Building a Custom Office Credenza
Repeat customers are the best! I love repeat customers the most because it means that I built them something in the past that they really liked and trust me to do again. In this case, you might remember the custom corner office desk I built a while back; you can see that build here. For this project, I will be building a custom office credenza to match that corner office desk.
Credenza Design
With the custom corner desk, the design was to use ambrosia maple for the base and frame of the desk and clear maple for the top. So, for this credenza, I am going to do the same thing; ambrosia maple for the base and clear maple for the top.
The base is going to be made using a frame and panel construction design. In this design, the panels will be made from clear maple, and the rest will be ambrosia maple.
My client had a couple specific design elements they wanted to follow. First, they wanted seven inches of space underneath the credenza to store a guitar in its case. Second, the client wanted two outer cabinet doors and then a series of drawers in the center section. Lastly, the credenza had to be a specific length and width to fit into a nook in the office. With that information, I did a quick sketch of the overall design.
Credenza Material
In my area of Atlanta, I have limited access to the dimensions of ambrosia maple. Most frequently, I can get ambrosia maple in 8/4 or 4/4 and nothing else. For this build, I would have ideally liked to use 5/4 or 6/4, but that's not available to me.
You might ask, "Why not resaw the 8/4 stock?" Well, by the time it gets milled up, you'll be left with pieces closer to 3/4 of an inch. This would probably be fine, but I wanted the frame to be thicker, closer to 1 inch.
Having said all that, I used 8/4 lumber for all the frame pieces and just milled it down to about 1.75 inches thick. My clear maple panel materials were milled to a 1/4-inch final thickness.
Credenza Construction
With the plan and materials in hand, it was time to build! I started by breaking the credenza down into its main components: four main legs/posts, four long rails for the front and back, and four short rails for the sides. I also needed four vertical stiles for the front and back to separate the cabinet areas from the drawers.
Here are several of those parts, ready for sanding before assembling. Note, I used my Festool Domino for the joinery of the case work in this piece.
Once I had the joinery for the case done, I dry-fit the piece together to get a sense of what the main credenza would look like. As you can see in the photo below, it's still very boxy looking. From here, I'm going to put a slight taper on the four main legs and add a slight curve to the bottom of the front, lower apron. These two changes will change the overall aesthetics of the piece and soften it up a bit.
Credenza Doors and Drawers
After I got a sense for the look with the dry fit, I turned my attention to some details regarding the main case. First, I cut a very slight curve into the bottom front rail. Second, I put a slight taper on the bottom of the four main legs. These two elements will really make the credenza look less boxy.
I also added two partitions to the interior of the case. These partitions will separate the two side cabinets from the drawers and also act as a place to mount the full-extension drawer glides.
The two side cabinet drawers are built in a frame and panel configuration with the panels made from solid figured maple. Here are the doors dry-fitted into the case.
In this photo, you can see the tapered legs, the curve in the apron, and the drawer partitions. For the drawers, you can see they get progressively smaller from the bottom to the top drawer.
Next, I need to take the doors off and pre-finish the panels. Since the panels are solid wood, I want to pre-finish them so that any seasonal wood movement doesn't cause an unfinished part of the panel to show. Once the finish is dry on the panels, I glued the doors together and finished them as well. Check out the figure in these maple panels!
The drawer boxes are built using solid poplar and then are fit with solid maple drawer fronts. Here are the drawer boxes, in the case, with the doors on.
Wrapping It UP!
Once I fit all of the drawer fronts, I attached them to the drawer boxes by using screws from the back of the drawer case. Then, I could position all of the drawer pulls and mount them.
Lastly, was the solid maple top. Nothing too fancy here, but I used a full one-inch thick top and put a nice chamfer detail on the underside to, again, break up the solid lines.
Here are a few shots of the finished product!
Conclusion
I am really happy with the way this credenza came out, and my client was super thrilled with it. He promptly filled it with books and knick-knacks, and it looks great by the matching corner desk.
I hope you enjoyed this build. Let me know in the comments what you think of this project!
Disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links, meaning I may get a small commission if you purchase anything from these links. Thank you for your support!
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