Every once in
a while, I force myself to stop building furniture, and put some time into workshop infrastructure projects. First, I realized I had too many horizontal surfaces, which served no other purpose other than to attract clutter. This was due to three six-foot long workbenches I had been using. I moved two of the benches to my mom's camp (where they were needed) and the third bench I moved into my finishing room. This freed up a bunch of space for my stationary tools. To store some of the tools which were part of the clutter problem, I built a cabinet which consisted of an array of roughly 12-inch by 12-inch "cubbies". I even put levelers on the bottom so I could adjust for any unevenness in the concrete floor. I used biscuits to join the horizontal shelves to the sides.
Before installing the shelves, I dadoed slots into them. The slots accept the vertical partitions which go between the shelves. The dado cuts are 1/4" deep. Once the vertical partitions were glued and in place, I flipped the piece over and attached a 5/16" thick plywood back. The back was glued and nailed to the sides and shelves. Then I flipped the unit over again, and attached a simple face frame I had made from pine. I don't think the face frame adds any more strength to the unit, but it does make it look a little more finished. It would seem out of place, for someone who makes cabinets, to have a set of falling down shelves in his workshop.
Every once in a while, I force myself to stop building furniture, and put some time into workshop infrastructure projects. First, I realized I had too many horizontal surfaces, which served no other purpose other than to attract clutter. This was due to three six-foot long workbenches I had been using. I moved two of the benches to my mom's camp (where they were needed) and the third bench I moved into my finishing room. This freed up a bunch of space for my stationary tools. To store some of the tools which were part of the clutter problem, I built a cabinet which consisted of an array of roughly 12-inch by 12-inch "cubbies". I even put levelers on the bottom so I could adjust for any unevenness in the concrete floor. I used biscuits to join the horizontal shelves to the sides. 
Before installing the shelves, I dadoed slots into them. The slots accept the vertical partitions which go between the shelves. The dado cuts are 1/4" deep. Once the vertical partitions were glued and in place, I flipped the piece over and attached a 5/16" thick plywood back. The back was glued and nailed to the sides and shelves. Then I flipped the unit over again, and attached a simple face frame I had made from pine. I don't think the face frame adds any more strength to the unit, but it does make it look a little more finished. It would seem out of place, for someone who makes cabinets, to have a set of falling down shelves in his workshop.
