Chest of drawers
A bedroom chest that lasts 20 years
Advanced template · dovetail or slide-mounted drawers, drawer-face proportions auto-balanced
Chest of drawers design details
What's distinctive about this template
Design highlights
What this template's algorithm handles for you
What this template builds for you
A chest of drawers is the most opened-and-closed piece of furniture in a home — twice a day, 365 days a year, 20 years = 29,000 cycles. Retail chests start failing in 5 years because they use the cheapest slides and stapled thin panels.
DIY lets you pick: top-tier dovetailed drawers (never go loose, last a lifetime), mid-tier ball-bearing slides (a $5 pair, 10 years easy), or entry-level wing slides (cheapest, 5 years before replacement). The template outputs the matching hardware spec and joinery for your chosen tier.
3–6 drawers, drawer-face widths either uniform or graduated (small-on-top-large-on-bottom is classic 1.4:1.2:1 Ming proportion). Depth 40–50 cm (clothes fold flat), total height 70–110 cm (taller needs wall anchoring for tip-safety). Retail chest of drawers: $200–500. Material cost: $80–150. But the bigger value is learning dovetails — that joint shows up in drawers, boxes, chairs, frames for the rest of your woodworking life.
Who this template suits
✓ Recommended for
- · Building heirloom furniture
- · Learning dovetail joinery
- · Newlyweds or new parents needing storage
× Not for
- · Bedroom dimensions unknown — measure first
- · Want soft-close drawers (Blum TIP-ON hardware sold separately)
- · Need it in days, not weeks (dovetails take time)
Parameters you can adjust
The algorithm auto-computes dimensions, joinery, and material usage.
Enter sizes, get everything
Six deliverables in one pass — print A4 and walk into the shop.
Real generated output
The screens below are actually generated from the Chest of drawers template — apply your sizes and they update live.
※ These regenerate live whenever you tweak size, wood, or style
When you'd build one
Built for a daughter's dowry — dovetails last 200 years, more meaningful than cash.
Newborn clothes are tiny but many — build a 6-drawer low chest.
Walnut or cherry, the grain darkens with age, grandkids will still use it.
Wall space is 12 cm short of standard — custom build is the only fit.
4 preset variations
Swap styles in one click — no need to re-adjust every parameter from scratch.
FAQ
Are dovetails hard?+
Depends on how you do them. Hand-cut dovetails take 50 reps to smooth out; a dovetail jig (e.g., Leigh) gets you there in 30 minutes. The algorithm sets dovetail spacing to 0.5 mm precision; cut to the lines and you'll be fine.
Do slide-mounted drawers need dovetails?+
No. Blum / Hettich concealed slides work great ($20–40 per pair). Dovetails are the "do it the best" choice.
Which wood?+
Walnut is gorgeous but expensive. Oak is durable. Cherry darkens beautifully. Birch is cheap and a good learner — start there.
Drawer-face reveal?+
1.5–2 mm gap on all four sides (wood movement). Humid summers will close that gap.
Anchor to wall?+
Anything > 90 cm tall needs an L-bracket into the wall stud. In seismic zones, anchor every chest — especially the one near the bed.
How to unlock "Chest of drawers"
Advanced template — pick one of three unlock paths
Single-template unlock
- ✓Permanent unlock of this template
- ✓Use without subscribing
- ✓Future improvements auto-included
Personal subscription
- ✓All 26 templates unlocked
- ✓Ceiling + flooring simulators
- ✓Unlimited PDF + cloud saves
Professional subscription
- ✓Everything in Personal
- ✓Client quotes + CRM
- ✓STL/OBJ export (CNC) + unlimited sizes
Annual plan saves one month · Lifetime academy members DM for a code · Compare all plans
Start designing your Chest of drawers
Personal plan TWD 390/mo unlocks all 26 templates + interior tools.