Has anyone done two sided upper cabinets?

[Donald Thomson]

I am embarking on a island design that has hanging upper cabinets. The customer wants to have access from both sides - door on front and door on back - pass through. Need faceframe on front, faceframe on back, door on front, door on back. I am also planning on having 2 tops for strength, unless a single 3/4" top using mortise and tenon joinery for the cabinet would be strong enough.

Can anyone give me some ideas how this can be done?

[Scott Marshburn]

Absolutely. You can even do this without having to make the cabinet an assembly.
1. In cabinet editor create an upper cabinet that is the same size as the one that you need for the upper Island cabinet. Remove all parts leaving just the face frame and doors. Change the depth of this cabinet to the thickness of the frame material. Save this cabinet as you would a normal cabinet. You can name it something like upper applied frame.
2. Now double click on the cabinet and select file then select export selection. You will see the save as dialogue. It should say something like Public> Public Documents > Thermwood > eCabinet Systems > import > Sample_ HSFs. You can select a different folder if you have created one in the import directory or you can create a new on but it has to be in the import directory. Now name the frame and doors and click save.
3. At this point you have created a display object of the frame and doors. You also have made a cabinet with just a frame and doors.
4. Return to the room and select the upper cabinet. Take it into cabinet editor. Remove the back and any stretchers that you may have in the back of the cabinet.
5. In display objects find the folder that you saved the frame and doors in. Make sure that you are selecting the display object that you just created not the actual cabinet. It will not have an image just the name. Select the frame and doors it will load centered on the origin.
6. Select the frame and doors and using the align tool align it to the back side of the cabinet You will most likely need to rotate it also.
7. Associate the object to the cabinet the return to the room. Now you have a cabinet with a frame and door on the back. But because the back frame and doors is a display object it will not show up on the cut list.
8. Go into batch and this time select the cabinet that you made in step 1. You can rename it something like Upper Island cabinet back frame and doors or whatever you wish.
9. Now you have a cabinet in the room to show your customer and it is not an assembly. At the same time you have the frame and doors for the back of this cabinet that will be on the cut list.

[Jean G Voyer]

Scott,

Will the whole cabinet re size if I have to resize it?

[Scott Marshburn]

Scott,

Will the whole cabinet re size if I have to resize it?

No Jean. You will have to take the cabinet into the cabinet editor. Select the display object then right click and select scale object make sure that preserve aspect ratio is unchecked and change the width and/or height. As long as the width and/or height is not changed dramatically for example from 48 to 96 or something like that there will not be an obvious difference in the front and back Frames. Do not forget to change the size of the frame in the batch though. You will have to play around with this method and see if it works for you. Let me know how it works.

[Donald Thomson]

Thank you so much Scott!!!!

I will give that a try.

[Jean G Voyer]

Thanks Scott.
It's a lot more than what I ask for but it's very much appreciated. I was just curious because it's not a situation I run into very often. The next time I will know what to do. Thanks

[Dennis Englert]

Don,

There is a video on building an island cabinet that portrays most of what Scott detailed. The difference, as he noted with his description is that you create a Display Object and associate it to the cabinet. The cabinet is still a cabinet then, whereas the method discussed in the video becomes an assembly. Either way works, but Scott's method makes it easier to install the cabinet as it will obey the Placement mode options, such as Align to Back. That's pretty sweet and I think worth the extra effort of creating the Object.

Dennis

[Kerry Fullington]

I go about this a little different way.
Choose your upper cabinet (or base cabinet) then rotate it into position as you place it in the room. Click again to place a second instance of this cabinet using align to back. You now have two of the same cabinet end to end. Take the second cabinet into the cabinet editor and turn all parts except the face frame and doors for framed or just the doors for frameless into phantom parts. Return this cabinet to the room then rotate it 180 degrees then use free style and the proper move increment to match the width of the cabinet to mesh the two cabinets together. You will probably need to offset the two cabinets by the door thickness. You now have all the parts for your cabinets that can be re sized and adjusted using adjust cabinet features. Hide phantom parts on your previews and render views and the cabinet looks as it should. This also makes it easy to add moldings etc. and your cutlist is correct. For frameless you can offset the hinge hole patterns in the part editor to get the machine to cut them.