Drawer construction

[scgargoyle]

I'm hoping to 'pre-build' much of my kitchen cabinets for my new house in SC before I actually go up there to build it. The kitchen will have LOTS of drawers, and I'm wondering the best way to build them so they last. Our current kitchen has drawers built out of 1/2" oatmeal particleboard, and a couple of them have fallen apart (no glue; just staples!) I made the replacements out of 3/4" birch plywood I had laying around. I cut a 1/4" wide by 1/4" deep dado in the sides, and made corresponding tenons in the front and back. The 1/4" thick bottom was in a dado cut all around. Is this the best way to go? Is 3/4" overkill? I glued the sides, but let the bottom panel float- should it be glued? Thanks for any help- I hate stuff that doesn't last, especially if I build it! :D

[pigman]

I would think that a good cabinet grade 1/2 " plywood for the boxes would work fine. I would get a 12" dovetail jig and dovetail the front corners and dado the back corners.  Then put a false front of the wood of choice on the front .The 1/4 ply in a dado is fine for the bottoms.  The ply can be glued, but I usually don't. There are a lot of choices for the drawer slides.

[footer]

look into these. They are pretty easy and quick to build and durable. The metal side incorporates the slide as well. You just have to cut a bottom and back pannel, screw them on, and attatch your drawer front. The drawer front attatches to an adjustable bracket.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10067&cookietest=1

http://www.cabinetmart.com/slides-integra.html

http://www.blum.com/us/en/01/40/40/index.php

[scgargoyle]

Now THAT'S food for thought! I like the Blum system best; I'll have to see them in person. Seems like it would save a lot of time.

[Radar67]

I've used the Blum system in the past. It is really easy and produces a good, durable finished product. As Pigman said, 1/2 inch is fine for the sides, back, and front.

[logwalker]

I use 1/2" baltic birch plywood which is somewhere around 9 plys. I use a lock joint cutter in a router table to make a simple but strong connection on the front of the box. The same for the back. This cutter cuts both halves of the joint. One side goes vertical to the fence and the other goes flat to the table. Then just screw the face from the back. The plywood comes in 5'x5' sheets at around $22. It is good stuff to work with.

[IMERC]

1/2" Baltic Birch for the drawer carcases with 3/4? fronts make for just about bullet proof consrtuction as you'd ever need..
I like to dado the sides of the drawer for the bottom and fasten the drawer bottom to the bottom of the back piece..
I use the bottom to keep the drawer square...
if you think the drawers will get "loaded up" glue / brad a long strip of wood to the drawer sides under the drawer's bottom... in effect you are making the dado deeper...
what did you use for the drawer bottoms...

[footer]

Now THAT'S food for thought! I like the Blum system best; I'll have to see them in person. Seems like it would save a lot of time.

The Blum are tho only ones I have personally used also. Makes for a very quick durable and good looking drawer. Call around to some of your local cabinet builders and or home builders. They might have some you can see. I was introduced to these while working for a general contractor building custom homes. 

[logwalker]

I pulled the catalog for the router bit I use to make that joint. It is a grizzly bit.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drawer-Lock-Bit-1-2-Shank/C1330

[mike_van]

I built some pretty simple ones for our kitchen 20 years ago, they've had a workout, none have come apart yet. The one with the pans &  Corning dishes has to weigh 50 lbs.  1/2" red oak plywood, front, back & sides, corners are butt joints, wood glued & #6 resin coated box nails. Bottoms are 1/4" luan, just slid into a rabbet, no nails. The fronts are raised panel chestnut, 2 screws from the inside out holding them on. All the 1/2" edges that show, I glued 1/2" strips of chestnut to, just didn't want to see that plywood edge. Slides are KV,  the one on the trash bin's been replaced, others are all fine. 

[Engineer]

I'm building drawer boxes right now for my kitchen.  I bought 1/2" baltic birch, usually all you can find is 5x5 sheets but I found a supplier with 4x8 sheets - anyway, it's an 11-ply that machines almost as well as solid wood and has no voids.  I am dadoing 1/4" BB ply into the sides, 1/2" up from the bottom, and using a butt joint with pocket screws.  Drawers will have false fronts attached with washer head screws.  I can't imagine they'd fall apart.  I have a few drawers that will be close to 36" wide, 9" tall and 22" deep and on extra-heavy-duty slides, and they will have 1/2" plywood bottoms instead of the 1/4".   I used KV8400 series full extension slides.

I just didn't have the time for dovetails or any other fancy joint, but even the BB ply is attractive.

[low_48]

Considering the incredibly poor quality of plywood these days, I would consider nothing else than hardwood. I've seen plywood warp a ton, delaminate, have thickness variations, smashed plys from improper layup, bulges on the face veneer, lots of voids under the face veneer, and have way to DanG much formaldehyde in the glue. I had some plywood in the van that made my eyes burn. I sure wouldn't want that in my kitchen. Is this going to be a short term house or plan on moving soon, then  maybe. For the best job, 5/8 soft maple or poplar, with half-blind or through dovetails. No need shorting the quality in the most used parts of the cabinets. If I had my way, there would be no doors at all on the base cabinets. It would be all drawers. I'm getting too old to get on my hands and knees to get stuff off the lower shelves. I have a couple of 10" deep drawers in one cabinet that are used more than any other in the kitchen. I use the Porter-Cable Omnijig and the Keller. The Omnijig is faster, the Keller more accurate.

[logwalker]

 
Well Low___48, I don't know who is suppling your plywood but I have had very good experience using Baltic Birch from my local lumber yard.

With sharp tooling I get great results. If I had to glue up boards to make these boxes it would cost me 2.5 times as much to produce and I don't believe the results would be worth it. The drawers in these pics are about 30" long by 25" wide by 14" deep. They will carry at least 100 lbs. There are a total of 24 in the kitchen I made for my wife. She is happy ;D


My goal is the best product at a reasonable cost with results I can be proud of. It works for me. ;)