Build Your Own Cabinets Plans

Build Your Own Cabinets Plans – Learn how to build a wall cabinet for your kitchen, bathroom or laundry room with easy frameless construction! Save money with DIY wardrobes that fit your space!

Kitchen remodeling with custom cabinets is expensive! But you can save yourself a lot of money by making them yourself.

Build Your Own Cabinets Plans

Making your own wardrobes is easier than you think! The construction method is similar to building a drawer, only bigger.

How To Build A Custom Diy Built In Cabinet

I will show you how to build a DIY wall cabinet using plywood to create the perfect storage solution for your home! Then learn how to install a wall closet by yourself in this tutorial!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Purchases made through these links may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Please visit my disclosure page for more information.

Every space is different, so it’s important to take good measurements and make a quick plan before you start building wardrobes. Here are some standard dimensions to consider:

In my kitchen, I made three base cabinets to run along one wall and designed the wall cabinets to be the same width. There is a 30-inch cabinet on either side that is custom-sized in the middle to fit the space. The height of the wall cabinets is 34 inches, which leaves two inches of space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling for decoration.

Tall Cupboard Free Plans

The wall cabinet consists of two sides, top and bottom, shelf and back. If the back is made of ¼-inch thin material, there are also two wood strips on the back to attach the cabinet securely to the wall. Check out my cabinet post for more details and diagrams.

If you are not painting the inside of your cabinets, you should consider the direction of the wood grain when cutting. The grain should run vertically on the side and back pieces and horizontally for the top, bottom and shelves.

I use ¾” prefab birch plywood for my kitchen cabinets, so I cut two sheets into more manageable sections in the wood yard. One sheet will be next to the cabinet and cut into 36″ x 48″ pieces. The other sheet is for the top, bottom, and shelves and is cut into 30″ x 48″ sections.

I then sawed off 1 inch of the cut edges with a hacksaw to clean them up and get the final length for all the pieces.

Diy Closet Cabinet With Adjustable Shelves, Shoe Rack, And Hanger Rod

Now I can lay the railing on my table saw and cut all the sides, top, bottom and shelves to the same width. You can also use a saw with parallel guides or a circular saw with an edge guide to make these repeating cuts.

Be sure to label your pieces as you go so they don’t get mixed up! I use painter’s tape so I don’t have to sand the marks later. Save the remaining pieces that are at least 3 inches wide for the nail strips.

There are different ways to install the back panel on the cabinet. You can just staple the back, but the nail strips will be visible inside the cabinet. I prefer to cut a groove all the way around to slide it behind, then hide the nail strips behind it.

You can cut this groove on a table saw, with a router, or with a circular or track saw (using an edge guide). I like to use a single blade instead of a dado stack, as this groove only requires two passes of the saw to get the right fit.

How To Build Flat Panel Cabinet Doors With Your Table Saw

First, adjust the height of the blade so that it cuts at least one third of the wood. I set ¼” to make the math easier, but I probably should have made it closer to ⅜” so the back wouldn’t pop out so easily.

Then mark the distance from the blade to the fence with a piece of the same plywood you plan to use for the nail strips.

Use a piece of plywood to cut the first groove, then set it aside. Cut all sides, top and bottom in one setting.

Now move the fence slightly to the right to open the groove. Run the test piece through the saw and check if the ¼-inch plywood fits.

Diy Kitchen Cabinet Ideas

Before you move the fence, there is one more cut to make. The shelves were already cut to size for the top and bottom, but now the back panel is on the way.

You can use this same table saw setup to trim the back of the shelf so it’s perfectly flush with the front of the cabinet! Just raise the blade to cut the entire length of the plywood and run all the shelves through the saw.

If you find that your cuts aren’t coming out as clean as you’d like, you may need to clean the saw blade! After many cuts of plywood, the glue between the layers can build up on the teeth, causing irritation and tearing. It’s faster and cheaper than buying a new blade!

Now that you know how deep your groove is, you can cut the plywood to fit. The size of the opening should be plus the depth of the grooves on the four sides. I usually make mine a little smaller in both directions so it slides in smoothly when assembling.

Face Frame Cabinet Plans And Building Tips

These are frameless wall cabinets, so the plywood edge needs to be covered so you don’t see the layers. I have a whole tutorial on how to apply edging, so I’ll just cover the basics here.

If you are not painting your cabinets, you should choose an edge band that matches the plywood. Since I am making these wall cabinets out of pre-made birch plywood, I used pre-made birch edging strip.

Apply the edge tape to the opposite edge of the groove you just cut. Just iron it, then trim the extra hem with a trimmer.

I also applied edging to the side pieces because when you sit at the dining table you can see the underside of the upper cabinets.

Diy Cabinet Making

Now drill the shelf pin holes instead of after assembling the cabinet. There are so many different rack pins that you can easily get the proper spacing with just a drill.

But I’ve found that the drill can make an uneven hole, so I set up a router instead. I build a lot of cabinets so it was worth the investment! I will go into more detail about this process in a separate tutorial soon.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to drill the entire length of the side pieces. You are not going to put a shelf an inch above the bottom! Drill the first hole in the middle, then 5-7 holes in each direction from the point.

If you have a pocket hole punch, you can use it to punch pocket holes along both ends of the top and bottom pieces. Make sure these holes are on the opposite side of the slot!

Brooder Box Plans: Build Your Own Brooder Cabinet

I wanted to avoid pocket holes in the bottom of the cabinet because you can see them when you sit at the nearby dining table. I plan to cover the sides with an end panel anyway, so I decided to just drill the counter sink holes.

Place the bottom part between the two sides so that the edge strip is facing up. Use clamps to hold the pieces together. Measure and mark ⅜” from top and bottom on both sides.

Use a countersink drill to pre-drill the holes and create a recessed area for the screw head at each of your marks. I really like this one because it makes clean holes at a consistent depth. If you are not familiar with this technique, I have a full tutorial on how to countersink screws.

After all the preparation work, assembling the wall cabinet is an easy task! Apply wood glue to both ends of the bottom piece. Fold the sides down and check the square. Then screw them together with self-tapping screws or 2-inch wood screws from the pre-drilled holes.

Learn How To Build A Cabinet With These Free Plans

Don’t worry about filling the screw holes. They are hidden between cabinets or along the wall or covered with end panels.

Apply wood glue to both ends of the top piece and place the back in the groove. Align the top with the top of the sides and screw it into place.

Check if your wall cabinet is square by measuring diagonally in both directions. This little tool helps keep the tape measure in the corner. If the dimensions are the same, it is a square! If it doesn’t, press the opposite corners of the longer measurement with a clamp to flatten it.

Remember

How To Build Cabinets: Complete Step By Step With Videos

Build your own kitchen cabinets, build your own cabinets, how to build your own cabinets, build your own gazebo plans, build your own home plans, build your own kitchen cabinets free plans, build your own custom cabinets, build your own kitchen cabinets plans, build your own mailbox plans, build your own greenhouse plans, build your own garage cabinets, build your own house plans