide to purchase a different drawer runner, you might need to resize the drawer parts. Blum components are not cheap, but they work really well. There are less expensive options available, but again, you ll probably have to resize the drawer box to match different drawer runner hardware. 1. Blum Drawer Runner without Blumotion. PN: 562H5330C 2. Blum Locking Device Right Side: PN: T51.1801R 3. Blum Locking Device Left Side: PN: T51.1801L 4. Drawer Shelf Pins 5. Door and Drawer Pulls (you pick) 6. 3/4" Overlay Hinges Preparation: To begin this project, you ll need to take your purchased lumber and cut out all of the parts listed in Table 2. Plywood parts should be cut to their final size using a combination of a table saw and a circular saw. Refer to the plywood cut sheets at the end of these plans Hardwood components however, should be cut to their final lengths, but not their final widths. All hardwood boards should be cut slightly wider than their final width on the table saw then brought down to their final width using a jointer or thickness planer. If you skip this process and simply cut your hardwood boards down to their final widths using the table saw you ll end up with boards that have a very rough-cut and uneven edge. It won t look as clean or professional. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 6
TABLE 2: CABINET PARTS LIST Hardwood Cabinet Parts Item Name Length (in.) Width (in.) Thk (in.) Qty. Material 1 Stiles 31 2 3/4 2 Oak or Poplar 2 Top Rail 32 2 3/4 1 Oak or Poplar 3 Mid-Rail 32 2 3/4 1 Oak or Poplar 4 Bottom Rail 32 2 3/4 1 Oak or Poplar 5 Vertical Divider 20 2 3/4 1 Oak or Poplar 6 Drawer Front 33-1/2 6-1/2 3/4 1 Oak or Poplar 7 Shelf Front 33-3/4 1 3/4 1 Oak or Poplar Hardwood Door Parts Item Name Length (in.) Width (in.) Thk (in.) Qty. Material 8 Door Stiles 21-1/2 2 3/4 4 Oak or Poplar 9 Door Rails 14 2 3/4 4 Oak or Poplar Cabinet Plywood Parts Item Name Length (in.) Width (in.) Thk (in.) Qty. Material 10 Sides 34-1/2 23-1/2 3/4 2 Matching Ply 11 Bottom 34-3/4 22-5/8 3/4 1 Matching Ply 12 Back 34-1/2 34-3/4 3/4 1 Matching Ply 13 Shelf 33-3/4 12 3/4 1 Matching Ply Hardwood Drawer Parts Item Name Length (in.) Width (in.) Thk (in.) Qty. Material 14 Sides 21 4-1/4 1/2 2 Maple 15 Front 30-9/16 4-1/4 1/2 1 Maple 16 Back 30-9/16 4-1/4 1/2 1 Maple 17 Sides 21 4-1/4 1/2 2 Maple Plywood Door Parts Item Name Length (in.) Width (in.) Thk (in.) Qty. Material 18 Door Panel 18 13 1/2 2 Matching Ply Plywood Drawer Parts Item Name Length (in.) Width (in.) Thk (in.) Qty. Material 19 Bottom 30-9/16 20-1/4 1/4 1 Birch Ply Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 7
Machining: With all of your lumber cut to their final dimensions, we can begin machining the lumber to add grooves and pocket screw holes, which will allow us to assemble the cabinet. Face Frame Let s start with the face frame. Lay out all of your face frame boards down on a workbench. Evaluate each board to determine which side looks best. Using a pencil, lightly mark the better side so you know what side is which. Flip all of the boards over. Drill two pocket screw holes on both ends of the backsides of the Top Rail, the Middle Rail and the Bottom Rail. Drill one pock screw hole on the ends of the back of the Vertical Divider. The stiles then get a ¼ deep by ¾ wide groove down the length of the back. These grooves will allow the cabinet box to recess and attach to the face frame during assembly. This groove needs to be located ¼ in from the outside edge of the stiles. Figure 1 illustrates what the back of the face frame will look like once assembled. You don t need to assemble it at this point. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 8
Doors Figure 1: Face Frame Back with Pocket Screw Holes and Stile Grooves Moving onto the doors, you ll need to expose a ¾ long tongue (or tenon) at the ends of each door rail. For a clear instruction on how to accomplish this using a table saw, watch this YouTube video from my channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtwrxyhvhfg Once the tongues are exposed on the door rails, you can cut a ¼ wide by ¼ deep groove down the middle of each door part. Next, raise the table saw blade to ¾ high and make a 2-1/2 long groove on the ends of the door stiles. This will allow the tongues on the rails to plug into the stiles. Test for fit. For another example of this technique, you can watch this YouTube video from my channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vywnpv8dgx0 At this point, you can cut a ¼ deep by ¼ wide rabbit all along the edge of the door center panels. You should be able to assemble doors dry without any glue to test its fit up. Make adjustments where necessary. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 9
Drawers The drawer front is easy. Once it s cut to its final dimensions, it s complete. For the drawer box, you ll need to do a little machining. Add ¼ deep by ¼ wide groove down the length of all four hardwood drawer parts. The bottom edge of the groove should allow a ½ of remaining material. See Figure 2 for guidance. This groove will support the drawer bottom once assembled. Figure 2: Groove in the Drawer Box Sides, Front and Back Next we ll need to add notches to both ends of the front and back drawer box parts. These notches are for the side drawer box boards to sit in. See Figure 3 for guidance. The notches can be made on the table saw. You should dry fit the drawer parts together to make sure they fit well. Make adjustments as necessary. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 10
Figure 3: Notches for Drawer Box Front and Back Boards Plywood Boxes Machining the plywood boxes will require adding 3/4 grooves in a few places but first we ll start with the toe kicks. Using a pencil, mark 3-1/2 in from the bottom and 3-1/2 from the front corner of one of the sides. This box will be for the toe kick and can be removed using a circular saw and a handsaw. Repeat this on the other side board. Next, you ll need to add a 3/4 wide by 3/8 deep groove 4-1/4 up from the bottom of one of the sides. A second groove will go down the length of the side board 1/4 in from the back. These grooves should be located on the inside facing surface. Repeat these grooves on the other side board, but make them mirror image to the first. By that I mean you need to have a left and a right box side and not two lefts or two rights. See Figure 4 for guidance on where to locate the grooves. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 11
