Help with design of wall cabinets

[Josh2]

Hi,

I am planing a set of three wall cabinets with a total width of 2,860 mm (112''). See picture below. Materials are 3/4'' plywood with 1/4 back panels. The cabinet on the right is an open shelf, the two other cabinets have doors. I am planing to use Forbo Furniture Linoleum (link) to cover the entire bottom and outer right and left side of the wall cabinets. So the three carcasses have to be screwed together before hanging them so that I can glue on the Forbo stuff.

The scale of the whole unit is larger than any of my previous projects. So I have a couple of questions:

1. Does this all make sense and is this feasible? The total weight of the combined unit without doors and shelfs is probably around 100lbs (45 kg), maybe a little more.

2. Do I need the divider panels in the two 1030mm cabinets? I highlighted the divider with a red dot. I am wondering whether I will be fine without them.

3. I am still figuring out how to hang the cabinets. There was a super useful recent thread on that question so I think that is pretty much covered.

 

[mrFinpgh]

Hi Josh,

Sounds like an interesting project.  I like linoleum so I'm curious to see what it looks like on a cabinet.  Do you need to account for any telegraphing of the joints?  I'm always surprised how poorly vinyl flooring shows the slightest inconsistency in the floor, and wonder whether linoleum has the same consideration.

I think your wall will be fine as far as bearing the weight is concerned. As long as you have studs behind it and you're attaching your cleats at each of them, that's probably going to be more than ample support.

I am always a bit skeptical of 1/4" backs, but I know people use them and they work.  I think I'd feel better w/ a 1/2" back, but it should be ok, I'd think.

Ikea makes a cool long steel cleat for hanging their cabinets. I'd probably buy one of those unless I had some pieces laying around for a wooden cleat.  Particularly at the length you're dealing with.

The divider will help for sure, especially w/ plywood shelves.  It is a long span and I'd guess they will sag once loaded up. As long as they are fixed shelves, they should not sag excessively without the divider.  Have you tried using the sagulator to predict performance?  It's a handy tool.

I saw something recently where someone embedded steel in some grooves (was it on this forum??) into the shelves to give them more rigidity.  That seemed like a pretty cool solution, although it might be overkill depending on what you plan to store.

 

[jasen]

I just happened to watch this yesterday. You might get some ideas (or maybe not) from this guy who built a TV cabinet and his previous video with wall cabinets