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I volunteered to make a base cabinet to raise my Mother In Law's new front load washer/drier up a bit. I had 13 inches to work with.

It's built like a tank to support the new class of super heavy washers, which are over 300 lbs, thanks to cement ballast.

Tools I had to buy:

- Dado set.
- Router bit for drawer faces.

Materials:

- 3/4" oak ply for top and outer sides
- 3/4" standard ply for back and internal supports
- 1/2" cabinet ply for drawer bottoms
- Poplar for the drawers
- 1×10" oak for drawer faces
- 1×3 oak for face frames
- Drawer slides
- Handles
- Screws

Skills learned:

- Routing drawer fronts! Woo hoo!
- Dados and rabbits. What a hassle, changing blades!
- Pocket screws. Very challenging with the rabbit joints. Need to look into that.
- Planning all the measurements and cuts in general. Did much better than I expected. Used Sketchup for most of it.
- Mounting drawers on side rails. YUK!!! That really sucked!
- Centering drawer fronts. Easier than I expected.
- I matched the drawer fronts. The grain runs from the left drawer, into the right drawer. How fun!

It took me three LONG days to make this. I'm slow. But I enjoyed it. I'm 90% happy with the outcome. Learned a lot of lessons. Some still to figure out. I wanted the top to be one shot, so I decided to have the rabbit show on the side. Would like to experiment with alternatives to that. I hate seeing the edge of plywood. I might try a miter or a rabbit/miter combination next time. Also, ply is unforgiving with the finish. Blemishes cannot be sanded out, due to the layers. And I made a few boo boos along the way. Oh well … it's going under a wasing machine, right?

It JUST occured to me … I sure hope this thing sits flat!







Gallery

Comments

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6 Posts
Good work. That came out good and the drawer fronts were impressive.
 

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19,753 Posts
Great first job
 

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39 Posts
nice cabinet, great work
 

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24 Posts
Nice work. You may want to slap on a coat of marine finish in case the washer springs a leak.
 

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1,429 Posts
Good idea for a project and a very nice first build.

CtL
 

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1,833 Posts
Great job, I can't believe what they want for them bases to match the machines. Better to make one like you did. Sure she loved it.
 

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11 Posts
Great job! I have been wanting to make something like this for my wife. We have ten week old twin girls now and the laundry is more of a chore than ever.
Great work again! I am sure you have made your mother-in-law very happy!
 
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