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This second installment of Kristi Linauer’s walnut bathroom-storage cabinet project is about one precise stage: fitting eight drawer fronts closely and evenly, then adding their pulls. The first alignment attempt failed when the fronts moved as she removed drawers and fastened them. Her restart used a different working position, a leveled and wall-secured cabinet, and physical spacers made from scrap wood and 1/8-inch plywood strips. That attempt produced the closely spaced row she wanted.
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The cabinet was not finished when the project update was published on August 29, 2022. The top still needed a new piece of walnut veneer, and the bottom trim had not yet been attached. What follows is a record of one builder’s process and decisions, not a tested universal cabinetmaking method.
What this DIY chest-of-drawers installment covers
The project is a walnut storage cabinet built for a bathroom. In this installment, the cabinet itself is far enough along for its eight drawer fronts to be fitted. The visible fronts had been veneered so the grain could continue from one drawer to the next, making alignment important for both spacing and appearance.
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Linauer’s work falls into three connected tasks:
- Positioning and fastening all eight drawer fronts.
- Drilling and installing the drawer pulls.
- Deciding how to complete the cabinet’s still-unfinished top and bottom trim.
The account is especially useful because it records a failed setup as well as the method that worked better for this cabinet. It does not report a durability test, a measured tolerance study, or a comparison of hardware products.
Why the first drawer-front alignment failed
For the first attempt, Linauer laid the cabinet on its back. She used sticky tabs to hold the fronts in position and placed 1/8-inch tile spacers between them to establish the gaps. The plan was to remove each drawer, screw its front to the drawer box, and then return the drawer to the cabinet.
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The problem appeared during that transfer. The fronts shifted while she was taking the drawers out and fastening the fronts from the inside. Because the temporary positioning did not survive the movement, the gaps and alignment no longer matched the layout she had made. Rather than accept a visibly inconsistent row, she undid the work and started again.
This is an important distinction in the project record: 1/8-inch tile spacers were part of the unsuccessful attempt. The account does not establish that the spacers themselves were defective or unsuitable in every cabinet. The failure resulted from the fronts moving during the sequence of removing drawers and attaching them.
How the second attempt was organized
The restart changed both the cabinet’s position and the way the fronts were supported. Instead of working with the cabinet lying on its back, Linauer put it in its intended location, leveled it, and secured it to the wall before laying out the fronts.
- Place the cabinet. The cabinet was moved into position rather than left on its back.
- Level and secure it. She leveled the cabinet and fastened it to the wall. The account treats this as the starting condition for the successful layout.
- Set the lower reference gap. Scrap wood cut to about 3/4 inch was used to establish the space above the bottom trim.
- Attach the lower fronts first. The lower drawer fronts were positioned against that reference and fastened to their drawer boxes.
- Build the remaining layout with strips. Long strips of 1/8-inch-thick plywood served as vertical and horizontal spacers while the later fronts were placed.
- Fasten from inside the boxes. With the other drawers removed, she reached inside the cabinet and screwed each front to its corresponding drawer box.
Linauer reports that this sequence ended with eight closely spaced fronts. That result belongs to this particular cabinet and setup; it is not a guarantee that the same spacer thickness will suit another drawer system.
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How the physical spacers controlled the gaps
The successful layout relied on rigid pieces that could stay in place while each front was attached. The approximately 3/4-inch scrap-wood piece established the vertical relationship between the bottom drawer-front area and the bottom trim. The long 1/8-inch plywood strips then acted as repeatable references between fronts.
Using long strips differs from placing a small spacer at only one point. A strip can support or register a larger portion of an edge while the front is being held and screwed. In Linauer’s account, the strips were used in both directions: vertical and horizontal. The exact dimensions of the cabinet, drawer boxes, and strips beyond their thickness are not stated.
The change from tile spacers to plywood strips should therefore be read as a change in the whole setup, not as proof that one material is universally better. In the first attempt, the fronts were laid out with the cabinet on its back and later disturbed during drawer removal. In the second, the cabinet was already leveled and secured, and the strips helped locate each front while the drawer boxes were accessed from inside.
Attaching each front to its drawer box
Once a front was positioned against the spacers, Linauer removed the other drawers so she could reach into the cabinet. She then drove screws through the drawer box and into the front. Working from inside kept the fastening operation behind the visible face and allowed the fronts to remain in the cabinet’s installed position.
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After all eight fronts were attached, Linauer describes the result as closely spaced. No numerical gap measurement for the completed row is given beyond the 1/8-inch thickness of the plywood strips used as positioning aids.
Installing the drawer pulls before the final finish
With the fronts attached, Linauer installed the drawer pulls. She states a consistent preference: “I always like to drill holes for knobs and pulls before applying the final finish on furniture and cabinets.” That sentence describes her own practice, not a cited industry standard.
