# Shop Cabinet Dimensions



## mprzybylski (Nov 21, 2011)

So I went to design some shop cabinets yesterday in SketchUp and while I have all the construction in mind I realized I never really thought about dimensions. I'm going to be creating a bank of lowers for my miter saw station and uppers to store some stuff. It's all going to be 3/4" ply construction except the bottom of the cabinets will have a 2×4 frame inside where i'll attach leg levelers since my garage floor is uneven. Here is what I was thinking for the lowers (probably about 4 of them in a row or 3 on one side, miter saw lowered tier, then 2 on the other, not sure yet):










What do you think of these sizes? Keep in mind that this is 35 1/2" tall which gives me a bit of room for 1/8" hardboard on top and a bit for the levelers on the bottom which will undoubtedly lift the cabinets up slightly off the ground. I'll also be putting drawers in these so should i go wider? I want to use 22" full extension drawer slides and have maybe 3 - 4 drawers per case. Should I use 1/2" ply for the drawer boxes?

As for uppers I was thinking of making them 12" deep by 30" high by 24" wide.

I want to use sizes that will yield the least possible waste from the 4×8 sheets of ply but also will work/function properly.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

The sizes are fine. What you need to do is make a layout of all the pieces including space for cut waste to see if it all can be cut from a 4×8 sheet. From there, you will be able to see where dimensional changes need to be made. I do this all the time when using sheet goods. I do layouts in autocad. I usually try to avoid even dimensions like 24 and 48 for repetitive pieces. You can't get (4) 24×48 pieces from a 48×96 sheet, but you can get (4) 23-3/4×47-3/4 pieces.


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## mprzybylski (Nov 21, 2011)

Gotcha MrRon. Also, one other thing I forgot to mention, should these (bottoms) have backs? And if so, can I do 1/2" backs? Since they'll have drawers I'm not sure if backs are necessary but I suppose for the construction aspect of it they'd be good with backs, just not sure what size backs to use.


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I built about 16 running feet of upper and lower cabinets. I made all of the cabinets 24" wide and 30" tall so that the material cuts out of a full sheet with very little waste. Like what you are saying, my bottoms were a combination of doors and drawers. The uppers were 12" deep, 24" wide and 30" tall. I used 3/4" Aruaco Plywood for the sides, top, and bottoms and then 1/2" for backs.

They were built with the Euro frameless style. I drilled the shelf holes also with Euro style with the 37 mm set back and 32 mm between holes. I did this so that the holes for the drawer slides and hinges fit in these holes. It made installing doors and hinges so easy.

I cut all of the parts and then finished them before assembly which was done with pocket screws.

After more than a year, I am still very happy with them. I really never want to do that much finishing again. It seemed like it took forever with hand brushing all of the parts.

Good luck with your project.


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