Greetings, I am planning a pantry construction with pull-out shelves on full extension tracks, as seen in the attached picture. The pantry will be about 30 inches wide, therefore, the shelves will be relatively wide and will need to be substantial to accomodate cans, boxes and other goodies. My concern with these is the construction material: will 1/2 inch plywood be strong enough? I see it may be for the sides and back, but how about the bottom? I plan on using solid wood for the front, but half-blind dovetails are not possible with 1/2 inch board, so will the drawer look good with through dovetails, assuming that these shelves will be covered by doors? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. ATOMA
Replies
You would see the plywood edge grain on the dovetails if they are through the front. You could add a false front though to cover them if you want. I'd be inclined to use box joints instead of dovetails.
As to the bottoms, you could add stiffening rails underneath. I've seen these used on larger drawers in the past. There's probably a more proper name for them but I don't know what it is. In any case, they would run front to back below the bottom. The ones I've seen were sort of tapered at the ends and let into notches immediately under the groove in the drawer front and back. Some place I have a drawing I did of a drawer that uses several of them. If that's of interest, I'm sure I could dredge it out.
Good Idea
Thank you very much for your reply. I think these rails would certainly be of use as the kids drop the 5 lb. can into the drawer. These rails would call for recessed bottom but just as well because I plan on accomodating bottom rails. Thanks again, ATOMA
Pantry shelves
It's been my experience to build pantry shelves to withstand whatever can be placed on them. Consequently 3/4 stock for sides and front and back with 1/2 stock for the bottoms. That way the housekeeper can have complete freedom in deciding how to stock the pantry without worrying about what shelf to put the flour on and what shelf to put the sugar on. I/2 baltic birch makes great 1/2 blind dovetails, round over the edges on yur router and give them a good sanding and you've got a great drawer/shelf. The plywood makes an attractive design when used to make 1/2 blind dovetails. Or switchem around and hide them behind the drawer front. With dovetails the drawers almost make themselves, They're about perfectly square when you assemble them and with a little glue they are heirloom quality.
4Rnr
Thank you, 4runner.
3/4 inch stock it will be. I will also put one or two runners on the bottom as per previous post; I think this will also help. Thanks again for your valuable suggestion, ATOMA
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