Built In Book Cases

Step 2 Section Frames

Each section of the book case is based on the width of the cabinets we used.  The cabinets are wrapped in the frame, so the outside frame width will be the width of the cabinet plus 1.5" (3/4" for each side) plus a tiny bit for the melamine veneer.  So, we measured the wall, divided it up into the number of frames that will fit.  There was some left over, so we made narrower bookshelves on each end (with no cabinets).  In our case, we could have done one more cabinet, but the sides would have been too narrow to look good, so we used one less cabinet box and the result looks pretty good.

The cabinet frames are pretty easy to make.  We didn't use any fancy joinery, but you are welcome to! :-)  The cabinets have three fixed shelves; one for the bottom of the cabinet, one for the top of the cabinet, and one at the top of the frame.  The frames go from the floor to almost the ceiling, and the cabinets fit inside the frame.

The length of the fixed shelves is the same as the width of the cabinets - in our case, 36".  The width of the top and bottom fixed shelves is the same as the melamine sides (11.75").  The width of the middle shelf on top of the cabinets is wider to get some overhang over the cabinets (noted below).

The top edge of the bottom shelf was set to the height of the baseboard + 1/4" for a reveal between the baseboard and the bottom shelf.  Since we used 1x3 boards on the bottom, that's 2.5" + 1/4". 

The top shelf height is set to allow room for a top face molding, and then crown molding to the ceiling above that.  The height of each frame was a bit less than the ceiling height to allow for moving the frames in.  For our shelves, the top edge of the top shelf was the ceiling height minus the crown molding height minus about an inch reveal to the shelf minus a  1/4" reveal from the face molding to the top shelf.

The shelf above the cabinets needs to be deeper than the melamine so it overhangs the cabinets a bit.  We made it 13.5" deep.  It's  wider than the melamine (11.75" deep) to allow for the plinth block (3/4") + a 1" overhang over the cabinet fronts.

At the top back of the sides, we cutout a notch to allow the existing crown molding to stay in place.  This seemed easier than removing the molding, and since we have an older house, that crown molding is probably nicer than current materials.  Maybe some future owner will tear out these bookcases and thank us for leaving the molding :-)

We used drywall screws to hold the sides to the shelves, and they definitely need to be pre-drilled and counter-sunk since it's going into the edge of plywood and we don't want it to split. 

Each frame is not very strong, but once the cabinets are in place and they are side-by side, the whole system gets a lot stronger.  Attach the top and bottom shelves, but leave the cabinet top off for now - that can be added on top of the cabinets.