6" Filler Tray Base Cabinet

If you're building a full kitchen, make sure every cabinet in the run comes from the same matched collection of plans — this filler cabinet is designed to sit alongside the rest of a specific base-cabinet system, and the sides must be identical to line up. This particular cabinet has no adjustable shelves, so skip drilling shelf-pin holes. Cut the two sides as true mirror images, with the face-frame pocket holes on the outside faces, and make sure every toekick across your whole run is cut to the same height.

Rip strips 5" wide from cheaper plywood — this is hidden underneath the cabinet — and cut to length. Drill 3/4" pocket holes on the outsides for easy drill access, plus a second set of 3/4" pocket holes facing upward for attaching the bottom shelf. Attach with 1-1/4" pocket screws.

Use the leftover finished-plywood strip from ripping the sides for the top supports, since they may be visible through the narrow opening — ours came out about 3-1/2" wide, but 1x boards work too and the width isn't critical.

Attach the shelves from the outside of the carcass with countersunk 2" wood screws — there's no room to reach a drill inside a cabinet this narrow.

Because this cabinet is so narrow, a standard overhanging face frame would waste real storage space — rip poplar down to 1x1 (3/4" x 3/4") for the stiles and shelf trim instead, keeping the top and bottom rails as 1x2 to match the rest of the kitchen. Build the face frame with one 3/4" pocket hole per end of each 1x1, 1-1/4" pocket screws, and glue. Attach the completed frame through the pocket holes already drilled in the sides and top support.

Attach the back panel with finish nails and glue, edge-band any visible shelf fronts, and sand the whole assembly.

Because the face frame here is narrower than standard, this cabinet needs a 1/2" overlay drawer face rather than the usual 1-1/4" overlay — and a hinge rated for frameless cabinets, since the mounting bracket differs from a standard face-frame hinge. When ordering, match the overall drawer-face height to the rest of your cabinets so the 1/2" reveal between all doors and drawers stays consistent across the kitchen.