This is mainly for @NatalieSturdy, but it was easier to just share here.
I mentioned these details in this thread, but I can include some photos of the changes.
(The sides have the dado AND rabbet in the photos above. The front is to the left, the back to the right.)
My design replaces the front& back dados with a simple rabbet. I also modified the design so the rabbets go all the way through, making the sides symmetrical and eliminating any dangling bits.
Since the front-and-back no longer need rabbets, they can be modified to include a dado to capture the bottom, making the drawer much more solid. I think the rabbet/butt-joins between the sides and front/back are more than strong enough, especially with the bottom being captured by a dado.
The back on my design stops above the bottom, which carries through to the very back, but there’s no reason the back couldn’t have a rabbet, since it was mentioned that the Blum undermount hardware won’t work with this type of bottom. And honestly, after assembling my drawers, I ended up gluing the bottom in, anyway, so capturing it at the back might have made assembly slightly easier.
The main benefits of this design, as I see it, are:
- The bottom being captured leaves no holes. In the current design, there’s gaps between the bottom and the front and back.
- The corners of the drawer box are much tighter, and look better in general. Even with perfect measurements, it’s hard to completely close up the dados, but the rabbets allow for the power of clamps and sanding to ensure everything is flush.
- Assembly is much easier, since you can attach the front to the bottom, then the sides, and finally the back. You don’t have to glue up all 5 pieces at once.
There’s before photos in the previous thread, but here’s some photos of my updated drawer design assembled:
While I’m at it, here’s the photos of my updated cabinet box design, which includes dividing stretchers between each drawer and set of doors. It really improved the cabinet design, IMO, as doors now seat nicely against the box without falling in, and the drawers have wood all the way around them. The box also seems much stronger.
I also added a piece of wood to the back of the corner cabinet so stuff doesn’t fall through. I also found out the hard way, you can’t insert the shelf after the counter is installed.
I’ll probably post a full write-up with build notes once I complete the doors and drawer faces, probably next week.