Last summer, I found a tutorial on the The Family Handyman for a large garage cabinet. It was exactly what I was looking for, as it uses sliding doors to cover what was otherwise a messy set of regular shelves. I modified the plans to fit my own needs–keeping it as thin as possible and matching up with the studs as necessary. Most of my materials came from the local Menards, and I chose to use poplar for the frame face.
Outside the wood, I used the 2200 series door sliders by Johnson Hardware, as recommended by the tutorial. They have several different options to choose from, depending on door width, weight, and configuration. It was easy to find the right option and install.
One of the biggest modifications I made was to use 3/4″ shaker-style doors, rather than the 1 1/2″ hollow-core doors suggested in the tutorial. I only had 18″ of space, and this was the best option I could come up with to keep the doors thin. To build the doors, I used 3/4″ poplar and 1/4″ plywood with a birch veneer on one side. A friend loaned me his rail and style router bits, and I decided to use “space balls” instead of gluing the panel to the rails.
Overall, I think I spent about 25 hours of work at a total cost of about $450. The result was well worth it.
