Attaching Finished Panels to a Bar Cabinet Back
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Advice on hiding the fasteners when you attach panels to a cabinet. July 29, 2012
Question
I am building a bar unit 10' long with 16" base cabinets and would like to know the best way to attach the finished panels to the back with no exposed fasteners.
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor E:
Do you have a short wall that the cabinets attach to that make up the taller part of the bar?
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From the original questioner:
The cabinets will be tall cabinets 40-1/2" with the panels fastened to the back of the cabinets. The bottom is plan view, the top is an elevation.
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From contributor E:
Z clips will work depending on how you build your panels. Or you can screw them on from the inside.
From contributor K:
As Contributor E - bolt to the floor. You can use Z-clips, but you would be better off screwing into the stiles and rails from inside rather than using them. Another alternative is you can also use liquid nails (bead) and shoot the nail gun up into the corners of the stile rail at the top and down in the bottom corners with it facing on an angle to the left and right. Completely unnoticeable and the liquid nails won't let it move at all once dry. Just set-it and forget it. That assumes you have a back on your cab that is at least 1/2" thick or more.
From the original questioner:
Screws from the inside with hidden nails - sounds like the way I will go. Any thoughts on the 1/4 turn radius? It will be a maple flat panel with applied sash bead to rails. I was thinking bendy MDF with veneer applied.
From contributor N:
I've used bendy plywood (funny-board) with veneer on both side on a number of projects with curved panels, drawer fronts, etc. You can use several layers of "funny-board" to get thickness. It works great and is very stable.
