Ready to learn how to build a drawer box? When I decided I was going to build my own vanities for all of the bathrooms in our new house, I knew that would also mean building all of the cabinet boxes. BOY was that a project! Such a repetitive process, but it made me feel like a pro by the end of it all. Want to know how I did it? I’ll have the entire tutorial below, or you can click the link to watch the video tutorial.

Supplies:

Circular Saw
Kreg Rip-Cut Saw Guide (optional)
Plywood of Choice
2″ Piece of Foam Insulation (optional)
Kreg Blade Height Markers
Kreg Micro Jig
Clamp
Drill
3/4″ Pocket Hole Screws
Wood Glue
23 Ga. Pin Nailer (optional)

Picking Your Wood:

For my drawers, I opted to use Walnut because that was the look I was going for. When you go to your big box store you’re going to find Maple, Sanded Pine, as well as Birch Plywood. The great thing is that you can use any of these that you want.

For the sides, front and back of the drawer box, I used 1/2″ plywood. For the bottom, I used 1/4″ plywood.

Making Your Cuts:

To cut my plywood, I connected my circular saw to my Kreg Rip-Cut so that I can make repeated cuts over and over again. With these drawer boxes, there’s going to be a lot of repeat cuts. You just have to set the rip-cut to your needed measurement once and you’re good to go.

For my specific drawers, I need them to be at a depth of 18″, so that’s what I set my rip-cut at. When I’m using my circular saw, I adjust the depth of the blade so that I’m only cutting as deep as I need. For this plywood, I only need it to cut through 1/2″, so I’m able to adjust the blade accordingly.

CUTTING TIP

Place your plywood on top of a 2″ piece of foam insulation when cutting with a circular saw. Purchase this at Home Depot or Lowes and use it over and over. This makes it so you’re able to cut through the wood, and not hit the ground.

Now that your plywood is cut to the depth you needed, it’s time to cut the pieces down to the height for the sides. If you don’t have a table saw like I do, then you can actually reposition your rip-cut to cut all of your pieces. I used my table saw, just since I have it.

I need 6″ tall pieces for the sides, so I adjusted my table to that, and cut down my pieces. After I cut 4 pieces the same 6″ height, and they’re all also a length of 18″. I only need two of them at 18″, while two of them need to be 14″ for the front and back.

Once the pieces are cut to size, I need to create a notch where the bottom of the drawer can slide into. This notch is called a dado. They do make table saw blades that are specifically used to create this notch, but that would involve you swapping out a blade, potentially multiple times. So instead of that, I’m going to show you how to do this with a single blade, and still get the effect of the dado.

Kreg makes these Blade Height Markers that allow you to get the height of your blade to a certain depth. I used the 1/4″ to make sure my blade was set to that depth, and then I moved my saw so it would create the dado 1/2″ from the bottom of my wood.

After running the wood through once, I set the blade at 5/8″ and ran them through again. This gives me a wider groove so the bottom plywood can slide in.

Putting Your Drawer Box Together:

When putting your box together, you need to have the front and back of the drawer pieces sandwiched between the sides. Once you do this, you’ll be able to get the measurement for the 1/4″ plywood for the bottom.

In order to do this, you’ll take the length of your front and back piece, and add 1/2″ because you just created a 1/2″ groove. Then on the sides, take your length 18″ and subtract 1/2″. My length was 14 1/2″ on the front/back and 18″ on the sides. So for my drawers, the bottom piece needs to be 17.5″ x 15″

Securing the Pieces:

After all of the pieces are cut and ready to go, it’s time to secure them together with pocket holes and wood glue. For the pocket holes, I’m going to be securing them in the front and the back of the drawer. The reason for this is because the front of the drawer box will be covered with the face frame, and the back won’t be seen. If you were to use pocket holes on the sides, then you’d see them every time you open the drawer. This just gives it a more professional and clean look.

I used a Kreg Micro Jig because plywood is actually a little narrower than a true 1/2″ and this micro jig has a smaller drill bit. This ensures it won’t break through the plywood. Secure this jig to a clamp and you’ll be set.

When you’re going to drill the pocket holes, you need to be sure you’re drilling them on the opposite side of the dado groove. Then you’ll create pocket holes every 4-6″. This means you’ll only need 2 on each side.

To assemble the box you’re going to use 3/4″ Pocket Hole Screws, wood glue and the optional 23 guage pin nailer. The pin nailer is optional, but I found it to alleviate some of the frustration as it helps hold the pieces together while you’re waiting for the glue to dry.

Sandwich the front and back pieces between the two side pieces using wood glue, pin nail the edges (if desired), and then drill the screws into your pocket holes.

Once you have the sides connected to the back, you want to dry fit the bottom piece. This just ensures everything fits before you use wood glue to place it. If everything fits, then you’re good to fill the rest of the dadoes with wood glue. Then slide the bottom piece in and secure the back.

If you haven’t sanded your wood, now is the time to do it so you have smooth drawers. Then you can stain the drawers whatever color/stain you want and there you have it!! A full tutorial on how to build a drawer box!

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