A full channel is commonly known as a kitchen cabinet box. Base kitchen cabinet boxes are constructed with two sides known as gable ends, a bottom, and a back. Upper cabinets typically have two gable ends, one top, one bottom, and one back. Base cabinet boxes do not require a top board because the countertop normally covers that opening.
Typically when building full carcasses with a Euro cabinet leg, the top and bottom boards are attached to the ends of the gable. The result is that the width of the top and bottom boards will determine the width of the interior of the casing because the gable ends are attached to these boards using simple butt joints. The backboard will cover all edges of the top, bottom, and gable components of the kitchen cabinet boxes.
Full 5/8″ backboards are great because they stiffen up the box and allow for easier mounting of the cabinet to the wall. Plus, these full backboards help prevent stretching or twisting, which can sometimes occur when mount the cabinet on a defective wall.
The casing is assembled as follows. First apply glue to the cookie slots on the bottom panel and to the cookies, then glue them in place. Next, you need to spread the glue on the dice and place them on the shelf. Add glue to the side panel cookie slots. It’s easiest to start at the top by dabbing a bit of glue into the top groove. Then spread the glue with a brush and spread whatever comes out into the next slot, so you have glue all the way down the side panel. Do this until all the slots are completely filled with glue, then assemble the bottom, add the top saucer and pin it all together, making sure everything is square.
After building the complete case, you can apply masking tape to the exposed front edges that make up the basic Euro cabinet. Alternatively, you can build a ¾” solid wood face frame to cover the exposed edges, creating a hybrid traditional North American style cabinet. These two full-casing designs are very popular with homeowners.
The ideal material for kitchen cabinet construction is 5/8″ Melamine Faced Particle Board (MCPB). You’ll find MCPB cabinet boxes built with butt joinery and fastened with 2″ particle board screws. they are very strong, especially if 5 /8″ material is used for all parts.