Jim wrote:
"American ex-pat artist" wrote in message
...

We're about to buy a wall oven and none of the stock cabinets I can
see are just what I want. IKEA has something close - a cabinet that
takes a small refrigerator on the bottom, and the oven in an enclosure
over that, but it then has another cabinet on top of the oven, where I
want a surface that I can use for other things. Is there any reason I
can't just build a box of sorts out of plywood and angle brackets? I'd
guess that I should use some sort of bracing under the "shelf" where
the oven will sit but are there any other things I shoulod know before
I try to do this sort of thing?
BTW I live in France, so recommending cabinets from this or that
American supplier won't work! ;-) I'm sure they have everything I
could possibly want but I can't get them to here.

Thanks,

Ellie

If you do it yourself, you can make it any way that suits your purpose.
If it were me, I would make the sides and shelves out of thick plywood.
I would cut dadoes in the sides to mate the shelves to the sides.
I would install a thin plywood back.
I would use face frame front. The face frame can be made of whatever wood
you wish.
I would glue the shelves in place. I would attach the back with glue and
nails.

Such a cabinet needs no brackets. You will be surprised at how strong the
cabinet will be.

Jim


This sounds good - but I will probably do without the face frame front,
since it's beyond my skills and available tools. My aesthetic standards
have taken a sharp leap downwards since we moved to France, practicality
being the only thing that is on offer anyway. Cutting dadoes isn't
something I can do here, since I left all my woodworking tools back in
the US and even if I bought new ones here I'd have no place to put them.
So, now router to do such things. That's why I figured on angle brackets
- which won't be seen once the oven is in place anyway.

As for the back, should I leave the part right behind the oven open for
air circulation? I've never had a wall oven so I don't know what sort of
heat they throw off.

Thanks!