A neighbour of mine had a request for me, she wanted a cabinet to match an end table and dresser that have been in her family since the 1940's, but she also wanted it be a step back style with a display case for the upper section, and also have some new modern touches and tweaks without detracting from it. She wanted the base to be about the same size as the end table she has, but I had to bump the dimensions of it out a little bit as far as I could for stability sake, but to give the illusion of them being the same size I kept the base cabinet top the same size as the original. I also made my own detail piece along the bottom to match, and found a stain that was basically a perfect match. I matched all the wood species, trim and routering details to the original as well. The upper cabinet I was on my own though as it didn't exist on the originals. I made a typical display case with framing and wood species like the base, and trimmed the top out to match the bottom cabinet. Overall I think it turned out awesome! Not my style personally, but it still looks great and came together nicely. It has that vintage style, colour and design while having soft close operations and metal pulls. I'll show you the basic process of how I put this guy together, check it out!

Supplies

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3/4" sanded plywood (I used birch)
1/2" sanded plywood (I used birch, 1/4 sheet)
1/4" sanded plywood (I used birch, 1/2 sheet)
1) 1x3x8
3) 1x3x6
2) 2x2x8
4) 1x2x8
20x36" Pine project panel for the cabinet top
Moulding of your choice
Glass retainer clips
Glass shelf pins
Soft close drawer slides
Soft close hinges
Cabinet pulls of your choice
1/8" and 1/4" glass from local company
Small or large pocket hole jig
Pocket hole plugs and screws
Wood Glue
Wood filler
Tape measure
Pencil
Drill and Impact
Sander with 120 grit paper
Brad or pin nailer
Circular saw with guide or table saw
Miter saw
Jigsaw
Router with chamfer and round over bits
Edge banding to match plywood, iron and trimmer
Stain of your choice
Clear finish of your choice

Step 1: Making the Base Top and Trim

So because I was making much of this up on the fly I had to start with the base top. It was staying the same as the existing end table so it was a constant, but I was widening and stretching other things as I went so I had to reference this as I went.

I started by taking my pine project panel and cutting it down to 26.5" x 18". I used a circular saw with a fresh 40 tooth blade, but if you are using a table saw I'd use a 60 tooth for the cleanest cuts. 1 thing that had to remain was the front rounded corners of the top so I used a small can of stain and found the dark part of the label was basically the correct size and gave me something I could repeat on the other corner. I lined it up and traced it with a pencil on each side. I then used a jigsaw to cut it out, but you can use a band or scroll saw if you have one. On the bottom side of the top was a fairly large chamfer so I loaded the 45 degree chamfer bit in the router and set it to be just under half the depth of the total top thickness. Then I set to work, only doing the sides and front of it, leaving the rear untouched and square since it will be slid against a wall. For the trim under the top I needed a large rounded trim, so I ended up buying a 1" square trim and loaded a 1/2" round over bit in the router and rounded one side of a 6' long length of it.

Step 2: Prep the Wood for Frame and Panel Sides

With the top done for now, we can cut and prep all our materials for the base cabinet sides. I started with the legs because they were another constant as the height was going to match the original end table. Using pine 2x2 I cut them to 28", and then I layed all four of them together, flushed up the ends and cut them to their final size of 26.75" long.

For the side panels I used my circular saw again and a track guide and ripped some 3/4" plywood down to 13.25" wide and then cut them to 21" tall. I moved over to the pocket hole jig and with it set for 3/4" stock I drilled pocket holes along what will be the inside. Typically sanded ply will have one nice and one slightly less nice side, drill your holes on the less nice side. I spaced my holes about 1.5" from each end and then space them every 3-4" or so. On these panels I put about 5 holes along each side. Now as a optional step I added some edge banding to the bottom side of my panel because it will be exposed and could be visible. The reason I say it's optional is because it will be on the bottom side, so the odds of it being seen are basically zero, but that one time...edge banding is quick and easy to clean it up visually and make it look thought out and complete. Most edge banding is iron on so borrow the iron without being caught, apply it and return it sneaky style. Then trim the banding to size using a razor, chisel or a banding trimmer. Soften the edges for a much cleaner look and feel with 120 grit paper by hand after for a seamless transition. Then cut four pieces of 1x3 trim we will use in the next step, make it the same length as your plywood panels width at 13.25".

