Triangle corner pieces should be added to all four corners of the base cabinet assembly in order to have a plate to provide a screw fixing for the countertop as shown in Figure 12a. Screws are fastened through the bottom of the triangle and up and into the countertop.
Figure 12a - Adding triangular support, screw plate pieces in corners of base cabinet
Drawers:
The next step is to build the drawers, if your base cabinet has any.
The easiest way to construct a drawer is to build a box as the body and add a 1/4″ plywood bottom (use finishing nails and glue on all joints) and on the plywood base, as shown in Figure 13. You can, however build the door front as an integral part of the drawer body.
Figure 13 - Cabinet drawer assembly
- The height of the drawer is based on your drawing. When building the frame deduct a 1/4″ for the thickness of the plywood for the bottom of the drawer and a 1/2″ separation between drawers for a total deduction of 3/4″
- The depth of the drawer. The drawer can be any depth you desire. As a maximum depth you should be about 1″ shorter than the depth of the cabinet including the front frame.
- The width of the drawer is based on your drawing. When determining the width you must allow for drawer slides, if you are going to use them.
Attach the drawer front to the box using wood screws, screwed from the inside of the drawer. The drawer front hides the edge of the plywood base, as shown in Figure 14.
Figure 14 - Attaching drawer front to cabinet drawers
You can of course make the drawer box using advanced joinery techniques such as dados, rabbets and dovetails. If you don't understand those terms, so not concern yourself, build a basic box as described. For those who do understand the terms, you should know how to best utilize them in box construction.
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