Figure 4: Box Side Board Left Side The back board will need one 3/4" wide by 3/8 deep groove 4-1/4 up from the bottom edge. See Figure 5 for that image. The bottom board won t need any modifications. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 12
Figure 5: Back Board Assembly: Using wood glue and 1-1/4 long pocket screws, assemble the face frame as per Figure 1. Make sure the Vertical Divider is located at the midpoint of the frame. For the box assembly, dry fit the box components together first before gluing the assembly together. The sides can be stood upright, while the back is inserted into the grooves in each side. You can then insert the bottom board into the grooves in the sides. The bottom board should fully seat into the groove in the back board and will be 1/4" recessed from the front edges of the sides. Use clamps to help you keep the assembly together during dry fit. If everything fits together well without glue, you can disassemble it and glue it together. Liberally apply a bead of wood glue into each groove before you reassemble. You can shoot in a 3/4" long brad nail at an angle into the joints to Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 13
keep the assembly together while you are clamping it up. Make sure to clamp the assembly in multiple spots as you go. At this point, you can also glue the face frame to the box assembly and clamp both units together by applying a liberal bead of glue in the face fame groove. Check to ensure the top of the face frame and the top of the box assembly are flush. It might help to position the cabinet upside down on a workbench to ensure they remain flush. Measure the cabinet from diagonal to diagonal at the top of the cabinet to verify the cabinet is square. If it s out of square, use a long clamp over the longer corners and tighten it down until it comes into square. Keep the cabinet clamped together overnight to make sure the glue cures properly. Dry fit and assemble the drawer box in a similar manner. When gluing together, you don t need to put glue in the 1/4 groove for the drawer bottom. The glue should only be applied to where the sides meet the front and back boards. You ll also need to use a couple brad nails at each joint to keep it together. A dovetail joint would be best here, but that s a more advanced technique that requires more equipment and training. Instead, these brad nails and glue should hold up fine under average use. The doors will go together similarly. Only apply glue to the tongues. You don t need to glue the center panel in, but you can if you want to since it s plywood. Make sure the stiles ends are flush to the rails and clamp together overnight. Once the cabinet has been completely glued up, you can install the drawer runners to the cabinet and the runner hardware to the drawer boxes. If you re using Blum Tandem runners, follow the instructions posted here: https://www.blum.com/us/en/01/30/10/ - ASSEMBLY0. You ll need to add blocking to the inside of the cabinet box near the drawer space to bring the surface flush with the edges of the face frame. The drawer runners can then be screwed into that blocking. More detailed instructions can be found at the Blum link above. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 14
The shelf front board can be attached to the plywood shelf board using glue and brad nails. For the door hinges, it s best to simply follow the manufacturer s instructions provided with the hinges you purchase as they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The doors should be installed temporarily to ensure fit and functionality then removed for finishing. The drawer front should be attached to the drawer box temporarily using a clamp to hold it in place. Once it s positioned correctly, two screws from inside the cabinet box can be driven into the drawer front. After installation, remove the drawer front for finishing. Finishing: Before painting or staining, sand every surface lightly using 120-grit sandpaper. Sand every surface again using 220-grit sandpaper and then wipe clean with a clean rag. You can use a tack cloth and a rag with denatured alcohol as well. If you want to paint your cabinet, you should apply two coats of a primer followed by two coats of your finish paint. It s best to spray both applications using an HVLP gun. You can use a shellac-based primer like BIN and a satin lacquer for the final coat. If spraying your paint is not an option, you can use a brush to apply your paint. Read more here about best practices and products for painting cabinets: http://www.ourhomefromscratch.com/2014/09/cabinet-painting-101/ If you plan to stain your cabinet, apply a pre-stain conditioner first to avoid blotches. Follow that with your stain and then either a clear coat lacquer as a topcoat or satin polyurethane. You should generally avoid anything glossier than satin or eggshell. Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 15
For your drawer boxes, don t paint or stain them. You can apply a few thin coats of polyurethane to make sure they don t stain from use. After the finishing process is complete, you can re-assemble your cabinet permanently by re-installing the doors and the drawer front. Resources That s it. If you find any errors, have any suggestions for improvement or any questions, drop me a line at John@ourhomefromscratch.com Thanks and good luck!! Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 16
4x8 Plywood Panel Cutsheet Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 17
2x4 Plywood Panel Cutsheet Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 18
1/2 Thick Door Panel Plywood Cutsheet Our Home from Scratch LLC Page 19