Lateral File Cabinet

by Dan Phalen

Scappoose, Oregon, 26 Sep 2007—It's always fun to build something for the shop, but my first project of real furniture had a truly useful function inside the house.

We had just moved from California and left our computer setup with our home buyers there. My wife Sue was in desperate need of four major pieces of furniture: a lateral file cabinet, a china display cabinet, a document cabinet, and a computer desk. She gave me her priorities and I got right to work on the design of the lateral file.

Sue wanted this first because she was living with her files and paperwork in cartons and plastic bins stacked in her small bedroom office.

closed

I had to work from the plans below because at that point in my development as a woodworker, I couldn't have managed without the design details provided.

opened

As you can see, my wife didn't waste any time filling it up. Both drawers ride on 18" full extension Accuride glides. She wanted the center divider so she could orient the files as shown. If you pulled out both drawers at once, the whole thing tipped over. Not anymore with the china hutch on top, as shown here.

That's a corner of the old computer desk she continued to work on for the next year--her choice, because she wanted the china display case next. It was only 18 inches deep and four feet wide with a top cut from a countertop remnant I got from the lumber yard for $20.