Step 3: Assemble the Sides

The sides for this go together much easier than you'd think. They will be a faux frame and panel design, all the looks but without complex joinery. Start by taking 2 of your 2x2 legs, orient them if you have a face that you like most so it will be facing out if you like, I did. Now using the 1x3 trim pieces we cut as spacers, place them along the inside of the legs. Add a bead of wood glue to one side of your plywood panel and then lay it on the 1x3 spacers, making sure the nice side is facing out or down in this case, slide it so the end without the edge banding is flush with the top of your leg. Then roll the other leg over 1/4 turn and run a bead of glue down it where the plywood will contact it, and roll it back over pressing the legs in toward the center panel. Start at one end and attach it using a 1.25" pocket screw, making sure to keep it flush with the leg. Then go to the middle of the panel and add the next screw, skipping one hole. This way if the leg or panel has a slight twist and doesn't want to line up, you can pick up the bottom of the middle panel and it will act like a small hinge off the front screw allowing you to line up the middle screw. Repeat the same process for the last screw, lifting and pushing as necessary to line everything up. Once those 3 are done you can go back and add the last 2 we skipped over earlier. Repeat that for the other side leg. Now flip the whole assembly over so we can add the front trim. Decide which side of the 1x3 trim you prefer for your face, then add your glue to the opposite side. Add a decent amount, also add some to the frame along the legs where the trim will touch them and press them into place until the glue dries. That's all I did and it was a nice press fit, but you may need to clamp yours into place for a good tight, flush fit. If needed you can also add a couple brad nails and fill the holes with wood filler. Do the same for the top piece of trim.

Step 4: Making a Trim Piece and Prep for the Back

Sooooo...I'm sure everybody out there has seen some piece of classic furniture out there with this piece of trim on it. It's not my favorite, but her original pieces had it so I had to recreate it for this, but there was a time when this was everywhere and on everything. Because I had to make it from scratch and only pictures to reference, I just found center of a piece of 1x2 I cut to 20.5" long and using a can of stain, I traced my partial circle, it looked good to my eye size wise so I moved on. Then went to the ends and cut that at a 45 degree angle, 1/4" up. Now that I had the middle and ends set in stone all I had to do was connect them. After many attempts of freehand, I then went on to finding something larger to trace for round swoops. Turns out a 4L ice cream pail was perfect. I made a mark that was centered between the end cut and the end of my middle half circle, that showed me where my 2 half circles had to meet for an even swoop. I lined my ice cream pail with the middle mark and tip of the middle circle and done, traced it out. Then did the same thing to the end tip and the middle mark, with my line going the opposite way to make a swoop. Once I had them marked, I just freehanded the transition between them to be a soft smooth swoop. Once I stood back and looked at it, I was happy and cut it out with my jigsaw. Then I drilled 1 pocket hole in each end to fasten it to the legs later.

To make room for the rear panel, instead of it just being tacked on being visible from the side when it's finished, we need to route out a rabbet with the router. You could also do it with a table saw if you have one big enough and the ability to. Stand your 2 side panels up as if they were a finished cabinet, left and right side. Mark the top of the leg, what will be the inside rear of each panel. Once you have it marked so we don't route out the wrong part, set the depth of your rabbeting bit to 1/4" depth in the router and take it off.

Step 5: Assembling the Base Cabinet

With the side panels for the base assembled, we need stretchers to build the base cabinet. For those we are going to use 1x2 pine and cut 4 of them to 20.5" long and drill 2 pocket holes in each end, making sure the jig is set for 3/4" stock. There is a particular way that we need to put these on though. For the front I installed the top one with the side panel laying on it's face on the table and the front stretcher laying flat, attach it with wood glue and pocket screws. Then using a spacer that is 17.25" long, place it below the top stretcher and install the bottom stretcher, however you want to install this one horizontally because of the lower trim piece, making sure to orient the pocket screws to the bottom of the cabinet. For the 2 rear stretchers both are installed vertically, the top one flush with the top and the bottom one use the same spacer as you did in the front. For the 2 rear stretchers you also want to install them so they are flush with your rabbet we cut earlier and have the pocket holes facing backwards. This way when the rear panel is installed later the pocket holes are covered by it and we can also use the stretchers as supports to nail it onto. With all 4 installed on one side, grab the other side panel and lay it down so the inside is facing up. Now with glue applied to all the stretcher ends pick up the assembly and set it down on the other side, then just go around, lining up the pocket holes to the same places and screw it in place.

To attach the trim piece I flipped the cabinet upside down facing me. I'm laying down a bead of wood glue on the stretcher and slid it into place, press it in firmly against the stretcher to make good contact with the glue, you may want to clamp it in place. Once it was tight and flush I attached it with 1 pocket screw on each side.

