So, you are building a set of cabinets or a piece of furniture and it needs doors and drawers. However, you haven’t ever built any. You could go out and buy what you need, but if you want to use some special wood or build a fancy design, you might be out of luck. Where should you look for some easy to follow plans and valuable techniques to get you started?

Danny Proulx’s book – Cabinet Doors and Drawers – is a perfect starting place.

Say you want to build some doors. This well-written guide goes into great detail about design and construction of a multitude of door designs. Simple slabs, mitered rail, groove and stub tenon or cope and stick, Danny shows the steps in great detail with step-by-step pictures.

But, it’s more than just how the doors are built. Danny shares some simple jigs that can make building the doors a snap. You will also find methods that describe how to cut arched and cathedral rails to add more interest to your project.

If you want to build raised panels for your doors, there are several options available to you. Danny covers the basics about using panel-raising router bits, and offers another technique for using a table saw to achieve the look you want.

And, when it comes to drawers, the section is quite comprehensive. Screwed butt joints, biscuits, box joints, hand-cut dovetails, pocket screws, locking rabbet joints… Danny covers the bases from the most basic to the most highly skilled. Tips on how to properly size drawers for a cabinet, what materials to use and how to attach drawer fronts and bottoms round out a very thorough chapter.

Since there is so much work with the router, Danny offers plans on how to build an effective router fence to make your work safer and easier.

Unlike his other books, you won’t find project plans in this one, but you will reach for it more often than you think as you put your projects together.