Editorial Review
Featuring each piece in highly-detailed, exploded drawings and applying time-honored dimension and ergonomic standards, this comprehensive visual sourcebook takes the guesswork out of furniture joinery, assembly, dimension, and style. Woodworkers of any skill level will benefit from more than 1,300 crisp and detailed drawings that explain classic solutions to age-old problems, such as hanging a drawer, attaching a tabletop, and pegging a mortise. Covering hundreds of pieces of furniture, including kitchen cabinets, dining tables, desks, bookcases, and chests, readers will unlock the mysteries of legs, moldings, separate braces, and dozens of other subassemblies.
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Customer Reviews
Manual for those just learning cabinet making. 
2008-08-23
The illustrations in this book are very good. However, for those who are experienced woodworkers. this might not be what you would want for new information in cabinet making. Some parts are somewhat outdated with the new tools and fasteners that are available today.
It was interesting reading and made a good donation to the local highschool shop class.
Not about cabinets 
2008-04-06
If you're looking for a book on how to build cabinets, this ain't it. This is a primer on how to build furniture (which is often referred to as cabinet-making) but references to building cabinets are brief and limited. It's really an overview of furniture building rather than a hands-on, how-to book.
Incredible resource but lacks some of the how-to 
2008-03-12
This thick little book is filled with dimensional drawings of all kinds of furniture, including the very high-end furniture and some historical pieces. The author goes into great detail about every type of joint with some practical commentary on the pros and cons of each type. There are also detailed sections on legs and feet, table types, and drawer construction.
My only letdown, as an amateur furniture hobbyist, is that there is little or no talk about tool usage and how to make some of these pieces. The author favored information about origins, history, and aesthetics. However, the book makes up for this with its great perspective drawings on every page, complete with dimensions and names for each component. This will be a great resource down the road when I need to know how to construct a unique joint or when I just want to see something new to inspire me.
It's a "must have" for a woodworker's library 
2008-02-13
I bought this book because I have difficulty in two areas. One is in visualizing the construction details for a design I've sketched out. The other is in deciding what joints will be most appropriate. This book covers those two topics extremely well. In fact, better than any other book in my library.
The text is very well written. He says what he has to say in a concise and easy to read way.
I think it was written for intermediate and advanced level woodworkers, but I see a lot that would be of great value to beginners who want to try their hand at something a little more challenging.
Excellent resource book for advanced hobbyist woodworker 2006-08-10
Definitely NOT for the beginning woodworker. This book does not give measured drawings or instructions on how to make pieces of furniture. It has a section which gives drawings of a large number of woodworking joints, BUT does not discuss how to make them. This part of the book has been done in many other books along with "how to" information. Thus, this part of the book could have been eliminated without losing any real value.
HOWEVER, the rest of the book is worth its weight in gold!!!! It takes virtually all types of "Case furniture" (cabinets, chests, tables, desks, etc) but not chairs, and it gives well-researched, thorough, easy to understand diagrams on how they were constructed -- that is, what types of joints were used throughout the piece. It also provides excellent references to more detailed sets of plans and descriptions of each piece. The beginning woodworker won't know what to do with this book. The professional furniture maker will not need the book, but the vast number of serious weekend warriors of woodworking will find this book to be invaluable.
The potential purchaser of this book should realize that it was published twice, under the same name. Rodale published it in 1998. Readers Digest published it in 2003. Today I examined both editions side-by-side. Except for their ISBN numbers, the two editions seem identical. I examined a number of pages side by side, and I could not find any differences. They have the same number of pages. The only differences I could detect were in the paper used. The original Rodale edition has a more glossy paper, and the print seems to be slightly darker. Both of these differences are insignificant.
I have seen this book referenced in many places as one of the best resources in the field of woodworking. It is a masterpiece. This fact is made obvious by the difficulty in finding copies of the book for sale in either new or used form. Last week (Aug 2006) I saw three copies for sale on Amazon from $79 to $129 and all sold quickly. PLEASE NOTE - I also saw three "for sale" listings for this book last week by using a FROOGLE search. Three different Electronic bookstores indicated they had a copy of the book in stock. I contacted all three and found that they weren't really "bookstores" but rather are organizers of individuals who sell books and use the electronic bookstores as a central clearinghouse. All three said to contact the actual individual sellers. I did. None of the three had a copy for sale, even though all three of the electronic bookstores had listings saying that they had copies in stock for sale. I found a number of negative comments about these electronic bookstores when I searched. To their credit, FROOGLE stated that you should check out a seller before making a purchase. I hope this information helps you. I am very happy that I was able to buy a copy of the book. If you really want to see this book and can't buy a copy, go to your library.
The BEST resource on furniture construction! 2006-05-14
Featuring each piece in highly-detailed, exploded drawings and applying time-honored dimension and ergonomic standards, this comprehensive visual sourcebook takes the guesswork out of furniture joinery, assembly, dimension, and style. Woodworkers of any skill level will benefit from more than 1,300 crisp and detailed drawings that explain classic solutions to age-old problems, such as hanging a drawer, attaching a tabletop, and pegging a mortise. Covering hundreds of pieces of furniture, including kitchen cabinets, dining tables, desks, bookcases, and chests, readers will unlock the mysteries of legs, moldings, separate braces, and dozens of other subassemblies.
2005-11-16
This book is very complete covering fundamentals of furniture anatomy, styles, and wood movement, various joints, subassemblies used in all kinds of projects, and Furniture.
This is a great book for the beginner or professional.
Provides a lot of good inspiration as well.
Dining tables, occasional tables, desks, chests, cabinets, built-in cabinets, and beds are all of the Furniture types covered.
Beautifuly illustrated with exploded plans of how all of the parts go together... I can thumb through it and end up reading it for hours!! It's just really a very great book to own if you're interested in woodworking.
It seems I always have within an arms reach!
I love it!
Excellent Reference 2004-02-17
I like to check out books from the library before I buy them. I checked this one out, now I'm buying it.
As a novice woodworker, I anticipate this will be an excellent reference as I move forward with designing and building cabinets, tables, and chairs.
It's not a how-to book, it's a reference. So when I'm wondering how I'm going to design a small cabinet with four drawers and a television cabinet for the bedroom, this book will give me options and ideas from casework to drawers to what goes on the bottom and what goes on the top.
I think it's a great reference.
Outstanding Book 2003-10-02
This is an outstanding book. Shows styles and variations of just about all desired furniture pieces. Even though it does not show methods of work or measurments it is a MUST for any woodworker. It is a sure straight line reference to any project of furniture making.
Excellent reference for any serious woodworker 2001-11-26
As a semi-pro woodworker I found this book to be invaluable. It has detailed drawings of just about any type of joint or furniture item you can imagine. The first section is a discussion of wood and it's properties and then there is a detailed comparison of wood joints. Mortise and tenons, miters, dovetails, etc. are all discussed.
Then the book moves on with chapters dealing with various classes of furniture, desks, tables, beds, cabinets are all discussed with clear exploded diagrams.
Although the book does not contain detailed, measured drawings, it shows the conceptual details of how to make functional furniture. Additionally there are references to detailed plans that you can access via the internet or purchase to make typical examples of each piece.
Especially helpful are the "standards" sections at the start of each chapter. The "nominal" dimensions for tables, beds, kitchen cabinets are all given along with illustrations.
If you're serious about woodworking and furniture making, this book belongs on your bookshelf.
