A Wall Cabinet

The project

A small hanging wall cabinet - something like 24 inches tall, 16 wide, and 7 deep - is a classic capstone for a first hand-tool course. It uses nearly every skill in the course:

• Dovetailed case corners.
• A shelf in dadoes.
• A back in rabbets.
• A frame-and-panel door.
• Hinges, a catch, and a way to hang it safely.

Shaker and country cabinets of this kind are good models: simple, proportioned, with clean joinery and a single door ¹.

Design

Draw a full-size front and side view (see the Chairs course’s plan lessons for drawing method). Decide:

• Overall size and shelf spacing for what you’ll store.
• Wood: pine, cherry, or walnut. Case parts about 5/8 to 3/4 inch; door frame about 3/4 inch.
• Door: inset (fits within the case opening, more demanding) or overlay (covers the front).
• Top and bottom: flush with the sides, or a projecting top with a molding.

The case

1. Mill the sides, top, bottom, and shelf to thickness and width.
2. Dovetail the corners. For a hanging cabinet, put the tails on the sides and pins on the top and bottom, so the weight hanging from the top can’t pull the joints apart (see Dovetails).
3. Dado the sides for the shelf (see Dadoes, Rabbets, and Grooves).
4. Rabbet the back edges of the sides, top, and bottom for the back.
5. Glue up the case, checking diagonals for square.
6. Back: shiplapped or tongue-and-groove boards nailed into the rabbets. Each board can move a little, yet together they square and stiffen the case. Don’t glue a solid back all around.

The door

1. Make a frame-and-panel door (see Frame and Panel): stiles and rails joined with mortise and tenon, grooved for a floating panel ².
2. Size an inset door to the opening with a small, even gap (about 1/16 inch) all around; plane it to fit after assembly.
3. Finish the panel before assembly.

Hardware

• Hinges: butt hinges mortised into the case side and door stile with a chisel and router plane, or simple surface hinges. Lay out with a marking gauge set from the hinge leaf.
• Catch: a wooden turn button, a small brass catch, or a magnet.
• Knob: turned or carved, fixed with a through-tenon and wedge.

Hanging it

Use a French cleat: rip a strip at 45 degrees into two pieces. Screw one to the wall into studs with the bevel facing up and toward the wall, and fix the other to the cabinet back (or a hanging rail inside the top of the case) with the bevel facing down. Lift the cabinet onto it: its weight pulls the two bevels together. It’s strong, invisible, and lets you level and remove the cabinet easily.

Don’t hang a loaded cabinet from drywall anchors alone or from screws through a thin back panel.

Finish

Shellac or oil-varnish for hardwoods, milk paint for pine (see Finishing). Finish the inside too, more lightly, so both faces exchange moisture evenly.

What to take from this

A small hanging cabinet combines dovetailed corners (tails on the sides), a dadoed shelf, a back of shiplapped boards in rabbets, and a frame-and-panel door with a finished, floating panel. Mortise hinges with a chisel and router plane, fit an inset door with an even gap, and hang the cabinet on a French cleat screwed into studs.