Building a Country Style Medicine Cabinet

Build your own rustic style medicine cabinet with optional towel holder or shelf. It’s a fairly easy project with very rewarding results.

There are several different ways to build a cabinet. The following project was designed to be completed using a minimal amount of tools, equipment and know-how so that even the inexperienced handyperson may achieve superior results. More advanced handypersons may adapt the project according to the equipment available to them and the techniques they’ve acquired.

Get your own free plan for this medicine cabinet as well as the list of materials required for the project. For viewing and printing, you will need to use Acrobat Reader software.

Difficulty level :
Tools list
Material list
Medecine Cabinet Plan (PDF)
Project guide service
Related Projects
Page 1/4
Assembly Process
Preface Note
1. Cutting and Identifying the Sections
2. Location of the Dowel Holes
3. Drilling the Holes
4. Assembling the Sections
5. Installing the Paneling
6. Installing the Door and Shelves
7. Finishing
8. Other Assembly Methods

Assembly Process

A traditional and relatively simple method will be used for assembling the cabinet: dowels.

For dowel assembly, holes are drilled in both sections to be assembled and a dowel (small wood cylinder) is partially inserted into both holes along with a small amount of glue, thus creating the bond between sections. The key here is to verify that all measurements are accurate, that the drill bit is properly centered, and that the drill is perfectly perpendicular to the drilling surface in order to ensure proper dowel alignment.

Here again, individual tastes, abilities, experience, know-how and available tools will have an impact on the choice of assembly method. Alternative assembly methods are proposed at the end of this project guide.

Preface Note

If you are familiar with the differences between listed dimensions and actual dimensions of rough wood sections available on the market, you may skip to the next paragraph. If not, you should be aware that conventional wood industry nomenclatures are often misleading. What is commonly referred to as a “1 × 3”, for example, does not provide a 1-inch by 3-inch section of wood - the actual dimensions of the section are 0.5” by 2.5”. As a result, the pieces of wood you buy will be half an inch less thick and less wide than the dimensions listed and this must be taken into account during assembly. This does not apply to lengths of wood; a 12-foot piece of wood is really 12 feet long.
The following illustrations are used to associate the various words, letters and terms used in the text to their corresponding elements.
Page 1/4