1. Luxury Kitchen - The home kitchen is the woman’s workshop-the hub of countless household activities. Here the housewife must be able to store foods, both re-frigerated and not, keep on hand cooking equipment and eating utensils, perform the many steps involved in preparation of wholesome meals. The kitchen with well-designed built-in features is indeed the housewife's joy.

2. Luxury Kitchen #2 - If you wish, cover top surfaces of sliding boards with a plastic laminate which will match the top of your kitchen counter. Micarta was used in this project, with Weldwood contact cement.

Turn cabinet on its back and put sliding boards in place. Place a ¾”-by-¼”-by-68½” matching, solid wood strip across the edges of all sliding boards. On this strip, mark three holes to go into each sliding board, keeping holes evenly spaced. Drill holes and attach strip to all front edges of sliding boards, using 1¼" flathead screws. Do not glue.

3. Built-in Bath - This is a handsome bathroom-powder room combination that you can build in the tiny space of 4½' by 6'. If you wish, you can add a stall shower in an additional space of 30" by 30". Where can you find the space? It may be right under your roof. Look for it in the unused end of a hall, under a stairway (be sure to check headroom here), or perhaps you have back-to-back closets that may be opened up to make the needed room.

4. Built-in Bath #2 - Mount grooved bottom strip in opening of sliding door section. Recess the strip 1/16".The corresponding top strip is grooved 1/4" deeper than bottom strip so sliding doors may be lifted into the top grooves, then lowered into the bottom grooves.

On the bottom of hinge-door compartment, mount an equally thick wood strip, again recessing 1/16". Use glue and nails. Notch out grooved top strips, as shown in exploded view, and mount flush with top, recessing 1/16" from front edge. Use glue and screws inside.

5. Wall Unit - This three-in-one wall unit, an example of the partition-type built-in, is a sectional housing of partitions extending out from a 16' wall. Into it will be built the Television-High-Fidelity System, the Sewing Center, and the Disappearing Wallbed, described immediately following this chapter.

Of course, any one section of the three-in-one wall unit may be built independently, or the sections may be re-arranged as the reader wishes, depending on available space and built-in needs.     

6. Wall Unit #2 - Cut upright partitions from 3/4" plywood, following  dimensions in Fig. B. Attach top piece to upright partitions with glue and 6d coated box nails. Above, author is constructing left half of 16' wall section, which will be mounted separately to wall.

Cut 8" by 24" mounting strip from 3/4" plywood and attach to base platform with glue and 6d coated nails, Left upright partition will be attached to this mounting strip..

7. Built-in Television - This unique and practical built-in project will give you a complete home theater in a small space 8’ wide 28” deep and 6’ high. A TV set, record player, hi-fi amplifier and turner are built into a compact carrier cabinet slides out from the wall and turns in any direction so the TV screen may be viewed from any part of the room. The cabinet may be turned completely around , too, to allow easy access to the electronic parts.

8. Built-in Television #2 - Entire turntable assembly is placed in cabinet, carefully centered and fastened with glue and screws or nails through top and bottom of carrier cabinet. Upright partition must be absolutely square with cabinet bottom. Also, front and back edges must be flush and may be covered with matching wood trim.

9. Sewing Center - Build this modern sewing center, with all its work-saving features and helpful storage bins, racks, drawers and shelves, and you'll keep the lady of the house happy for years to come. Who knows—you might even lop off a considerable amount from the family tailoring bill, The center occupies very little space—6' wide, 28" deep, and 6' high-when all parts are folded into place.

10. Sewing Center #2 - Mount the top cover extension to sewing machine cabinet, again using special sewing machine hinges. Each hinge is recessed by first boring the diameter and depth of round portion of hinge. Next, cutout straight portion with wood chisel.

On Next, using glue and screws, a slanted bottom portion (slanted to allow more knee space) is added to the bottom of the sewing machine cabinet for additional support and safety.

11. Wall Bed - In our space age, high speed transportation invites long-distance trips and surprise overnight visits. Hence, the need now and then for an extra bed. Whether you use this wallbed for a surprise visitor or a member of the family, it will subtract only a small space from the living area of your home. It folds away into a space 32" wide, 28" deep and 6' high.

12. Wall Bed #2 - Cover front edges of top and bottom strips with matching wood trim and sand other parts smooth. Then mount them with glue and nails 1/8" in from front edge of cabinet.

Test sliding doors for fit by lifting them into the top grooves first, then lowering them into bottom grooves.

Finger grips, 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep, for sliding doors, are cut out with a dado saw, by pressing door down carefully on blade into marked area. After cutting, sand smooth. If you have no dado saw, grips can be carved out with a sharp chisel and filed smooth. After cut is made, it may be finished with wood trim.

13. Built-On Couch - This space-saving "built-on" combines a couch area and two table areas in a compact, single unit. It's made of a 10' base piece of Novoply, covered with 1/4" walnut plywood on each end-table section, and with foam rubber cushions on the couch section. It is supported in front by three decorative 12" brass legs, and in back by an 8' fir mounting strip which is centered and mounted to the wall.

14. Hideaway Bar - This bar will be an entertaining center and a 30 cubic feet of shelf space for bottles, bowls, glasses showplace in your home. It will enable you to and mixing gadgets at your fingertips. And you can play bartender to your guests, with more than explain, with modest nonchalance, how you achieved the rich finishes, indirect lighting, the slideaway action of the front bar unit, and its other modern features.           

15. Hideaway Bar #2 - Cover all front edges with a matching wood trim. Weldwood wood trim and Weldwood contact cement were used here.

