Modular Garage Workshop Cabinets

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Welcome to phase 3 of our garage makeover! We’re finally tackling Tyler’s side of the garage, his setup is definitely a lot simpler than mine.

I started by breaking down some plywood with my track saw and drilling pocket holes so I could start building his cabinets. This was right in the middle of me building my Kreg Foreman cabinet in the last post.

Then he jumped in to help me assemble them, holding pieces in place while I glued, brad nailed, and screwed everything together, and he grabbing the spots I couldn’t quite reach.

Then he took a quick dance break because a song came on the radio, “More cowbell!!” (bonus points if you know the show 😂)

He seriously helped so much with this garage build! He’s usually jumping in on the pretty interior projects when I need an extra set of hands, but this time he was all in from start to finish, and honestly, he was just as excited as I was to see it all come together. He even kept me company as I primed and pained the cabinets before installing them. For the garage I’m going with the color Alabaster by SW in Semi-Gloss (I’m using BEHR paint though). Even Ellie made an appearance!

Here is Tyler’s side of the garage for right now.

We got the two tall cabinets on his side installed. We set them in place first to dial in the exact placement, then secured them by screwing through the back into the wall studs and screwed to each other.

Tyler added a hanging rod inside the top cabinet so he can store his cycling gear out here instead of keeping it in the house.

Next up was the upper cabinet that goes on the right side above. I wanted to hold it in place while Tyler secured it to the studs and the side cabinets because that wall has the electrical panel behind it, and I didn’t want to risk hitting anything back there. In my head I was like, “How hard can it be to hold this over my head for a minute? I love shoulder day!” 😂

This is me trying to convince him I’ve got it handled, while he’s making sure everyone on social media knows this was my idea, not his, so he doesn’t look like a jerk.

So we lifted it into place and I had to stand on a step stool just to get it to the right height, being short can be annoying sometimes! 😂 I held it steady for a bit, but between him trying to find the studs (and failing) and my arms slowly giving out, that plan didn’t last very long.

He took over holding it for a minute so I could give my arms a break, and then I called Mia out to help us hold it up while he took his time actually finding the studs.

He finally got it secured, I dropped my arms in relief, and of course had to give it a little test shake to make sure it was solid.

Once that was done, it was time to move on to the face frames. I used 1×4 primed pine for the top and bottom and 1×2 primed pine for the rest. I cut everything to size, added pocket holes, and assembled the frame first, then attached it to the cabinets with brad nails.

I started with the floor-to-ceiling cabinet, then moved on to the upper cabinet on the right. Tyler held the left side, making sure it stayed in place, while I positioned and secured the right side.

Then I moved on to adding drawer slides to the bottom cabinet. After everything was installed, he realized there was actually enough room to add a drawer down there for things like cycling socks and smaller gear, so of course we went for it.

Since the cabinet has a face frame, I used 3/4-inch plywood spacers to bring the soft-close drawer slides inward so they’d extend out past the face frame. I attached the spacers with wood glue and brad nails. When installing the slides, I also rested them on spacers to keep everything perfectly level, it’s honestly the easiest way to make sure both sides line up at the same height.

Then I needed to separate the drawer section from the upper part of the cabinet. I didn’t have a single piece of plywood big enough for the opening, so I joined two pieces together using pocket holes and wood glue to make it work.

It’s not a load-bearing piece, but I still added more pocket holes than I normally would around the edges just to give it some extra support and keep everything nice and solid.

I started attaching the shelf, then realized I needed to back up and add the front piece of the face frame first. The pocket holes for the 1x2s would’ve been hidden behind the shelf, so there would’ve been no way to get to them after the fact. So I lifted the shelf back up and installed that section of the face frame first before putting the shelf back in place.

Then I secured the shelf from underneath using pocket hole screws.

Then it was time to build the drawer box. For these, I used 1/2-inch plywood since they won’t be holding anything super heavy. It keeps them lighter and less bulky, but it’s still plenty strong for everyday use.

If you wanted to beef them up a bit, especially for larger drawers, you could use 3/4-inch plywood for the bottom panel. I assembled these with wood glue and 1-inch brad nails, just like I usually do. The brad nails hold everything together while the glue dries, the glue is really the strongest part of a build like this.

Then I installed the drawer slides on the drawer boxes. To figure out placement, I first decided where I wanted the drawer to sit, I usually leave about 1/2 inch of space below the drawer and around 1 1/2 inches above it.

From there, I made a mark on both the front and back of the drawer box, then used a straight edge to draw a line connecting the two. That line gives me a guide to keep everything straight. I lined the front of the drawer slide up flush with the front of the drawer box and then screwed it in along that line.

Then I installed the drawer to make sure everything fit properly and slid smoothly. And it did!!

I cut down a piece of 3/4-inch plywood to use as the drawer front. Normally I do something a little more detailed for interior projects, but since this is in the garage I was more focused on keeping it simple and sturdy.

I make the drawer front about 1 inch larger than the opening, then measure in 1/2 inch on all sides of the face frame to help center it. To attach it, I hold it in place with my feet (very professional setup 😅) and tack it on with my brad nailer from the front. Once it’s secured, I go back in from the inside with 1-inch screws to lock it in really well. I got it painted once the nail holes were filled and sanded.

Now onto the doors. I stuck with 3/4-inch plywood for these as well. For all of my cabinets, I use soft-close hinges, I buy them in bulk since it’s cheaper per hinge and I’m constantly using them for projects.

I cut the doors to size, got them painted, drilled the hinge cup holes with my Kreg Jig, and then installed the hinges.

For the upper horizontal cabinet, Tyler wanted a lift-up door, so I decided to use the same style of hinges I had used on a smaller lift-up door in my laundry room. I started by installing two of them, not totally sure if that would be enough to support the weight of this larger door. No hinge holes needed for these.

We got the first two doors installed. Just like the drawer fronts, I make the doors 1 inch larger than the opening. Since I’m using 1/2-inch overlay hinges, I mark 1/2 inch up from the bottom of the door so I know exactly where to line it up on the face frame before attaching it.

And this time, Tyler got the job of holding the heavy door in place while I screwed it in so he wouldn’t get hate from social media! 😄

Then we moved on to the upper cabinet with the lift-up door… and quickly realized two hinges were nowhere near enough. I added a third… then a fourth… and it still wasn’t cutting it. At that point we called it and decided to come back to it. Tyler did some research and ordered some struts to help support the weight.

While we waited for the struts to come in, I went ahead and installed the hardware on the doors and drawer.

The struts finally came in, and of course… they were the wrong kind. So he had to order another set. But once the correct ones showed up and he got them installed, the door finally worked like it should and stays open on its own. You can also see he installed all our Milwaukee tools and batteries on the sides of the cabinet and bottom of the upper cabinet and I can hardly reach them without a stool! But it makes a good charging station!

Originally, the plan was to build him a rolling cabinet like the one on my side. But then he found this one at Home Depot and decided to go with it instead, and honestly, it ended up being a better fit for how he stores his tools and what he actually uses. It even has a pop-up work surface in the back, which is really nice when he needs a little extra space. And he got it in white so it would match the rest of the cabinets, but it also comes in black.

Tyler hung his bikes on the wall on either side of the water heater to keep them mostly out of the way. The mounts swivel too, which is really nice for saving space and making them easier to move around. Why he has this many bikes is beyond me! 😂

And here’s how his side of the garage was before and then how it turned out! Stay tuned, because next up is the garage entertainment setup, and honestly, aside from my side of the garage, I think it might be the most exciting part!