Building A Base For Wall Cabinets

Wall cabinets and base cabinets are constructed differently but there is no reason a wall cabinet can t be used as a base.

Building a base for wall cabinets.

Many people choose to do this as extra storage in a hallway a window seat in a child s room or in a bedroom in lieu of a chest of drawers. Wall cabinets typically have one or more shelves not including the bottom of the cabinet and may or may not have doors. In this post we will look at specific dimensions and assembly for base cabinets. The lower cabinets which rest below your countertops are base cabinets while those that are at eye level are wall cabinets.

The two units are very similar in construction with three major differences. A wall cabinet in its most basic form is little more than a plywood box that is securely mounted on the wall. Plywood that matches the cabinets. Overlaps on the sides let you fine tune the cabinet width during installation.

Once your cabinets are installed finish off the base front with a strip of 1 4 in. Learn how to build base cabinets for your next diy project including creating plans for your own custom cabinets. Face frames cover plywood edges. Upper cabinets are shallower from front to back do not have bases and typically are built with a solid top versus the open cleat construction found in most lower cabinets.

The two main differences between a base cabinet and a wall cabinet are the dimensions of the cases and the inclusion of a 4 1 2 inch toe kick on base cabinets where the cabinet meets the floor. Build a separate base it s important to use dead straight wood for bases so it ll be flat for setting the cabinets. The 3 4 plywood case eliminates panel jointing planing and glue ups. Base cabinets have extra space at the bottom known as toe kick space as well as being between 24 and 30 inches deep.

The best material for building cabinets is plywood 3 4 inch plywood for the box sides top bottom and shelves. The sample base and wall cabinets shown below have these features to make building them as simple as possible. Make sure to read the general how to build cabinets post here so you can see the different types of cabinets pros and cons of each a general overview of cabinet parts and general assembly. You may not notice it at first glance but each type of cabinet has its own unique properties.