I made this last year (2024) back in October.

The goal was to make a medicine cabinet to fill the void between the Mirror Frames I made. I wanted something that matched the motif, but would allow me to experiment with some new design ideas.

First of all, check out the build video: Building a Wall Cabinet with Modern Woodworking.

I heavily use the CNC machine to create the intricate curves and joinery. But I decided to call “CNC Woodworking” something different: “Modern Woodworking”. You still have to know a lot of the basic woodworking skills, and understand wood, but you don’t have to do the tedious work of hand cutting dovetails or mortise and tenons. They look nice, and are impressive, but a machine can cut them more accurately than you can by hand. CNCs are just a modern 21st century way of doing woodworking, just like the table saw was a modern way of doing woodworking back in the 18th century.

My main design inspiration was Japanese architecture. I feel like this style is emphasized by the roofline where it tends to curve down and out, with a long cantilevered roof line. The base also supports the top, and looks a bit top heavy.

The cabinet is made primarily out of cherry wood, and is finished with a satin hard wax oil. The door has three accent pieces made from maple; just to add a little flair to the whole piece. The sides have some maple strips that I added at the last minute; mainly to fix an error I made, but this was a happy accident that I really like.

The digital files are available as a free download: Digital File: Medicine Wall Cabinet.