Attach baseboard to bottom of cabinet, so that top edge is flush with top surface of cabinet bottom piece. Edge of baseboard is covered with matching wood trim.

Top cabinet is assembled next. Cut top and bottorn pieces for cabinet out of 3/4" plywood from dimensions in Figs. B and C. In this cabinet, the author used metal roller, sliding door tracks (the type used for 1/4" plate glass) to protect the top and bottom edges of the plastic (Acrylite) doors.

16. Laundry + Storage - Today's work-saving washers and dryers save more work if they are located near the hamper, rinsing tub, storage cabinets and other laundry facilities of the home. This laundry is laid out in a 7' by 10' 8" basement area with all appliances and storage units within a few steps of each other. 

17. Laundry + Storage #2 - Flush pulls were attached with screws provided by manufacturer. If you don't care to use flush pulls, you can rout out simple grips in doors, as shown in chapter on built-in wallbed, photo 13.

Doors were placed in position by lifting hangers onto sliding tracks, then lowering doors into floor guides.

Bore holes through template for adjustable shelf supports in as many sections of major storage unit as desired. Supports used in this project were for 10"-wide shelves and were mounted, with screws, 6" from each section end piece.

18. Basement Workshop - Each member of the average American family makes demands on space in the home basement. Mother needs a wide area for the family washing, small children want to play, teenagers need space for hobby paraphernalia. Add the home heating system and the thousands of odds and ends that must be stored in the basement and you have small space pickings to build a workbench for yourself.

19. Basement Workshop #2 - Cover fronts of plastic drawers with 1/4" plywood, matching the sliding doors (see exploded view). If possible, cut fronts from one piece of wood so that grain pattern is uniform throughout. Attach with contact cement.

To make top of workbench, use a good, solid piece of pine or fir. This is one of the most important parts of the workbench.

20. Storage Rack - Spread your tools over a flat wall area and they use up a lot of space. Build a compact tool rack like this one and you can store over 100 tools in a 2' by 2 1/2 ' wall space.

This 24"-wide, 30"-high tool rack is made of two base pieces of 3/4" plywood, nine solid oak upright mounting supports, and nine pegboard "leaves" with square holes. The leaves are 10" wide. The size of the tool rack and width of the leaves may vary to meet individual space requirements, but it is recommended that the leaves be made no wider than 12". Pegboard with round holes may be used instead of square holes, if you wish.

21. Basement Telephone - Perhaps you are a person who likes to be in touch with the outside world even when in the depths of the home—the basement. If so, it is wise to conceal your telephone from dust that is stirred up down there, or from the sawdust of the workshop. Contrary to general opinion, the ring is not harder to hear when the phone is concealed, but, rather, it is louder and deeper, because the wall acts as a sound boom.

22. Lazy Susan - Book cases and record-storage shelves take up a lot of room in the home. And, as any housewife will tell you, they collect a lot of dust. This rotating lazy Susan will accommodate many books and records in a tiny 30"-square space, and since it is fitted into a cabinet and enclosed behind doors, the dust problem is kept to a minimum.

23. Under-Stairs - What better location for a built-in storage cabinet than under the stairs? A short weekend of work can transform the space which usually goes unused there into many cubic feet of storage space.       

The staircase used in this project was located in the basement of a split-level home and the area underneath it was limited to a triangular storage space of 9 cubic feet. The area under the stairs was surrounded by a framework of studs and the author eliminated one stud (see Fig. A) to make an opening to the storage area.

24. Oil Tank Storage - This easy-to-make project will serve two useful purposes. It will give you ample storage space in an area that would be otherwise unused. And the plywood paneling will hide that ever-present   eyesore, the oil tank, and convert that portion of the basement into another living room, playroom or extra bedroom.     

25. Making Drawers - To make solid, durable wooden drawers to go into your built-in cabinets, it will pay you to use one of the time-proven assembly methods that have been developed by professional cabinetmakers. Of the lot, the drawer joints that are in most general use today are the half-concealed French dovetail, the open French dovetail, the rabbet assembly, the lock mortise, and the dovetail mortise.

26. Making Drawers #2 - Set up table saw to make kerfs halfway through drawer-front stock. Distance across saw blade to fence should equal the thickness of a drawer side. Cut kerfs at both ends.

Up-end drawer front and make a second set of cuts to clear the rabbets. Cutting a bit deeper than the drawer-side thickness insures a sharp corner and offers a glue groove.

27. Molded Drawers - Instead of making your own wood or plywood drawers, as described on the preceding pages, you might wish to use plastic molded drawers for your built-ins. These all-plastic drawers may cost you more than similar sizes built of wood, but they have their compensating factors. They are ready-made, easy to install, and don't stick or warp, even when used in bathrooms or laundries. They resist chipping and scratching, and corners are rounded for easy cleaning.

28. Lighting Techniques - The time to think about lighting fixtures for your built-ins is during the initial planning stage. Install lighting fixtures, additional wiring and electrical outlets before covering walls and ceilings with panels. If you don't, you'll have to tear out panels, fish wires through walls, or tack them along the outer surface, detracting measurably from the attractiveness of your work.

29. Finish Your Built-Ins - No matter how much care and skill you put into constructing your built-ins, their ultimate success depends on how you finish them. A carefully selected and well executed finish applied to the plywoods you have chosen can enhance and enrich their appearance. A sloppy finishing job can destroy the natural beauty of the plywoods and detract from the appearance of the built-ins.

THE END

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