Cabinet/Shelf Projects

I wanted to make records and Compact Discs, stored in boxes, more accessible for occasional play, so I devised the idea of building a cabinet. The initial purpose of this cabinet was for records. It was designed to be a highly modular unit that could be disassembled, with the shelves transforming into storage boxes. The project started with the records. Each of the nine lower cubes is an individual record box with handles. It's hard to tell in this picture, but four boxes are made of maple plywood, and five boxes are stained oak veneer plywood. Each set of three boxes rests on a notched rail system to keep them stable.

This cabinet is similar to CD cabinets. It was built several years before the record cabinets when Blu-rays were still relatively popular. These days, it's rare to pull out a disc, as streaming is so easy. The cabinet is secured to the wall using a long wooden French cleat, allowing for easy removal.

Each of the headboard's two posts was made from 1x4 oak boards. A pair of 1x4 pine boards were affixed to the two posts. The headboard is secured to the cross boards using a simple wooden French cleat, allowing for easy disassembly of the entire headboard if necessary.

Although this isn't a cabinet, I wanted to include it somewhere, so here it is on the cabinet page. This image features a headboard made of oak and maple, flanked by two posts. The side posts are made of four 1x4 pieces glued together to form two square posts. These posts are connected with two 1x4s, with the lower one linking to the bed frame. The headboard is suspended from the upper 1x4 by a French cleat, allowing for easy removal.

One might assume that storing around a dozen pairs of shoes would be enough, but it seems we never have quite enough room.

The shelves are connected to the end pieces using a tongue-and-groove joint cut at a 15-degree angle. The end pieces are constructed from laminated quarter-inch-thick hobby board.

This view highlights some of the construction details. The legs are composed of 3 layers of wood (Poplar-Oak-Poplar) to add some uniqueness. There are three shelves under the tabletop. Each shelf is composed of 14 pieces of wood to form a gapped wood and open shelf. The bottom shelf is made of Poplar, and the other two are red oak.

The CD cases rest atop the record boxes, secured once again by grooves and gravity. The lower two-shelf cases are made of pine with a thin center shelf. The ugly handles allow for easy transport.

Initially, two sets of two shelves were not enough to hold our CD collection. So, a third layer of two more pine CD cases with a natural finish was added on top. This time, the handles are glued to the ends of the boxes. Finally, several shelves were added in front of the CD cases to hold the CDs currently being played.

This cabinet bookshelf is a simple oak plywood cabinet. It was custom-made to accommodate the subwoofer (see the bottom left of the photo). There are shelves for storing items and an angled candy shelf on top. Notice that, once again, there are only straight lines.

This photo of the headboard panel illustrates its basic design, featuring a picture frame-like pattern constructed with biscuit joints. The aim was to design a medium oak center framed by contrasting maple and further bordered by oak pieces. Additionally, vertical maple slats on each end of the headboard enhance the contrast. The pattern could have been more effective if the oak pieces had been color-matched, as the lighter oak sections reduce the contrast with the maple.

We used to have snow and/or mud-covered shoes just lying around the mudroom. To avoid tripping over them, a shoe rack was a good solution. This rack was put together using half-inch-thick dimensional oak lumber. The shelves are half-inch-wide strips of wood glued to the spacers and then framed. The only barely fancy bit is that the shelves are attached to the stand at a 15-degree angle.

Occasionally, we like to make pizza, but achieving a typical pizza shop quality requires an oven that can heat up to 700+ degrees F. So, we bought one, but had no counter space in the kitchen for it. Hence, the idea was to build a cart so that we can wheel the oven into the kitchen when needed. This cart's base was constructed from poplar and oak dimensional lumber. The tabletop (to save some $$) was made from a 4-foot by 2-foot store-bought tabletop.