The Shop Table - Installing Drawer Fronts

Now that the doors have been installed, we can locate and install the drawer fronts. I've tweaked the doors a bit using the adjustment screws on the hinges. I have to the say, I really like the European hinges. Installation and adjustments are a snap and they're even self-closing! These things have it all. On to the drawer fronts.

To start, I've cut a piece of 1/4" hardboard to act as a spacer behind the drawer front. This will be sandwiched between the 1/4" plywood of the drawer front and the front of the drawer box and is attached with double-sided tape. While I have the tape out, I cut a couple of small pieces and stick them to the drawer box. This will temporarily hold the drawer front until I can get the clamps on. Using a 1/2" MDF spacer placed on top of the door, I position the drawer front, aligning it with the edge of the door. Press the drawer front so that it bonds to the drawer box and then carefully open the drawer just enough to get the clamps on.

Remove the drawer from the cabinet and stand it up on the corner of the workbench. I pre-drilled and installed four 1-1/4" screws through the drawer box front into the drawer front - two on top and two on the bottom. Remove the clamps, put the drawer back in the cabinet and then move on to the next one. As far as the order of drawer front installation, I normally start on the outside and work my way in. Since I only have three drawers, once I did the outside drawer fronts, the middle drawer front was centered between those.

And when all of that was done, I ended up with this. Now that we have operating drawers and doors, let's make them easier to open.






The drawer/door pulls are pretty straight forward. I only had a couple of quirks to work out. First, the screws provided with the pulls are too short for the drawers, which is a typical problem if you use applied drawer fronts. Secondly, the pulls I bought (which kind-of match the workbench) aren't tall enough to get a grip on when placed directly on the drawer front panel. So, I used a 1/4" thick maple shim and a #12 x 2" long screw. Problems solved. I stick a piece of masking tape about where the pull will be and then mark all of the drawer fronts. I then drill a 1/4" dia. hole through the drawer front and the drawer box. Install the screw from inside the drawer, place the shim and screw on the pull. As I was holding the pull and driving the screw, the shim spun around a bit until everything was tight. It stopped on a diamond shape, which I thought looked pleasing. So I turned the others to match. Makes a nice accent.

Well, here it is. Except for some sanding and the top, there's no more woodworking to do. It's been rainy the past few days and I haven't been able to get the material for the top, so maybe I'll start finishing the cabinet. I plan on a coat of stain (something medium to dark in color) and a couple coats of wipe-on poly. You can look forward to those pictures soon. I probably won't have alot of dialog with them since it's mostly just 'wipe on, wipe off'.