Farmhouse-style Buffet

Fine furniture meets rustic style.

Increase storage and serving space in your dining room while adding a touch of farmhouse style with this oak sideboard. There’s even room to conceal an audio system behind the barn-style doors so you can enjoy music with your meal.

Commercial rolling barn-door track and hangers proved too large, so we made a scaled-down version that relies on readily available—and inexpensive—steel flat bar stock and common hardware.

The carcase comes first

1 Cut to size the sides, partitions, fixed shelves, and bottom (A–D) [Drawing 1, Materials List].

2 Rabbet the back inside edge of each side (A). Notch the partitions (B) and drill shelf-pin holes in them [Drawing 1a].

Form biscuit slots in parts A–D, and glue

3

the carcase together [Photo A].

Cut to length the stretchers (E), drill pocket

4

holes and screw holes [Drawing 1], and glue and screw them to the A–D assembly.

5 Cut the back (F) to size and set it aside. Form the slot in the middle [Drawing 1b] if you will put electronics in the center bay.

Put up a good front

1 Cut the face frame outer stiles (G) about 1⁄16" wider than listed and the other stiles and rails (H–K) to size.

2 Drill pocket holes in parts H–J [Drawing 1].

Glue and screw the face frame (G–J) together (omit parts K for now).

3 Glue the face frame to the carcase, keeping the top rail (I) flush with the top edge of the front stretcher (E) and the bottom rail (J) flush with the bottom surface of the bottom (D). Equalize the overhangs at the ends.

Glue the center rails (K) to the fixed shelves

4

(C) [Photo B]. After the glue dries, flushtrim the outer stiles (G) to the outer face of the sides (A), attach the back (F) with glue and brads, and finish-sand the A–K assembly.

Edge-glue stock for the top (L). Cut the

5

top to size, finish-sand it, and set it aside.

Build a base

1 Starting with stock about 1" longer than listed, miter-cut the base front trim (M), side trim (N), front (O), sides (P), front cleat (Q), and side cleats (R) to length. Drill holes in the top of the front trim (M) for the door guide pins [Exploded View].

2 Turn the carcase upside down, then glue and screw the trim (M, N) to the bottom, flush at the back, with equal overhangs at both ends [Exploded View].

3 Cut biscuit slots in the base front and sides (O, P) and glue them together, making the corners square.

4 Glue and screw the cleats (Q, R) inside the base (O/P), flush at the top. Finishsand the base.

5 Glue and screw the base/cleat assembly (O–R) to the bottom of the cabinet.

Add shelves and doors

1 Cut to size the movable shelves (S) and edges (T). Glue an edge to the front of each shelf, flush at the top and ends [Exploded

View]. Finish-sand the shelves.

2 Cut the door stiles, rails, and panels (U–W) and four pieces of stock

1⁄4×21⁄4×32" for the crosses (X, Y) [Drawing 2].

3 Center a groove along one edge of each stile (U) and rail (V) to fit the thickness of the door panels (W).

4 Form stub tenons on the ends of the rails (V) to fit the stile (U) grooves [Drawing 2].

5 Dry-assemble the stiles and rails for both doors (clamp if necessary, but do not glue) and fit the long and short crosses inside the opening [Skill Builder, next page]. 6 Chamfer the crosses (X, Y) [Drawing 2] to create shadow lines for a rustic look, finish-sand the door parts (U–Y), and glue together the stiles and rails around each panel [Drawing 2]. Glue the crosses to the doors. 7 Center a groove on the bottom of each door [Drawing 2]. Glue a guide stop (Z) into each stile groove at the outside edge. Touch up the finish-sanding as necessary.