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Need a simple, functional, and budget-friendly cabinet? With a bit of DIY spirit and a few basic tools, you can build a cabinet with doors using chipboard, perfect for storing items in your garage, laundry room, or even around the house. In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to design it, cut the panels, assemble the structure, and install the door hinges. No fancy machines needed — just patience, accuracy, and a will to create!
Introduzione
A friend of mine asked me to build this simple chipboard cabinet, and so I’d like to share with you how I assembled it, particularly the method I used for fitting the snap hinges.
The project drawing
First of all, I sketched out a simple drawing to work out the precise measurements needed for the timber-cutting service.
The material used is 18mm white laminated chipboard, which I had cut to size (for an additional cost, of course) by the supplier. I also had them apply the edging for an extra charge of €1 per linear metre (this price refers to 2013, the year the cabinet was built).
Preparing the Groove for the Cabinet Back
Once I had brought the pieces home, the first task was to create 4mm grooves to insert the back panel (also known as the "rear" or "bottom"), which serves as both a covering for the back of the cabinet and as reinforcement for its structure.
If you don’t have a router, you can also screw the back panel directly onto the rear edge of the cabinet. The only drawback is that this method leaves the panel visibly protruding from the side, resulting in a less professional finish.
In the photo, you can see that, as I didn’t have a guide long enough to make a straight groove, I used a door from the same cabinet as a guide for my handheld router.
Assembling the Cabinet Structure
At this point, to assemble the cabinet structure, I drilled and dowelled the pieces.
As you can see, unlike the usual approach, the base and top panel are not positioned between the sides (so the sides would cover their edges); instead, they are fixed on top of the sides (visible edges) using dowels and screws.
This method allowed me to use screws for fastening, and, considering it’s made of chipboard, the cabinet turns out to be more solid and can hold as much weight as you like without risk of collapsing.
Inserting the Cabinet Back
With the base and sides secured, I proceeded to slide the back panel into the grooves I had made earlier.
In this photo, you can also see the method I used to fix the top panel. As it is one centimetre wider on each side than the cabinet, I used dowel markers to centre it. Once the first two holes were marked (and drilled), I inserted the dowels and then marked the remaining two.
Fixing the Central Shelf
The central shelf, unlike the others, is fastened to the sides with screws to give the entire structure greater stability.
To position the shelf, I used extremely handy corner clamps and, of course, a square to ensure that the angle was 90 degrees.
In the end, I covered the screw heads with plastic caps to keep them out of sight.
Attaching the Hinges to the Doors
At this stage, it’s time to mount the hinges. After drilling the holes in the doors with a Forstner bit, insert the hinge into the hole and, using a small square, make sure it is perfectly aligned.
Once the hinge has been correctly positioned using the square, we mark the location of the fixing holes with a pencil.
Following the pencil markings, we can now drill pilot holes for the fixing screws.
Now we can screw in the hinge, confident that it is properly aligned.
Now, we secure the hinge plate to the cabinet side, making sure to set the adjustment screw to zero so that the hinge can move freely within the plate.
To do this, we first place a 1mm spacer between the door and the cabinet side and push the plate fully towards the hinge. Only after completing these steps can we mark the two plate holes on the cabinet side, just as we did earlier for the holes on the door.
Assembling the Doors
And here we have the doors mounted, with the hinges attached and functioning properly.
The hinge I used (visible in the photo) is a soft-close hinge with a vertical adjustment screw, but the installation method doesn’t differ much from that of other hinge types.
If you'd like to see an article where I explain in detail how to use and install various types of hinges, you can find it here:
Guide to Installing Snap-On or Cup Hinges (by Mariobrossh)
Installing the Shelves Inside the Cabinet
The other shelves, unlike the central one that is fixed to make the structure sturdier, rest on removable pegs (visible in the photo) inserted into purpose-drilled holes at varying heights. This design allows you to later decide the best positioning for the shelves.
Final Look of the Assembled Cabinet
I’d like to point out that the style, colour, and accessories of the cabinet were chosen by the client.
This is how the cabinet looks after the assembly is complete.
Closed...
And... opened
I hope the article is sufficiently clear and that it proves helpful to anyone wanting to try building something similar.
Thank you all,
Mariobrossh
P.S. If you have any doubts, need any advice, or just want to let us know that you enjoyed the article, you can visit the Forum from which this article was sourced by following this link:
https://www.ilsitodelfaidate.it/FDTForum/viewtopic.php?t=10064
Thank you
Luciano (Capitan Farloc)