Plywood is the perfect choice for building your own DIY plywood cabinets. It’s easy to cut and then assemble using simple plans, frameless cabinet construction and pocket hole joinery. Choose your favorite 3/4″ thick plywood or sheet stock and you can start building your own garage storage cabinets in 3 simple steps:
- Choose plan – this determines the quantity of materials you will need
- Cut all the parts by following the plywood cutting diagrams in the plan
- Assemble the parts into a complete cabinet
Butt Joints Make Cabinet Assembly Easy
Let’s first take a look at how we assemble everything – you’ll see and understand how easy the plywood cutting diagrams will be to follow.
Construction and assembly is straightforward with simple butt joints and frameless construction. No need for hand tools, fancy dado cuts or rabbets – we’re going to cut big squares of wood and use pocket screws to join everything together.
(click the image for a better look)
Orientation of all the panels is easy to understand. The end panels, or sides (red), capture the back, top and bottom panels.
(click the image for a better look)
Next, simply drill some pocket holes in the top, bottom and back panels, then you’re ready for some assembly. If your skills are good with pocket hole joinery, then you’re all set. Glue the joints for added strength.
These Cabinets are Not Hard to Make . . . You Just Need a Plan
Building your own plywood cabinets is not hard to accomplish. You just need a plan to follow, and some simple woodworking skills – the most important of which is learning how to cut plywood properly! A simply jig for your circular saw makes cutting plywood a snap. Or choose from several popular jigs for circular saws. And assembling cabinets is easy. A Kreg jig and pocket hole screws makes for easy production. Finish up by drilling some shelf pin holes, install your hinges on the doors, and any drawer runners, and you’re good to go!
Plywood is Readily Available
A trip to your local home center will offer a variety of plywood options for your project. Birch, maple and oak sheets at 3/4″ x 4′ x 8′ sheets is the preferred material. Of course you can choose cabinet grades of plywood for your project, including cherry, but you may have to find a local lumberyard to find these materials.
Beautiful Cabinets for Your Home, Too
These plywood cabinets can be as beautiful as you want them to be. They can serve as beautiful indoor storage cabinets for a mudroom or laundry room, or even kitchen cabinets. Add soft-close hinges and drawer slides, it’s really up to you and your skills. Here’s a small mudroom project I completed several years ago using this construction method. The only difference is that I used a frame and panel door style instead of slab cabinet doors.
New to cabinet making? Here’s a quick lesson on how to join wood with pocket holes and screws.
Now that you’ve learned how to make your own diy cabinets, are you ready to get started? Here’s a free plan to download. Or see all the plans listed in the blue menu bar above. Build the storage space you need!
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