Liquor Cabinet

This is actually a pretty old project, but it wasn’t until now that I decided to post it up here on LJ. I built it in 2004 and it was one of the first “real” furniture projects I ever did. It was loosely inspired by a dry bar that I saw in Pottery Barn. I loved the look of the Pottery Barn piece, but after seeing it in person, I was quite unimpressed with the materials and craftsmanship. I thought I could tackle something like it on my own, but with better construction. Mine is built from all 1×3 red oak (bought pre-milled from HD…I did not have a jointer or planer at the time), 3/4” oak ply and 1/4” oak ply.

I had never built a drawer prior to this project. The drawers here are nothing fancy, but it was the most ambitious I was willing to go at the time. They are 1/2” MDF for the boxes, box jointed, with solid oak fronts and 1/4” ply bottoms dado’d into the box. I was inspired by a homemade box joint table saw jig that I saw on New Yankee Workshop, and felt I needed to make that same jig and build some drawers. The wine bottle rack in the middle was all custom. The basic design for that was actually my wife’s idea – she’s not too bad to have around sometimes… And this project was only the second time I had built functioning doors.

I learned a lot from this project about a) taking grain aesthetics into consideration and b) staining. I had never considered the orientation or look of wood’s grain prior to this. After looking at the finished product, I realized I should have planned the visual aspect of the grain when picking and laying out my material. And as for staining and finishing, I quickly learned it is something I DO NOT like doing! But I guess it is a necessary part of the hobby.

- Andy

-- Andy Panko, Edison NJ, http://www.andypanko.com