Build a barn door cabinet or pantry - free plans by ANA-WHITE.com
Special thanks to Varathane for bringing you this free project plan. This post may contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting our website at no cost to you.
Happy Monday friends!
No baby news yet - but no new video this week either. We are going to take a little maternity leave from videos (as they are quite time consuming to film and edit).
In our last video, we built this barn door cabinet pantry -
I am so in love with it! In fact, I'm already planning a second barn door cabinet for our own home.
The reason I love this barn door cabinet so much is half of what you store in it is on display and easily accessible.
And the other half is hidden, and doesn't have to be in pretty packaging.
For this pantry cabinet, that means dishes and attractive items or pretty baskets can fill one side, and things like cereal boxes, canned food and appliances can fill the other side.
The barn door slides so easily, both sides are very accessible.
And since the barn door slides instead of swings, the barn door is never in the way.
Oh this cabinet is amazing! I could go on and on and on about how much I love it!
The build for this project was suprisingly easy too. It's basically just a big bookshelf with a simple planked barn door attached to the front.
BARN DOOR DETAILS
The hardware we used was a steal! We used this hardware from Amazon for less than $50. The hardware is very well made, sturdy, and easy to install - and most importantly, works and slides beautifully. We were very impressed with it and can't recommend this barn door hardware enough. NOTE: It is heavy duty and takes up 6" of space at header, so might not be suitable for smaller projects.
You can purchase it off Amazon here -
FINISH DETAILS
For the finish on this cabinet we used the same gray as the kitchen cabinets. A very close gray is Rustoleum Chalked in Country Gray.
For the barn door, we wanted to keep the wood as clear and natural as possible, but still durable and wipe clean.
Varathane Ultime Polyerethane in Water Based is THE BEST clear you can get - you can't even tell its there unless you touch the project.
I'm excited to share the free plans with you below. Please do share if you build, we love seeing your projects!
Enjoy!
XO Ana
PS - Make sure you watch the video where we build this cabinet too -
Pin for Later!
Preparation
3 - 1x12 @ 8 feet long - cut sides and center divider from these boards
7 - 1x12 @ 6 feet long - cut shelves, top, bottom from these boards
1 - 1x6 @ 6 feet long
6 - 1x4 @ 8 feet long
1 - 1x3 @ 6 feet long
2 - 1/4" plywood panels 48" x 96"
BARN DOOR AS SHOWN
1 - 1x8 @ 6 feet long
7 - 1x6 tongue and groove boards, 80" length needed
6 - 1x4 @ 8 feet long
1 - 1x3 @ 6 feet long
2 - 1/4" plywood panels 48" x 96"
2 - 1x12 @ 90" - Sides
2 - 1x12 @ 70-1/2" - Top/Bottom
1 - 1x12 @ 85" - Center Divider
2 - 1x4 @ 70-1/2" - base supports - can also be 2x4s
10 - 1x12 @ 34-7/8" - Shelves
1 - 1x6 @ 72" - Header
2 - 1x4 @ 82" - Face Frame Sides
1 - 1x4 @ 79-1/2" - Face Frame Center
1 - 1x3 @ 65" - Face Frame Bottom
2 - 1/4" plywood @ 36" x 90" - Back Panels
1x2 Crown is cut to fit
1x4 Base is cut to fit
Barn Door built to fit - we used 1x6 tongue and groove, 7 boards wide, about 80" long with 1x8 on top and bottom
Instructions
Step 1
Drill 3/4" pocket holes on ends of top/bottom boards. Attach with glue to sides with 1-1/4" pocket hole screws, hiding pocket holes on outsides of cabinet. Bottom should be held up 3-1/2".
Drill 3/4" pocket holes on ends of 1x4 base support. Attach under bottom shelf to sides. Use 1-1/4" nails and glue to secure bottom shelf top to 1x4 top edges.
Drill 3/4" pocket holes on top and bottom of divider. Attach with glue centered on top and bottom with 1-1/4" pocket hole screws. Place pocket holes on side of cabinet that barn door will cover.
Step 2
Drill 3/4" pocket holes on each end of each shelf. Attach to sides and dividers with 1-1/4" pocket hole screws and wood glue.
TIP: Cut 12" spacer blocks to use as guides for setting shelf heights.
Adjust cabinet for square and make sure cabinet is square before attaching face frame and back in next steps.
Step 3
Build face frame with 3/4" pocket holes and 1-1/4" pocket hole screws seperately.
Attach to front of cabinet with glue and 1-1/4" nails.
TIP: It may be easier to paint face frame and cabinet carcass seperately, then attach face frame to the prepainted cabinet.
Step 4
Mark location of shelves on back side edges of cabinet. Place back panels on back with glue. Nail back panel to all shelves, sides and dividers with 3/4" brad nails.
Step 5
Step 6
The height of your barn door will depend on your barn door hardware and how it is installed.
We installed the hardware first, then measured how big the barn door needed to be.
We built the barn door with 1x6 tongue and groove, ripping the tonge and groove edges off on a tablesaw for the first and last boads. The top and bottom of the door are tied in with 1x8s nailed (1-1/4" nails) and glue to the tongue and groove.
Comments
kaprince
Sun, 09/15/2019 - 17:10
Pantry
Left side needs to be made to hold mops/brooms and other things. Cool cabinet.
TriniT14
Sat, 03/21/2020 - 07:58
Shelves on Barn Door Pantry or Bookshelf
Barn door Pantry or Bookshelf
Can this be made with adjustable shelves?
Shop Squirrel
Sat, 01/30/2021 - 03:00
I have the same question…
I have the same question. Here’s my thoughts.
Some fixed shelves probably need to be in the middle (as measured top to bottom) of each side for stability. I am only guessing about this and basing it on how some of the cheap “assemble at home” furniture is designed when you buy it from wal-mart or whatever. From there, whenever I get around to making a version of this for the correct space in my home, I plan on use the adjustable shelf jig from Kreg. I think I spent 30-40 on the jig and need a reason to use it. 🤣
Shop Squirrel
Sat, 01/30/2021 - 03:29
Floating shelves per Shelf Help
Ok, so I found a frameless bookshelf plan on Shelf Help that is basically what the back of the unit is, a bookshelf.
Here’s what Ana says there about the shelves.
Smurf7680
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 06:49
Where do the 2 sheets of…
Where do the 2 sheets of plywood for the barn door go? From what I'm seeing in the plans it looks like it is the 1x6 tongue and groove planks tied in with 1x8's, but the materials list mentions 2 sheets of 1/4"x48"x96" plywood as well. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something before I start a build. Thanks!
drgreghartley@…
Sun, 05/03/2020 - 01:03
NOTICE: Error corrections for the shopping list
There are two errors in the shopping list. The first is pretty major and could result in purchasing a lot of extra unused wood. The barn door list repeats the last three items from the cabinet list. This makes it look like the sliding door will somehow incorporate two additional sheets of 1/4" ply, which is most certainly NOT the case.
For those looking to do the build, only buy the FIRST TWO items on the barn door shopping list. REMOVE these three items from the DOOR list:
6 - 1x4 @ 8 feet long
1 - 1x3 @ 6 feet long
2 - 1/4" plywood panels 48" x 96"
The second error is not as big a deal. The lumber list for the cabinet excludes 1 1x2 @ 8 feet for the crown. (The crown is not included in the photos but is included in the CAD drawings, so it appears to be optional.) The 1x2 IS in the cut list, so you might get confused while you're doing your cuts. I sure did.
Hope that's helpful. Maybe the page will get a revision to correct these soon. It's an excellent design and a fun build!