Completed Cabinet with hidden drawers

[Jerry C]

Just completed a cabinet for my nephew built from a picture he sent me. The cabinet is pretty basic construction so I decided to add a unique feature. The top rail was fairly wide so I wanted to utilize the space under the top. On the two door sections of the cabinet I added drop down drawers that ride in carrier boxes. The carrier boxes rides on on slots cut on runners that make ramps. They operate much like a tambour desk. The carrier boxes ride up the ramps and are totally hidden when up. The carrier boxes ride up the ramp slots by using dowel pins and 1/4 inch bolts attached to the fronts and backs near the top of each box corner. Using the ramps decreases depth of the drawers by the length of the ramps. Overall the mechanism works surprisingly well. Push them up and they are hidden. Leave them down and the drawers are able to be accessed when the cabinet doors are open.

 

[drw]

Jerry, beautiful work! The hidden drawers are certainly an interesting and unique feature, thank you for sharing.

 

[sawman101]

Marvelous engineering on the hidden drawers Jerry! I had to study and reread your description of the drawer mechanism several times trying to visualize the use of the dowels and bolts. Did you design the mechanism yourself? It is a marvelous piece and exhibits the high quality craftsmanship of NCWW members--all the photos I'm seeing on the forum this morning display the extremely high quality craftsmanship of NCWW members! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Henry W]

Agree with Bruce, even though I am still not certain I can visualize the mechanism. Did you take any pics in process that might show these ramps?
Love this type of hidden storage.

 

[Bas]

Those drawers, could you use those to hide narcotics, stolen firearms, forged artwork, etc.? Asking for a friend

Seriously though, very nice work Jerry. That's a terrific looking cabinet, the hardware is a great match too. I'm definitely interested in seeing more of the mechanism, this would be a hit for something like an escape room where people have to find hidden clues.

 

[Jerry C]

Photo of jig I used to rout ramps. Each carrier box has a left and right set of ramps. The ramp slots are routed through the boards on one side to allow bolts to be installed.
Drawer carrier box pins slide up and down in ramps. Very simple action. Each carrier box has a pin on each top corner to ride on ramps. I used wood pins on one side of each carrier. On the other side I used 1/4 inch bolt threaded into the carrier. I installed the ramps first so I could only have pins on one side of the carrier box. I slid the carrier box wood pins into the ramps then installed the bolts on the other side. I Ieft just enough space between the ramps and the cabinet side to install the bolts on the other side. The mechanism is simple. The hard part is figuring out how to fit it all in a tight space. The drawers have to be offset enough to avoid the door hinges and the ramps have to be positioned so the drawer has room to drop below the cabinet rail. I was prepared to use the trial and error design method but amazingly it worked first try.

I think would be possible to use this method to add hidden drawers to an existing cabinet or table with an apron that is wide enough to fit a decent depth drawer.

 

[JimD]

Neat idea and nice looking cabinet.

 

[Jeff]

Drawer carrier box pins slide up and down in ramps. Very simple action. Each carrier box has a pin on each top corner to ride on ramps. I used wood pins on one side of each carrier. On the other side I used 1/4 inch bolt threaded into the carrier. I installed the ramps first so I could only have pins on one side of the carrier box. I slid the carrier box wood pins into the ramps then installed the bolts on the other side

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[Jeff]

Interesting way to make a drawer/carrier box move vertically. Does it slide out like a drawer? How do you get to the contents that were hidden? I can't figure that part out.

 

[Jerry C]

The carrier box rides up and down...carrying the drawer. When down the drawer opens as a normal drawer. The drawer could be left in the down position and would not interfere with the cabinet door swing.

 

[Jeff]

The carrier box rides up and down...carrying the drawer. When down the drawer opens as a normal drawer. The drawer could be left in the down position and would not interfere with the cabinet door swing.

I'm still having trouble understanding it.

"When down the drawer opens as a normal drawer."

Can you post a few pictures with the drawer pulled out and a side view also? I can't figure out how far the drawer slides out with your template. What are the dimensions of the drawer front to back?

 

[Jerry C]

The drawer is 11 inches wide by 13 inches front to back and 1 3/4" deep. That is about the max size I could fit using this method.

 

[Jerry C]

Side view of drawer.

 

[JCAlton]

I love it! One suggestion that may or may not ever be a problem. Having a small drop down at the back of the carrier track to kind of "lock" the carrier box into the hidden position. It would require a small upward movement while sliding forwards to lower/access the drawer. Don't think it'd ever be an issue though.

 

[Jerry C]

Good idea. It seems stay up fine as is. If you have an uneven room that would be a good insurance policy to keep it up.

 

[JCAlton]

Good idea. It seems stay up fine as is. If you have an uneven room that would be a good insurance policy to keep it up.

I was mainly thinking if its a smaller piece of furniture that could be more easily tilted forwards. But something bigger like this I don't think that'll happen often.