Buffet Serving Stand for Three Trays

Arrange the sides, ends, and two dividers on the bench and set your three actual trays in the bays. Adjust the dividers until every tray's rim catches the frame all around and the tray bodies hang free. THEN glue and brad-nail the frame together, two brads per joint.

Trays vary brand to brand; ten seconds of dry-fit beats an eighth-inch of wrong forever.

Glue and brad the 1/8" plywood bottom to the underside of the frame, nailing into the sides, ends, AND both dividers — the floor is what turns four sticks and two dividers into one rigid tray-carrier.

Screw the four 2x2 feet to the bottom corners — screws, not brads: feet get pried sideways every time the stand slides across a tablecloth, and that's the exact load that walks brads out of end grain. Mount a handle on each end.

Sand everything (hands and serving spoons live here), seal with washable poly, and drop the trays in. Three mains, one trip, no tray-tipping incidents at the potluck.