Storage and storage solutions can sometimes be tricky.  Well at least for me they seem to be.  I hate building anything to store items only to find out a short time later that my storage needs have changed.  My thoughts on how to combat this was to have modular storage where not only the cabinets can be moved around easily as my needs change, but the cabinet themselves can be easily modified to fit different contents and make various items more accessible.  I had the idea to have cabinets that have 1″ in center dados cut and for most every shelf and divider to be sized to the nearest inch.  My hope is to be able to quickly and easily change my storage systems just as quickly as my needs and workflow seems to change.  With this being my first cabinet of this style, I would guess certain things will need to be tweaked over time.  If this can be even a starting point to ideal customizable storage I will be more than happy.  I guess only time will tell.

I started off with cutting the sides, top and bottom to size.

I like using the fence to reference of of when making repeat cuts.  you should use a spacer/stop block when using the fence and the miter gauge.  This keeps the wood from getting bound up between the fence and the blade.

When cutting them down to final size, make sure to account for the thickness of the spacer block on the fence.

Once the four cabinet pieces were all cut I switched over to my dado blade set.

With a sacrificial fence installed, I cut rabbets on both the top and bottom of each of the side pieces.

Afte switching my dado blade set to 1/4″ wide, you can cut a groove along the back edge of each piece.  This will be for the back panel to come later.

Again using the 1/4″ dado setup, I cut 1″ on center dados on the insides of both of the side components.  I also cut one dado in the center of the inside of both the top and bottom sections.

I didn’t even bother changing to a standard blade to make the two cuts needed to get the back piece to final size.

It’s always a good practice to test fit all the parts prior to adding glue to make sure everything fits as it should.  It is a lot easier to make any adjustments now rather than after glue is applied.

I then applied glue to the joints and clamped one end into place.  Before clamping the opposite end, insert the back panel.

Once everything looks good and you can pre drill for 3 screws per joint and screws the screws in.  I used 2″ long screws for this step.

Then using the table saw I cut approximately 12 larger shelves and 6 smaller shelves to their final size.

Using one of the offcuts that was the same width as the large shelves, I created a quick jig to drill out some relief notches to make sandpaper easier to grab.

Once the jig was clamp to my drill press table, a forstner bit made quick work of making the notches.

A couple leftover pieces of plywood made great shelves in which to integrate dividers.  I cut a groove down the center of both sides along with rabbets on both ends so they fit into the 1/4″ dados cut in the sides earlier.

A quick french cleat glued and screwed to the back of the cabinet made hanging it onto an existing french cleat on the wall super easy.  I planned on this being an end cabinet so I only notched the back of the cabinet on one side.  I you were to have the cabinet in the middle of the cleat, you would want to notch both sides.

Sliding all of the shelf and divider components took less than 5 minutes.  With only one of the shelves needing to cut down approximately 1/16″ to fit.

All said and done, I hope it keeps me from making too much of a mess of my sandpaper.  Thanks for checking it out!