Cabinet Run
Guide 07 of 11

Materials

Every part's size depends on your material thicknesses, so set these before you cut anything. If your "¾ in" plywood is really 18 mm or 23/32 in, enter the real number.

Open the project and go to the Materials tab.

Material defaults

Choose what each part of a cabinet is built from:

SettingParts
CarcassSides, top/bottom, fixed shelves, stretchers
Doors / frontsDoors, drawer fronts, false fronts, finished ends
Drawer boxesDrawer sides, fronts and backs
Drawer bottomsDrawer bottoms
BacksCabinet backs

Click Save defaults. These apply to every cabinet in the project. To make one cabinet different (e.g. a painted island), set Carcass material / Front material in that cabinet's editor.

Your material list

The Materials list comes with some starter materials, marked sys, and you can add your own. For each one, set:

  • Name
  • Type: plywood or MDF
  • Thickness: measured, not nominal
  • Sheet size: the sheets you actually buy (e.g. 49 × 97 in or 1220 × 2440 mm), used for nesting
  • Colour: only changes how it looks in 3D

Measure thickness with calipers at a few points and use the average. A few thou matter when a dado is cut to fit it.

Enter the sheet's true size. If your sheet edges are damaged or you like to trim them, keep the size as-is and set a Sheet edge margin in Nesting instead. That way one setting controls the waste, and changing it never alters your material.