Step 6: Trimming the Base

Alrighty, now this is optional but it really adds something to it if you do it. This trim I'm applying to the top of the cabinet is that 1" square stock I rounded over before, but even some off the shelf cove moulding would look awesome. I started by trimming 1 corner off at a 45 degree angle, held it in place with the front corner and marked the backside end so it was flush with the back of the cabinet and cut it to size. Then I did the same thing for the front, cut one end to a 45 degree angle and holding it in place, mark the other end for your cut, then just repeat so you can wrap around the other side. The hardest part of these cuts is making sure you have them oriented correctly on the saw so they aren't cut upside down...made that mistake a couple times. I like to not only mark the place to cut, but also the direction I need the saw blade to come from. Once you have everything chop chopped out add some wood glue to the backside and you can fasten as you wish. Clamps will work, but I used 23 gauge pin nails, and clamps to pull into place. Brad nails will work too if that's all you have, just be sure to fill and sand with wood filler.

Step 7: Make the Drawers

These are what really make a cabinet fun and frustrating at the same time. For some reason adding drawers just makes something feel more substantial when you stand back and say "I did that". I'm not going to go into too much detail on how to make these drawers, I have a full detailed YouTube video and Instructable on that. I will give you the dimensions of these though. The drawers are cut out of 3/4" birch plywood and the sides are 14.5" long while the front and back are 18" each. 2 pocket holes per drawer are plenty as long as you glue the joint, but you could add 1 more if you really plan on putting something heavy in here. Then I also bought a craftsman pine 1x10 and cut my drawer fronts out. These are 20.25" long to leave a 1/8" reveal on each side because they will be inset in the frame, and I ripped them to 8.25" wide/tall as this will leave 1/8" reveal at the top and bottom but as well as between the 2 fronts when installed.

Step 8: Making All the Upper Cabinet Pieces

So this is pretty easy, we need to make 4 frames. The 2 side frame panels are going to be identical, take some craftsman pine 1x2 and cut 6 pieces out to 45.25" long, and 4 more to 9" long, then cut another 2 at 20.5". Now on the 9" pieces drill 2 pocket holes in each end, keeping them towards 1 edge instead of in the center of the board, do the same thing for the 20.5" pieces as well. To assemble the side frames add your 9" pieces to your 45.25" pieces, but make sure your pocket holes are oriented towards the outside edges. This is so we can come back and route the center of the frame out with a rabbeting bit for the glass panel to rest in making it just a bit over 1/8" deep for the glass, and if the pocket holes are centered in the board, when the rabbeting bit comes by it's wide enough to find your screws sending sparks flying and potentially risking damage to your bit or you (ask me how I found that out). So you want to keep the pocket holes towards the outside edge of the frame. Then we can move onto the front frame joining your 20.5" boards to your last 45.25" boards with pocket holes and glue again. The only thing is we don't route a rabbet on this one, literally just make it and set it aside. We also want to make the door frame from 1x3 pine boards. Cut 2 each at 43.25" and 21.5" and make it the same way as the side panels. Drill your pocket holes in your 21.5" pieces, keeping them to one side so we can route out the center again for the glass 1/8" deep. Take the 2 side frames as well as the door frame, I plugged the pocket holes because they will be visible, using a 3/8" dowel cut into pieces or pocket hole plugs glue them into place, once the glue has set up smear some wood filler over them to finish filling it in smoothly, then with some 120 grit sandpaper smooth everything out to make them virtually disappear. Now we need to clamp the 2 side pieces together to make them stand easier and route out the inside rear of each one so that way we have room for a 1/2" plywood rear panel, be careful to make sure you are routing out the right spot, you'll also want to make this in a few passes getting deeper every time until you get down to 1/2", trying for that in one pass will probably blow the wood apart. Then using a chisel and hammer we can square off the corners for the glass since the rabbet will leave them rounded. Going back to the door I used a concealed hinge jig and drilled my holes 4" up from each end on the inside for my euro style soft close hinges. For the rear panel I cut it out of a piece of 1/2" birch plywood using my circular saw and a guide to 45.25" long and 22.75" wide (but that could be different for you because my rabbet bit takes off 3/8" width).