For this cabinet, the practical implication is that the pull-hole drilling happened while the drawer fronts were accessible and before the final finish was applied. Drilling at this stage avoids making fresh holes through a completed finish later in the process. The account does not name the pulls’ manufacturer, model, dimensions, finish, hole spacing, or installation template, so there is no basis for comparing hardware or prescribing a particular layout.
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If you are adapting the sequence to another project, the transferable idea is to decide when the fronts are easiest to support and mark, then keep that timing consistent across the set. The exact pull location remains a design and measurement decision for the cabinet being built.
Why the walnut veneer grain mattered
The drawer-front veneer was cut so the walnut grain would continue across successive fronts. That visual continuity explains why the fronts were treated as one composition rather than eight unrelated panels. Even small changes in position can interrupt a grain path, so the spacing operation served an appearance goal as well as a mechanical one.
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The same concern affected the cabinet top. The veneer remaining in the shop was about an inch too narrow for the intended coverage, and its grain ran front-to-back instead of side-to-side. Linauer decided not to use those scraps and ordered another piece. Her choice shows that the material’s direction and width were part of the design, not merely leftover-material questions.
No species grading, veneer supplier, adhesive, or finish schedule is identified in this installment. The documented decision is narrower: obtain a piece wide enough for the top and oriented in the direction the design called for.
What was still unfinished on August 29, 2022
The drawer fronts and pulls were in place, but the cabinet was not presented as a completed reveal. Two visible tasks remained:
- Top: The available veneer was approximately an inch too narrow and had the wrong grain direction, so additional veneer was ordered.
- Bottom trim: The trim had not yet been attached. Linauer planned to decide its final treatment after the top was complete.
That timing matters when interpreting photographs or descriptions from this installment. “Eight closely spaced fronts” describes the progress achieved at this point; it does not mean every exterior detail of the bathroom cabinet had been completed. The later finished status is outside this account.
First and second installation attempts compared
| Part of the process | First attempt | Second attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet position | Cabinet laid on its back. | Cabinet placed in position, leveled, and secured to the wall. |
| Initial positioning aid | Sticky tabs and 1/8-inch tile spacers. | About 3/4-inch scrap wood for the lower gap. |
| Spacers between later fronts | 1/8-inch tile spacers. | Long 1/8-inch-thick plywood strips used vertically and horizontally. |
| How fronts were fastened | Fronts shifted while drawers were removed and screwed to their boxes; the work was undone. | Other drawers were removed so each front could be screwed to its box from inside. |
| Reported result | Alignment was not retained, so Linauer restarted. | Eight closely spaced fronts were reported. |
This is a comparison of two attempts on one cabinet, not a controlled test. It identifies what changed in Linauer’s workflow and what outcome she reported.
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A careful way to interpret the spacing method
The project offers a useful troubleshooting pattern: when temporary alignment moves during fastening, change the support and the order of operations rather than simply repeating the same layout. In this case, the restart combined three controls—an installed and leveled cabinet, a defined lower reference, and long physical spacers.
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Each control answered a different problem. Leveling and wall attachment stabilized the cabinet. The scrap-wood piece established where the first fronts sat above the trim. The plywood strips transferred the intended separation to subsequent fronts while the drawer boxes were accessed from inside.
Because the article reports only one successful installation, it cannot establish the best gap for a different cabinet, whether 1/8 inch will look right with another veneer, or how the fronts will perform after repeated bathroom use. Those decisions require measurements and testing specific to the project at hand.
Material and hardware details actually identified
- Drawer fronts: Walnut-veneered fronts arranged so the grain continued across successive pieces.
- Temporary first-attempt spacers: 1/8-inch tile spacers, used with sticky tabs.
- Successful-attempt lower spacer: Scrap wood cut to about 3/4 inch.
- Successful-attempt repeat spacers: Long strips of 1/8-inch-thick plywood, used vertically and horizontally.
- Hardware: Drawer pulls were installed, but their brand, model, dimensions, and finish were not identified.
- Top material: Additional walnut veneer was ordered after the available piece proved about an inch too narrow and had grain running front-to-back.
These are project details reported by Linauer. They are not a bill of materials or a specification for every bathroom cabinet.
What this account can—and cannot—tell a future builder
It can show how one builder recovered from moving fronts, how she used a fixed cabinet and physical spacers to repeat a layout, and why grain direction influenced a veneer decision. It can also help explain why a progress article should not be mistaken for a finished-cabinet reveal.
It cannot establish a universal installation method, a required spacer size, a durability rating, or a preferred drawer-pull product. It does not provide cabinet dimensions, drawer-box construction, screw specifications, finish chemistry, or a later report on the completed top and bottom trim.
The most defensible takeaway is procedural: Linauer’s second attempt reduced movement by securing the cabinet first, setting a lower reference, using long 1/8-inch plywood strips to maintain the layout, and fastening each front from inside its drawer box. Her eight-front result demonstrates what worked in this project, while the unfinished top and trim mark the boundary of what this installment documents.
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