2/8/2026 Note: I originally posted this blog on LumberJocks back in April 2017. I m re-posting it here so I can eventually remove it from there.
I'm a lazy drawer box builder. I have the utmost respect for those who create heirloom-quality dovetailed drawers, but I'm not likely to join their ranks. I use 1/2" plywood (birch for this project) for the sides, 1/4" plywood for the bottoms, and pocket screws and glue for joinery. I do route a 1/4" square slot 1/4" from the bottom edge of each side in which to float the bottom, but that's as fancy as I get.
I used two of my clamping cauls as right-angle braces when driving the screws.
I like Accuride 3832 full-extension drawer slides, and I used 18" ones for this desk. Because I pre-drilled pilot holes in the dividers and inner sides before assembling the case, installing the slides was easy.
The drawer faces took more care. I cut all three faces from the same board. I started by ripping the board to the exact height of the case's drawer cavities. Then I crosscut the center face to match the divider-to-divider distances and then cut the left and right faces to fill the remaining openings. At this point, I had three faces that filled the front of the case. I would need to trim those faces to create small gaps.
I wasn't sure how large the gaps between the drawer faces and the case, and between the drawers, should be. I found one article on the web that mentioned using pennies as spacers to create 1/16" gaps, so I decided to give that a try. That worked well. I used pennies to adjust my table saw's fence and crosscut stop block when trimming the edges.
At this point, I'm taking liberties with the construction sequence again. I added the drawer faces after finishing.
With that done, all that remained was attaching the faces to the drawer boxes. Before installing the drawers, I drilled two slightly oversized holes in the front of each drawer box. To position the faces, I used double-sided carpet tape on the drawer boxes and used the pennies again to position the faces. The tape is strong, and it held the faces in place as I carefully opened (by pushing from the back) and removed the drawers, then drove screws through the two holes. I then removed the screws and tape and re-drove the screws. The oversized holes enabled me to make slight adjustments after I reinstalled the drawers.
