I got so many helpful replies about a corner tv cabinet measurement, I'm
hoping there might be help to this question as well.

My plan is to build furniture for my living room, the tv cabinet was one
piece. Another is a large bookcase with a drawer for hanging files on the
bottom. There will be two of these on either side of a desk with hutch
unit. My question is about the file drawer. I would like to make a drawer
that is 11" high x 13 3/4" deep x 38 1/2" wide. This part I have already
worked out. I will have a shelf mounted directly above this drawer, that
will also slide out, for a printer and scanner to sit upon. For aesthetics,
I'd like to make the drawer face to cover both the front of the drawer, and
the slide shelf, which would make that drawer face very large - 29 1/2" high
x 40" wide. I don't think the drawer operation will be a problem, there
won't be a lot of weight and I'll get heavy duty glides. My concern is the
drawer face. Is that just too large to be practical? Any thoughts? The
drawer would likely be opened only once a day at most if that makes any
difference. On my hand sketched drawing it looks okay, but I don't want to
just rely on the drawing.
--
Melissa

Melissa wrote:

I got so many helpful replies about a corner tv cabinet measurement, I'm
hoping there might be help to this question as well.

My plan is to build furniture for my living room, the tv cabinet was one
piece. Another is a large bookcase with a drawer for hanging files on the
bottom. There will be two of these on either side of a desk with hutch
unit. My question is about the file drawer. I would like to make a drawer
that is 11" high x 13 3/4" deep x 38 1/2" wide. This part I have already
worked out. I will have a shelf mounted directly above this drawer, that
will also slide out, for a printer and scanner to sit upon. For aesthetics,
I'd like to make the drawer face to cover both the front of the drawer, and
the slide shelf, which would make that drawer face very large - 29 1/2" high
x 40" wide. I don't think the drawer operation will be a problem, there
won't be a lot of weight and I'll get heavy duty glides. My concern is the
drawer face. Is that just too large to be practical? Any thoughts? The
drawer would likely be opened only once a day at most if that makes any
difference. On my hand sketched drawing it looks okay, but I don't want to
just rely on the drawing.

If I have understood your description correctly, it seems kind of
inconvenient. Having the drawer face cover the shelf means that every
time you want to use the shelf you have to open the drawer. Also, by
making the drawer face so large, it will be difficult to access the
files from in front of the drawer. Have you considered splitting the
face in two pieces with part attached to the drawer and the other part
attached to the shelf? This would give you almost the same look.

snip

Hi Melissa,

How about cutting the 'drawer face' into two pieces and using a hinge so
that the top can fold down for easy access? Also would make it easier to
reach into the open drawer.

Good luck.

"Melissa" wrote in message
m...

I got so many helpful replies about a corner tv cabinet measurement, I'm
hoping there might be help to this question as well.

My plan is to build furniture for my living room, the tv cabinet was one
piece. Another is a large bookcase with a drawer for hanging files on the
bottom. There will be two of these on either side of a desk with hutch
unit. My question is about the file drawer. I would like to make a
drawer
that is 11" high x 13 3/4" deep x 38 1/2" wide. This part I have already
worked out.

38 1/2" is too wide for a draw box.
you will need to reinforce the bottom panel and/or make two 19 1/4" draws.

15" draws are perfect for "hanging files" cabinets.




I will have a shelf mounted directly above this drawer, that
will also slide out, for a printer and scanner to sit upon. For
aesthetics,
I'd like to make the drawer face to cover both the front of the drawer,
and
the slide shelf, which would make that drawer face very large
29 1/2" high x 40" wide.

that's a door NOT a draw front.


I don't think the drawer operation will be a problem,

think again
at that width....it will always be racking the hardware.




there
won't be a lot of weight and I'll get heavy duty glides. My concern is
the
drawer face. Is that just too large to be practical?

Yes it is too large to be practical



Any thoughts? The
drawer would likely be opened only once a day at most if that makes any
difference.

a filing cabinet opened once a day.......never heard of it!


On my hand sketched drawing it looks okay, but I don't want to
just rely on the drawing.
--
Melissa




next time try sketching your plan on paper instead of your hand!
lol

Depends on the weight of the contents. A typical drawer has 1/2"
sides and back, ply bottom, and 3/4" thick front. The large drawer
you describe should have one or two muntins on the bottom for added
strength. You can still have 1/2" sides, but use a high-quality ply.
Half-inch for the bottom too. Design for full-extension heavy-duty
slides that will carry the fully-loaded weight.

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 06:34:17 -0500, "Petro" wrote:


"Melissa" wrote in message
om...

I got so many helpful replies about a corner tv cabinet measurement, I'm
hoping there might be help to this question as well.

My plan is to build furniture for my living room, the tv cabinet was one
piece. Another is a large bookcase with a drawer for hanging files on the
bottom. There will be two of these on either side of a desk with hutch
unit. My question is about the file drawer. I would like to make a
drawer
that is 11" high x 13 3/4" deep x 38 1/2" wide. This part I have already
worked out.

38 1/2" is too wide for a draw box.
you will need to reinforce the bottom panel and/or make two 19 1/4" draws.

15" draws are perfect for "hanging files" cabinets.




I will have a shelf mounted directly above this drawer, that
will also slide out, for a printer and scanner to sit upon. For
aesthetics,
I'd like to make the drawer face to cover both the front of the drawer,
and
the slide shelf, which would make that drawer face very large
29 1/2" high x 40" wide.

that's a door NOT a draw front.


I don't think the drawer operation will be a problem,

think again
at that width....it will always be racking the hardware.




there
won't be a lot of weight and I'll get heavy duty glides. My concern is
the
drawer face. Is that just too large to be practical?

Yes it is too large to be practical



Any thoughts? The
drawer would likely be opened only once a day at most if that makes any
difference.

a filing cabinet opened once a day.......never heard of it!


On my hand sketched drawing it looks okay, but I don't want to
just rely on the drawing.
--
Melissa




next time try sketching your plan on paper instead of your hand!
lol

Thanks for the reply guys, with your help, and that of some guys in
rec.woodworking as well, I've rethought the plan. Your responses are
exactly what I needed to hear, whether it would be practical in reality
rather than just on paper. Looks like I'm going to go with 2 doors that
open in the center instead of the large draw, and have them be the sort that
can fold back into the cabinet, pockets or slides, not sure which is the
right term. Then I will have two large pull out shelves instead of a large
drawer and shelf. I'm quite obviously still in the planning stage, so I
appreciate your patience with this building newbie.

Any tips on easy to use software to try and draw this out? I've done it on
the grid paper, to the best of my ability, but I couldn't figure out how to
draw out that the bottom half of the furniture pieces would be 14" deep, and
the top (hutch) pieces would all be 12" deep. I think if I could draw it
out more accurately it would be easier to plan for what size each piece of
wood would need to be cut to, and to plan for how much wood to buy. I tried
on some home planning software, but the program wouldn't allow me to build
my own cabinet (at least not that I could see), and the pre-desgined
cabinets couldn't be adjusted enough to work. Nothing fancy, as this job
will probably do me in for quite some time and I likely won't contemplate
another for a long time.

--
Melissa