This is the cabinet cutting page

Once you have designed the cabinet, it is time to cut out the wood and actually construct it.

Preparation

The first step is to draw out the design on your wood. Use a straight edge (a long level, say about 6', works well) to make sure that all your lines are as straight as possible and a carpenter's square to ensure that the 90° angles are actually square. Once you have traced out the design, look it over carefully and check for anything that doesn't look quite right. It is important to find any mistakes in dimensions, planning, or drawing now—once you have cut everything out, it's too late to put things back together and start over!

 

 

Now it is time to cut things out. Use caution when working with power tools!

Cutting

I suggest that you cut the long cuts on the panels with a circular saw, rather than a jigsaw. Circular saw cuts tend to be straighter and require less finishing work. For corner cuts (where two cuts come together) cut close to the corners with the circular saw and then finish the cut with a jigsaw.

It may be possible, if you have the right tools, to clamp the two side panel board together and cut them at the same time. This allows you to make sure that the sides are cut exactly the same. I would only do this if you are cutting with a circular saw—two thicknesses of wood are going to make a jigsaw cut much more difficult and prone to angling.

If you must use a jigsaw for the long straight cuts, go slowly and follow your lines as carefully as possible. A jigsaw tends to cut at an angle of you push it too hard or try and cut too fast. Once you finish, you will probably need to do some sanding to straighten out the edges where you have cut the panels.

Routing

After you have cut out the panels, you need to do any routing for the t-molding. T-molding is molding, shaped like a capital T (who'd have thought) that is placed into a groove in the edge of boards to hide and protect the cut edges of particle board.

Since it is easiest to use a router on the boards before they are assembled, I suggest completing this work now. Use caution when working with power tools!

On to the assembly process.