Kitchen Cabinet with lights

I'm getting started on my kitchen cabinets. The uppers will have a 36" high cabinet with a 16" one on top of that. The 16" one will have a glass door insert and have lighting. My idea is to build one 52" box and use a divider, an extra bottom, at the bottom of the 16" one to split it into two cabinets. The face frame would have a matching cross piece to make it look like two separate cabinets. My thoughts on this divider is to cut a 1/4" slot into the 3/4" sides and slide the divider in. Is this a good approach?


I'm also wondering about the lighting. My doors have little bumpers that prevent wood to wood contact when closed. Will light spill out between the face frames and doors? Same question about the divider, will light leak down to the bottom cabinet?

Cabinets are 3/4" pre-finished on one side plywood boxes with popular face frames. Doors are overlay, shaker style.

Thanks!

I used the LeeValley LED kit on our pantry and they have a microswitch you can setup to turn the lights on/off:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=74353&cat=1,43349
I'm not sure if you're wanting the lights on all the time though? If so I think the answer is "yes, probably some" but you could minimize it with careful placement and diffuser choice.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=71702&cat=1,43349
Disclaimer: I'm 100% sure there are cheaper lighting systems out there that are just as good but these were cheap enough that I went with a reputable company so I knew more or less what I was getting into.

I'm thinking the 1/4" divider won't be strong enough to support much weight. You can plug the numbers in here:
http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/
and get an idea of what you're in for. You might get away with the idea with 3/8" but run the numbers there with what you're intending to use it for and see how it works out.

Ryan,
That sagulator web site was very interesting. They certainly have an impressive list of different wood species and shelf materials.

Paul Brubacher said:

Ryan,
That sagulator web site was very interesting. They certainly have an impressive list of different wood species and shelf materials.

Click to expand...

It's always nice when someone else has done the math for you

They have 4 choices for just douglas fir though and I'm pretty sure I've never seen it sold in that fine of granularity (much less the oak choices!!)... It would actually be easier to use if they just had a worst case for most of the classes (I guess you can run the calc 4 times but..).

I agree that a 1/4 inch divider would not be strong enough - especially not stiff enough. If you were thinking of using a regular 3/4 inch piece of plywood, cutting 1/4 inch off each side making a tenon and sliding it into a 1/4 slot, to hide the construction, then 1/4 inch would probably be enough, but I would probably use a 1/2 inch tenon.

In practice I cut precision dados in the sides, and don't use any tenons on the shelf. I start with a 1/2 inch router bit along a clamp/guide, 1/4 inch deep in the 3/4" sides. Then without moving the guide add a shim against the guide for a second pass. I have a collection of shims, 0.19" 0.20" 0.21" 0.22" etc. I cut a couple inches along the shim and decide if the dado is the perfect width for the shelf board; if not I move to the next thicker shim. 23/32" plywood (the nominal thickness of 3/4" ply) would require a shim 0.21875" (or about 0.22") but in practice I am often happy with a thinner shim, meaning the plywood is actually less than 23/32. Generally I can use the same shim over an entire shipment of plywood, but occasionally get a sheet so bad that each shelf is different.