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Wide and low beats tall and deep for most bedrooms — every drawer at reachable height, a top that doubles as a dressing surface, no tip-over anxiety. This one is 54" of dresser with seven drawers: a bank of small ones over wider ones, all on 16" euro slides.
The carcass is efficient: 3/4" plywood sides (the sheet rips into 15-1/2" strips, and the plan cheerfully admits you'll only use half — the rest is future shelving), 2x2 legs, 1x2 rails front AND back, and a 1/4" plywood back. The layout-critical parts are the 1x3 vertical dividers: they install flush to the FRONT but overhang 1" to the INSIDE, and that 1" overhang is the mounting surface for the drawer slides. The source's warning deserves its emphasis — these must be placed exactly as measured, front matching back, because they ARE the drawer-slide geometry. Cut a pair of spacer blocks and place every divider with them; measuring each independently is how drift creeps in.
Drawer doctrine is the catalog standard, stated plainly in the source: measure EVERY opening (don't assume uniformity), build boxes to the slide maker's spec, install 3/4" inset, then apply 1x8 faces with 1/8" gaps — brads to position, screws from inside to hold. The tip to mount drawer pulls on the faces BEFORE attaching them is small and excellent: drilling pull holes on a bench beats drilling them into an installed drawer.
Mill-width note, verbatim from the plan: it assumes 1x8s are a true 7-1/4" wide. Measure yours before cutting faces. And add the fifth center 'leg' under the bottom rail if you load drawers like most humans — the plan offers it for sag insurance, and sag insurance is cheap at one offcut.
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| Plywood, 3/4", 4x8 sheet, ripped into 15-1/2" stripsSides and top — about half the sheet; the leftover strips are free future shelves. | 1 each |
| 2x2, 8 ftLegs and bottom supports. | 3 each |
| 1x2, 10 ftFront/back rails between drawers, and top trim. | 4 each |
| 1x3, 10 ftThe vertical dividers — the drawer-slide layout jig. | 1 each |
| 1x6, 8 ftDrawer boxes. | 6 each |
| 1x8, 8 ftDrawer faces. Plan assumes a true 7-1/4" width — measure yours. | 2 each |
| Plywood, 1/4", 4x8 sheetBack and drawer bottoms. | 1 each |
| Euro drawer slides, 16" | 7 each |
| Knobs or handlesMount them to the faces BEFORE the faces go on. | 7 each |
| Pocket hole screws, 1-1/4" and 2-1/2" | 150 each |
| Brad nails, 5/8" and 1-1/4" | 200 each |
| Wood glue | 8 oz |
| Stain or paint | 1 qt |
Overall cost: $$$. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.
| Part | Qty | T × W × L |
|---|---|---|
| Side panels3/4" plywood | 2 | 3/4" × 15 1/2" × 26 1/4" |
| Legs2x2 | 4 | 1 1/2" × 1 1/2" × 31 1/4" |
| Back and bottom supports2x2 | 2 | 1 1/2" × 1 1/2" × 49 1/2" |
| Front/back rails1x2 | 6 | 3/4" × 1 1/2" × 49 1/2" |
| Vertical dividers1x3Flush front, 1" overhang inside — the slide-mounting surface. Place with spacer blocks, front matching back exactly. | 8 | 3/4" × 2 1/2" × 7 1/2" |
| Bottom center support2x2 | 1 | 1 1/2" × 1 1/2" × 15 1/2" |
| Top3/4" plywood | 1 | 3/4" × 15 1/2" × 54 1/2" |
| Top trim, 1x21x2 | 1 | 3/4" × 1 1/2" × 54 1/2" |
| Top trim, 1x31x3 | 1 | 3/4" × 2 1/2" × 54 1/2" |
| Back1/4" plywood | 1 | 1/4" × 26 1/4" × 52 1/2" |
| Drawer sides1x6Drawers are CUT TO FIT their measured openings — fronts/backs per the slide spec, faces from 1x8 with 1/8" gaps. | 14 | 3/4" × 5 1/2" × 16" |
Buy 18 boards at 8 ft.
3 boards
2 boards
Join each plywood side panel to its 2x2 legs, everything flush to the INSIDE, 3/4" pocket holes every 8–10" with 1-1/4" screws. Drill extra pocket holes facing UP along the top edges now — the source's tip — so attaching the top later is a reach-in, not a redesign.
Connect the sides with the 1x2 rails — at every drawer line, on BOTH faces of the dresser, pocket holes on the undersides — and the 2x2 supports at the bottom (1-1/2" holes, 2-1/2" screws). The back rails matter as much as the front: the slides need level track at both ends of their travel.
Install the 1x3 dividers flush to the front, overhanging 1" to the inside. Cut two spacer blocks to the drawer-opening width and place every divider against them, front and back matching exactly.
The overhang is the drawer-slide mounting surface and the spacing is the drawer-slide geometry — this ten-minute step decides whether step 5 is pleasant or purgatory.
Add the 2x2 center support under the bottom rails. Loading seven drawers with actual clothes? Run a fifth leg from this support to the floor — the plan offers it, and a wide dresser full of denim accepts.
Measure each opening individually (the plan says so because openings vary, even in careful builds), and build each 1x6 box to your slide maker's width spec, sides at 16" to match the slides. Bottoms are 1/4" ply, glued and bradded with 5/8" nails.
Install each drawer 3/4" inset — the face's thickness. Build one, hang one, verify, then production-line the rest.
Cut the 1x8 faces to their openings with 1/8" gaps all around. Drill and mount each pull ON THE BENCH, then attach each face — 1-1/4" brads from the front to position, 1-1/4" screws from inside the drawer to hold.
Seven faces with seven identical reveals is what makes this piece look bought; a spacer strip under each row keeps you honest.
Build the top — plywood panel with the 1x2/1x3 trim built up on the edge (3/4" pocket holes, 1-1/4" screws) — and land it via the upward pocket holes from step 1. Nail the 1/4" back on with 5/8" brads and glue into every rail and side it crosses; the back is the carcass's shear panel.
Finish, then load it low and wide, the way dressers were meant to be.
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Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →