Expert: Jamie Yocono - 3/12/2009

Question
Hi Jamie, I have an Asian cabinet that I would like to turn into a jewelry cabinet at a reasonable cost. It has 2 doors which when open give an opening dimension of 21"w,28"h, and 14"d. Due to the wood border that the doors are set into the interior dimensions are actually larger. I would like to put in about 9-2"h pull out shelves or drawers. The wood quality is unimportant since it will be inside the cabinet. Any ideas? Thanks. Steve

Answer
Hi Steve,

You will need to build up the inside of the cabinet so that the inside is flush with that "wood border" you mentioned. I am guessing that's a face frame attached to the front of the cabinet.  So you will need to build up the inside (on both sides) so that the interior of the cabinet is exactly the same as the wood frame. I recommend using plywood for this, as this is the area where your drawer slides will be mounted. Plywood gives you a great surface for screwing into, it won't crack from all the screws.

There are a few kinds of drawer slides, but it sounds like you will need 14" (long) ones. That is their length, so those will mount on your drawer box.  I will say this - not all drawer slides are available in that short of a length, so before you get your heart set on a certain brand, you make want to make sure you can find them in that 14" length.

I'm really simplifying this, but there are two basic types of drawer slides that would work for your cabinet. One type uses a wheel for it's sliding mechanism, and the other uses ball bearings. The ball bearing slides is much more expensive, but will generally hold more weight and last longer. The wheel type is much cheaper, but generally, you have to build your drawer box about one inch less that the total opening height, to accommodate the way the wheel engages into the cabinet. (Hope that's not too confusing.)

Once you know the opening width, in your case, it's 21", you generally build the drawer one inch less wide. Drawer slides take up one half inch of space, and since you use one on each side, the slides will take up one inch of space. So it sounds like you'll need 9 drawers measuring 20" wide by 14" deep.  

There are a lot of drawer manufacturers out there that make nice drawers, in case you don't want to build them yourself. Check out www.westerndovetail.com for one example of what you can order. In many cases, it's much easier to buy your drawer box than making them yourself.

Finally, I would look at some of the woodworking supply houses websites to learn more about slides. Woodworking store's websites are a wealth of information. Check out:

www.Rockler.com
www.woodcraft.com
www.leevalley.com (or try this link: http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&cat=3,43614&p=43616)

OK, this should be enough to get you started. After looking at these sites to get familiar with drawer slides, write back if you need more help.

Good luck!

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com