My current project is two custom cat litter cabinets. These cabinets will be built to look like a piece of furniture, such as side table, to conceal the client’s two cat litter boxes. The cabinets will feature a small entry on the side for the cat to enter, a shelf for storage and a slide out drawer for the litter box to make changing the litter easier.
I started out by milling the majority of the lumber I need. I moved on to final milling ending up with enough stock to make the frames and panels for the four side assemblies. The frames are made with traditional tongue and groove joinery.
Once the frames were made and assembled, I was able to take real life measurements to size the panels. After glueing up the panels to rough size, I cut them down to final dimensions and move on to creating the tongues for them to fit into the frames.
Rather than having a completely flat panel, I decided to create a miniature raised for a little extra detail. I use a 1/8″ roundover bit and the panels run vertically over the router bit to create a small, convex raised panel. I finished up the tongue with a rabbet on the opposite side to end up with a 1/4″ x 1/2″ deep tongue. I think this is a cool trick to have in your tool box, as it doesn’t require any expensive raised panel bits and can be really versatile for panels and drawer fronts.
Whitehurst Custom Woodworking 