A Medicine Cabinet for Dummies

Picture-frame cabinet

Among the more irritating habits of freelance writers at the former eHow.com was a tendency to reinterpret the questions they were answering (and we use that word loosely) to make their jobs easier. The result was, to be blunt, often well worthy of the title of DotD. Want an example? Sure: let's say the question was, "How to Make a Recessed Medicine Cabinet From a Picture Frame," and let's see just how Roger Golden blew it for SFGate.com.

As an aside, one of the staffers used the "repurposed picture frame" idea for a display case; you can see his approach documented in his blog. Now that that's out of the way, let's look at Golden's idea, which is to build a 16-by-24 box of 1x4 boards, put a ¹⁄₈-inch "panel" on the back (and on the back of the picture frame? He never actually says) and shove the whole assembly into a hole in the wall. So let's recap: according to Golden, you'll build your cabinet's shell with,

"2 1-by-4-by-24-inch boards" and "2 1-by-4-by-14 1/2-inch boards"

When assembled following Roger's directions, those pieces result in a frame that is 16 by 24 inches. So what's wrong with that? Well, Apparently Roger didn't stop to think: a recessed medicine cabinet has to fit in a cavity between wall studs, which – making the reasonable assumption that the framing is 16" on center – is only 14½" wide! So, after all that work, including putting screws into the back panel every four inches (talk about overkill!), your cabinet ain't gonna fit in the space...

Roger's plans have other problems as well, not least is that they call for adjustable shelves 14½ long. We're of the opinion that cutting the shelves slightly shorter will make it a lot easier to move them around. You?

For unknown reasons, Golden rested the shelves on dowels set into holes, but didn't specify additional holes for adjustable shelves. Duh. Instead of sturdier rabbet or dado joints, his frame is all butt joints with a gazillion screws. 

As is typical of eHow.com's many self-appointed "experts," Golden cited an utterly useless reference for his topic (a list of project plans that does not include plans for this project), from which it is clear that our Dumbass of the Day cribbed plans for a wall-mounted medicine cabinet, performing a classic eHow "contributor" MSU¹ job to write his "instructions." Oh, yeah, this guy's getting an award for sure...

¹ MSU = "Making Shit Up."

DDIY - CABINETS