Make This ‘Under The Staircase’ Cabinet!

THE DOORS – With a sharp chisel and a random orbit sander, I cleaned up the extra glue and smoothed the joints and was sure not to round over any of the nice square pieces.

On a piece of paper, I laid out the different paneled doors. Then, taking care with my measurements off of the case, I created a cut list for the necessary parts.

I milled necessary stock to a strong 3/4” and also laid up the necessary door panels as described earlier. Once I milled the stock, I checked the original dimensions carefully and sized all stock on table saw.

Then, I cut mortises in all the necessary joints – this should only take one setup on the mortiser.

I put panels in the veneer press one side at a time. After pressing, I removed all glue from the press panels and sand panels. As with the frame, I cut dado’s to allow for panels. Once again, you should be very careful with the stop dado’s.

I glued up the doors, taking care that they were flat and square.

For the sliding doors, I repeated all the same steps, but made the stock 5/8” thick.

Using a calculator, I devised a symmetrical layout for the decorative latticework.

With decorative lattice strips prepared, I created ‘layout’ blocks to help evenly space the strips. I marked all joints with a pencil and cut on a mortising machine.

I glued up the sliding doors – same as the regular doors. Then, I sanded all doors, paying close attention to the joints; making them nice and even.

On the regular swinging doors, I bored for 32mm cup hinges. At the same time, I took a sacrificial piece of wood – the same vertical size as the door – and bore that as well.

I mounted cup hinges in the sacrificial member in order to align the cabinet hardware of the hinge.

Now, I placed the sacrificial stick in cabinet with a ¼” setback, taking care to keep the stick perfectly vertical.

I attached the door hardware into the cups and placed the doors in the stepped cabinet. Are you still with me?

Then I made adjustments for even spacing for optimal 1/16” reveal all the way around and smooth swinging.

On to the sliders; I installed the decorative latticework of the sliders. My first step was to size all the sticks, disregarding the need for joinery.

Then, in two stages, I marked for the joinery. First I installed all the vertical sticks at once and with a long straight edge and marked all the necessary dado’s.

I remove the horizontal sticks and repeated the steps above for the vertical sticks.

With a miter gauge on the table saw and my blade just coming out of the table, I cut all necessary dado’s, taking time to fit each one.

I glued it all together with the assistance of a little hammer.

Then I moved on to drawers. I decided what size I wanted my drawers to be and sized my stock. I like ½” wall drawer boxes.

I cut dovetails (use whatever method you are comfortable with) and glued the drawers together. Then, I decided what kind of drawer fronts and handles I wanted. I fabricated, sanded and attached to the drawers after they’d been sanded.

After, I final sanded all my parts – case and all. For this, I suggest you wear your dust mask and turn your radio really loud, this step is going to take a while.

Time for finish work. I chose to spray all my parts. You may choose the same or to oil. As with all steps, take your time here.