Built-in Entertainment Center (May-Jun 1997)

Before and after picture of the entertainment center that was built into the alcove under the staircase in the family room.

Room Layout

The built-in entertainment center is in the family room, in an alcove that is under the staircase. The staircase, located between the family and living rooms, ascends into a cathedral ceiling that is shared between these two rooms.

Cabinet Location

This elevation view shows the location of the alcove and the cabinet (the final layout of the cabinet is different than shown). The alcove is bounded by the staircase on top, an exterior wall to the left, an interior wall to the right, and a back wall. The 9-ft wide by 4-ft 9-in high and 3-ft 8-in deep opening was a lot of wasted space. I decided to build in cabinets for A/V equipment and general storage.

Cabinet Layout

The first generation cabinet design included: 1) room in the middle for a 35-in TV, VCR and center channel speaker, behind two large raised-panel pocket doors; 2) room under the TV for an A/V receiver, CD player, and LD/DVD player behind glass doors; 3) to each side on top are storage for CD's and video tapes; the other cabinets are for miscellaneous storage; and 4) at each end, zero-clearance enclosures for two ported speakers. It was this last feature that presented a design problem. Placing the large JBL LX55 speakers in the cabinet with little clearance around the speakers’ sides would defeat the speaker’s ported design, possibly damage the speaker, and turn the cabinet itself into a very large speaker enclosure. It was the opinion of the majority of net citizens who provided feedback, that this was not a good idea.

Given this feedback, I redesigned the cabinet for use with sealed speakers and a subwoofer, resigning myself to the fact that my LX55’s would have to find another home. Though I did review the different types of subwoofer/satellite speaker systems available at the time, I decided on the lowest cost upgrade to my remaining speakers, a JBL SoundEffects Center(a) and two JBL Sat(2)’s. I picked up another two Sat(2)’s for the mains as well as an Infinity subwoofer, all on close-out at a Harman Audio Outlet.

The most significant departure in the second and final cabinet design is several A/V components (the A/V receiver, CD player, and three front speakers) have been moved out of the cabinet and onto a top shelf. This was done primarily to provide a location for the speakers, but offers the added advantage of being able to listen to the radio and CD’s without having to open the cabinet doors. The middle cabinet is designed for a 27-in TV, with a VCR and LD/DVD shelf above it. If a 35-in TV (the largest the cabinet is designed for) is used, the other A/V components would have to be moved to the cabinet under the TV. The subwoofer occupies the bottom left shelf and the other cabinets are for storage of CD’s, video tapes, etc.

Casework

I built a frameless cabinet from 3/4-in Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF), using European style hinges for the overlay raised-panel doors. There were several advantages to using MDF on this project (e.g., it is dimensionally stable, strong and is not too expensive); however, the most significant advantage is it is available in sheets longer than 8-ft. Since the width of the cabinet is 9-ft, there will not be any seams in either the base or the top two shelves when using 10-ft sheets of MDF. The cabinet is also approximately 4-ft 6-in high. The four sides would have required four 8-ft sheets of plywood, but were easily handled by two 10-ft sheets of MDF instead.

I possess neither the talent nor the equipment to make the twelve raised-panel doors myself, so I set out to purchase them from a mail-order company. Three vendors listed in a May 1997 The Family Handyman article included Keystone Wood Specialties (Lancaster PA), Precision Wood Products (Camden OH) and Scherr's Cabinet & Doors (Minot ND). After looking at information from these companies and calling several local vendors, I decided instead to provide my business to Royce Killion who frequented the rec.woodworking Usenet newsgroup. Royce runs a one-man shop, The Woodcutter's Cottage, in Gibbon NE, was pleasant to deal with and put up with my endless questions without complaint.

Status

Tue 20 May 1997. I finally decided the design was complete and placed the order for the 10-ft sheets of MDF. Pre-project picture showing the alcove under the staircase, which is about to be transformed into a built-in entertainment center.

Sat 24 - Sun 25 May. Removed carpet and padding from area under cabinet. Constructed cabinet base from 2x4s. Became sidetracked on another project:

I have always been curious as to what was under the staircase behind the alcove, so I poked a hole through the wall to see. As expected, nothing. I decided to reclaim this space (approximately 40- by 60-in) for storage, making an opening in the wall in the small alcove in the formal living room, then later building plywood walls and particleboard floor and ceiling.

Installed phone line in case required at a later date.

Fri 30 May. Picked up the MDF (six 4- by 10-ft and two 4- by 8-ft sheets) from Home Depot. To reduce the wear and tear on my saw (as well as on my back!), I brought a cut list.

Sun 1 Jun. Cut one 10-ft sheet of MDF to final size for the cabinet bottom.

Sat 14 - Sun 15 Jun. Cut most of the MDF to final size and routed the dadoes to support the shelves and to locate the cabinet sides. Trial fit cabinet then disassembled for priming. I had a little water-based primer left from an earlier project and decided to use it. The remaining boards were painted with an oil-based primer. The water-based primer did cause a little fuzziness on the MDF's surface, which did not happen with the oil-based primer.

Sat 21 - Sun 22 Jun. Finished priming and painting. Assembled cabinet using hex drive inserts and machines screws instead of glue.

Fri 27 Jun. Installed the A/V equipment (e.g., A/V receiver, speakers, TV and VCR). Up next are sliding shelves for CD and videotape storage, a VCR shelf above the TV, side panels for the center cabinet's pocket door and raised panel doors to close everything off.

Early 1998. Finally, I received and installed the raised-panel doors. Eventually, I'll need to build storage trays for the other cabinets.