Step 9: Assembly of the Upper Cabinet

This part comes together quickly and easily. Start with one of your side panels and on the front side apply a bead of glue down the length of it. Then lay it down on it's side, making sure the inside is facing the inside, and stand the front frame on it's end and slide the 2 together making sure they are flush on the top and bottom. Clamp it in place so it will stay standing, then using some 1.5-1.75" brad nails, fire a few down the length of it, about every 8" or so. Watch your fingers. I ended up hanging the side off the table and laying the front flat once I had the ends tacked, this way I could push and pull the frames in and out flush if need be. For the other side, just repeat the process, but you may want to wait about 10 mins for the glue to tack up first. Now we can flip it on it's face so the sides are in the air and attach the rear panel. Run a bead of glue down each side in the corner of the rabbet, this way it will spread out up the side a bit and across the face. Then using a few more 1" brads, tack it into place, pushing and pulling the frame as needed until the joint is tight and flush. The reason I went with a 1/2" thick rear panel here instead of the typical 1/4" is because this upper case needed the structural rigidity, but also in case somebody touched it, knocks on it, or hits it with something inside it sounds and feels much more substantial and solid, giving a feeling of quality. Now we can cut the top panel from some more 3/4" birch ply, a bead of glue ran all along the inside edge of the cabinet will make it strong, then just press it into place. It should have a nice firm fit, but I added just a couple 1.5" brads in the corners and the center to hold it until the glue dries. Make sure it has a nice flush fit with the top.

Step 10: Trim Out the Upper Cabinet

It's amazing how simple this trim is, yet how big of a difference it made. I'm going to add the top trim first and that is literally just a craftsman pine 1x3 and the lower trim is a piece of off the shelf 1/2" round over. With the upper cabinet still on its back, I held the pine flat with the rear on the table and marked a spot that gave me 1" of over hang on the front and side, then I proceeded to cut my 45 degree miter. For this first cut though, I'd mark it long first, then sneak up on the cut so you can get it right because it's very easy to cut it too short. Then I did the same chamfer routered edge I did to the lower base cabinet top to the lower outside of this trim. With that done, add some glue to the back and nail it in place with some 1.25" brad nails so they don't come through the other side. Work your way around with the rest of the trim, holding them in place and marking your lengths on the piece and not with a tape measure. I then added 1 last piece just with a straight butt joint to the top rear to finish it off, but it doesn't need a miter. The lower trim below that top piece goes tight below it and wraps around the face of the cabinet. That lower piece of trim I used glue and 23 gauge pin nails because it's visible, but you can use brads again if that's all you have

Step 11: Adding That Finish, Whatever You Choose

With the rear 1/4" plywood panel just needing to be cut out to fit the rear, everything is almost ready. Take this time real quick to sand what you need to 120 grit, soften any sharp edges by hand sanding a bit, and fill all brad nail holes with wood filler, then again sand that with 120 grit. Now you can decide a finish, paint, stain, oil or just clear coat. If you are going to oil or paint it, you may want to sand it up to 220 grit, but for stain 120 is fine. I had to stain mine to match the existing pieces I'm building this to be part of. The stain for anybody wondering is Varathane Ultimate Provincial. With the pieces sitting on some painters triangles I wiped on 1 coat, let it sit for a couple mins and wiped it off with a shop towel, making sure to hit all sides. Then I sprayed on 2 coats of Varathane Diamond water based clear coat, sanded it with a fine sanding sponge buy hand, wiped it off with a shop towel dampened with water to remove the sanding residue, then I sprayed my final coat of clear.

Step 12: Upper Cabinet Assembly Time

With the upper cabinet flipped over on some foam so I didn't scratch the top of it, I needed to attach the lower table top to it. I flipped it upside down as well so it was all in the correct final orientation and flushed it up with the rear, rounded edges go forward remember. Then I centered it from side to side with a tape measure and measured from the back and made a mark that was 2.25" and 10" forward from the rear and 1 3/8" in from each side. The I predrilled and added a couple 1.5" screws to fasten the 2 together, no glue. On the inside of the door I added some small glass retaining clips evenly spaced out. Then with the door raised on a piece of scrap 3/4" and 1/4" plywood, this gives me 1/2" overlay with my door around all sides, I fastened the door hinges. While I was in there drilling holes, I also added the small glass retainer clips to the sides of the inside cabinet as well as soft rubbery glass shelf pins in the corners.

Step 13: Final Assembly Time!

Yay, time to see what we made. With the drawer slides reinstalled in the cabinet and on the drawers, slide them in place. You can choose to pre install your drawer fronts like I did, or you can wait. I'd probably wait next time because it made aligning things a bit trickier. Flip it around and add the rear 1/4" plywood panel with just 5/8" brads, making sure to turn the power down on your gun so you don't just send the nail right through the panel lol. I also added some small angle brackets to the inside corners of the base and fastened them with 1/2" screws so they were flush with the top, these are what's going to hold the top cabinet on. Set it in place, flush up the rears with each other and center it again from side to side with a tape measure. Remove the top drawer again and from the inside using more 1/2" screws through the angle brackets, fasten the 2 together. All that's left is to add your glass to the sides, and door, then set in the 1/4" tempered glass shelves, wipe off the fingerprints and stand back. Look at it! Behold it!

While it still isn't my style, I can't argue that it turned out great.