This project was built and designed by Tyler from DIYTyler.
Facing the daunting task of building somewhere between thirty and forty drawers and trays for a full kitchen remodel, Tyler skipped the idea of solid wood boxes in favor of a plywood build that would be edge banded to look just as refined. With every lower cabinet needing two to four trays, the sheer volume made efficiency and repeatability the name of the game.
Watch the full video and subscribe to DIYTyler:
Breaking Down the Plywood
With a large stack of plywood to process, the first step was ripping everything to width on a table saw before heading to a miter saw station set up with a repeatable stop block. That kind of setup becomes essential once you’re cutting hundreds of parts for dozens of boxes, since consistency is the only way to keep a project like this manageable.
Every piece was checked for a clean square edge before cutting, and any small offcuts or debris were cleared from the stop block to avoid tiny errors compounding across so many parts. Blue tape labeling and a running cut list helped keep track of which pieces belonged to which drawer, a simple but effective system when working at this scale.
Joinery: Dadoes and Butt Joints
Rather than hanging the drawer bottoms off the sides, Tyler cut dadoes into the box parts so the bottoms could sit fully supported inside a groove. This adds strength and helps the boxes hold up over years of use, especially important for drawers and trays that will see daily wear.
Since the plywood used for the bottoms was slightly thinner than a quarter inch, a single dado stack pass wasn’t quite accurate enough. To compensate, Tyler ran the material through twice, shifting the fence slightly between passes to widen the groove just enough for a snug fit.
The boxes themselves come together with simple butt joints reinforced by half-lap style overlaps at the corners. This approach keeps the joinery straightforward while still providing plenty of glue surface and mechanical strength once nailed and glued together.
Edge Banding for a Finished Look
To hide the raw plywood edges and make the drawers look like solid wood, edge banding was applied to all the visible faces before assembly. The banding was ironed on, rolled for good adhesion, then trimmed clean with flush-cutting tools for a seamless finish.
Doing the edge banding before cutting the joinery mattered here, since some of those joints slice directly through the banded edges. Applying the banding first prevented extra cleanup work with a chisel or utility knife after the joints were cut.
Assembly in Batches
With so many parts in play, the biggest challenge during assembly wasn’t the joinery itself but simply keeping all the matching pieces organized. Laying out the sides in an opposing pattern allowed glue to be applied across multiple pieces at once, speeding up an otherwise repetitive process.
Sides were nailed to the front, the bottom was dropped into its dado, and the back panel closed out each box before a final round of brad nails locked everything into place. Depending on the thickness of the bottom panel used across different drawers, Tyler sometimes skipped nailing the bottom directly and instead relied on careful squaring before letting the glue set.
A Costly Lesson with Drawer Slides
Choosing to use undermount drawer slides for the first time led to an unexpected setback. After assembling dozens of trays, it became clear that the hardware required extra clearance behind the drawer box that hadn’t been accounted for, forcing a partial teardown and rebuild of several cabinets to correct the spacing.
The fix ended up being less painful than expected once the pattern was understood, but it’s a valuable reminder for anyone attempting a similar build. Testing hardware fit on a single drawer before mass-producing dozens of them can save a lot of rework down the line.
Installing the Slides Correctly
Once the sizing issue was resolved, the proper installation process became clear. Notches cut into the back of each drawer allow the undermount slide to pass through, while a small drilled hole lets a locking mechanism catch and keep the drawer secured in place.
Attaching the locking hardware required paying attention to screw length, especially on thinner bottom panels where longer screws poked through and had to be ground down. Spacing at the front of the drawer also needed slight adjustment to let the slide clip in smoothly.
Mounting the Drawers in the Cabinets
Installing the slides into the cabinets themselves turned out to be a simple process once the drawers were corrected. Using a level to hold the slide in place while driving the first screws, then extending the slide fully to secure the back, made for accurate and repeatable installs across every cabinet.
For cabinets without a full side panel, clip-style mounts attached to the back of the cabinet carcass instead, with careful measuring ensuring consistent depth from front to back. Once everything was fastened, the drawers simply dropped into place and clicked onto their locking mechanisms.
Why This Approach Works
Building dozens of drawers by hand instead of buying pre-made boxes is no small task, but the combination of plywood construction, dadoed joinery, and edge banding offers a durable and attractive result without the cost of solid wood. The drawer slide mishap also serves as a useful lesson for anyone tackling a large batch of cabinetry hardware for the first time.
For woodworkers planning a full kitchen or vanity remodel, this process shows how repeatable systems, careful batching, and a willingness to troubleshoot hardware issues can turn an overwhelming number of parts into a manageable, professional-looking outcome.
Watch the full video and subscribe to DIYTyler:
Matt’s Take
These are my personal thoughts and tips based on my own experience in the shop. This section is not written, reviewed, or endorsed by the original creator of this project.
Batching a project like this is really the only way to stay sane when you’re looking at 40 boxes. Setting up that stop block on the miter saw is a great call, but it’s worth double-checking it every so often with a tape measure rather than trusting it blindly all day. Sawdust and small offcuts can wedge in there in ways that aren’t always obvious, and a 1/16″ error repeated across dozens of parts adds up fast.
The dado-for-the-bottom approach is a solid choice over just pinning a bottom underneath the sides. It spreads out stress from daily use and keeps things square over time. Running plywood through a dado stack twice to sneak up on an odd thickness is a common trick, and it’s a good reminder that plywood rarely measures exactly what the label says. Always sneak up on that fit with test cuts in scrap rather than assuming a 1/4″ stack will give you a true 1/4″ slot.
Edge banding before joinery is smart sequencing, and it’s a good habit to file away for any plywood project where cuts intersect a banded edge. It saves a lot of fussy chisel work later.
The undermount slide clearance issue is a great example of why it pays to build and test-fit one drawer completely before committing to a full run of hardware. Slides vary quite a bit between brands in terms of required side and back clearance, so treating the first unit as a prototype can save hours of rework on a batch this size.