How to Recess a Cabinet

Use a stud finder to locate the studs in the wall where you intend to install your recessed cabinet. Mark the position of the studs on the wall lightly in pencil. Determine which two studs you want to build the cabinet between, and clearly mark their position on the wall.

Use a meterstick and a level to draw two straight, vertical lines on the wall to delineate the sides of the cabinet. Align these lines with the inside edges of the two studs you just located. The length of the lines will determine the height of your cabinet.

Connect the two vertical lines with two horizontal lines that will serve to delineate the top and bottom edges of your cabinet. Use the level to keep your lines straight. When finished, you should have a rectangular template drawn on the wall in pencil.

Reference the blue-prints for your home to make sure there are no wire or pipes running between the studs where you intend to install your cabinet. If you do not have the blue-prints, cut a small square out of the drywall using a drywall saw and use a flashlight to look inside the wall to check for wires and pipes.

Align the tip of a drywall saw with the center of one of the horizontal lines drawn on the wall. Gently tap the handle of the saw to drive the tip of the blade through the drywall. Once the blade has passed through the drywall, move the saw back and forth in a sawing motion, cutting through the drywall along all four pencil lines.

Set the piece of drywall you just cut out aside. Measure the width, height and depth of the space between the wall studs to determine the dimensions of your recessed cabinet.

Use a circular saw to cut a sheet of 1/2-inch plywood to the width and height measurement of your cabinet. Stand this sheet of plywood upright inside the wall space to serve as the back panel. Drive nails from a nail gun through the edges of the panel into the wall to attach it.

Cut two pieces of 1/2-inch plywood, using a circular saw, equal to the width and depth measurements you took earlier. These boards will be the top and bottom panels for your cabinet. Use the depth measurement and the height measurement, minus 1/2 inch, to cut the two side panels for your cabinet.

Slide the top and bottom panels horizontally into the wall space. Position the bottom panel flat against the bottom of the space and the top panel against the top so the edges of both panels are flush with the back and sides of the space. Drive nails from the nail gun through the edges of the side panels into the back panels and the wall to secure them.

Install the two side panels vertically between the ends of the top and bottom panels inside the wall space. Drive nails from the nail gun through the edges of the side panels into the top, bottom and back panels to attach them in place.

Cut shelves for your recessed cabinet out of 1/2-inch plywood. Use the depth measurement of your cabinet and the width measurement, minus 1 inch, for the dimensions of each shelf.

Measure and mark the position of the shelves along the side panels in pencil. Slide the shelves horizontally into place and secure them with nails, using the nail gun and the same procedure you followed to install the top and bottom panels.

Cut a door for your cabinet, out of 1/2-inch plywood, that is equal to the total width and height of your cabinet. Install two metal hinges along one edge of the door and screw the other side of each hinge into the cabinet frame.