Cabinetmaking Fundamentals
Cabinetmaking Fundamentals
This domain tests cabinet anatomy, common joinery, and how loads move through a case. Expect questions on base, wall, and tall cabinets, face-frame versus frameless construction, and why a joint is chosen for a location rather than for appearance alone.
Anatomy and load paths
- A carcass normally has two sides, a bottom, a top or stretchers, a back, and shelves. Base cabinets add a toe kick and often a separate top rail.
- The back resists racking; shelves transfer load to sides or pins; the toe kick carries floor load. A face frame stiffens a frameless-style box and provides door mounting.
- Common joints: dado and rabbet for shelves and backs, groove for drawer bottoms, mortise-and-tenon or dowel for frames, biscuit and pocket screw for alignment and light duty.
Worked example
A 30 in. wide base cabinet uses 3/4 in. sides and a bottom captured between the sides. Bottom width = 30 - (2 x 0.75) = 28.5 in. If the bottom is dadoed 1/4 in. into each side, the visible bottom width stays 28.5 in., but the side length is unchanged because the dado is cut into the side face, not the end. The reasoning: identify whether a part is captured or overlaps before subtracting thicknesses.
Traps
- Treating 3/4 in. plywood as exactly 0.750 in.; it is often 23/32 in.
- Mixing up left and right sides when laying out dados.
- Glue-starving a joint by overclamping.
- Driving screws into end grain and expecting structural strength.