Drawer Box Cut List Calculator
Give the cabinet opening and how the box goes together, and get every part cut to size — sides, front, back, and bottom — for one drawer or a whole run. No arithmetic at the saw, no box that binds on the slides.
From your slide's instructions — often 1″ for side-mount, ~½″ for undermount. Box width = opening − clearance.
Depth usually matches the slide length and must clear the cabinet interior.
Advanced: thickness, groove & quantity
How the cut list is built
Box width = opening − slide clearance. With the front and back between the sides, the sides are the full depth and the front/back length is width − 2 × thickness. Reverse it and the sides become depth − 2 × thickness instead.
A grooved bottom is sized to the inside distance plus the groove depth on each side: (inside) + 2 × groove depth. An applied bottom is simply the full outside width × depth.
Worked example
A 15″ opening with 1″ slide clearance gives a 14″-wide box. At 4″ high × 20″ deep in ½″ stock, front/back between sides: sides 4 × 20″, front & back 4 × 13″, and a ¼″ grooved bottom 13½ × 19½″.
Building drawer boxes
Clearance comes from the slides, not a rule of thumb
Side-mount slides commonly want a full inch of total clearance, but undermount and soft-close hardware differ, and getting it wrong means a box that either rattles or won't close. Use the number in your slide's instructions.
Groove placement
The bottom groove is usually set up from the bottom edge by the groove depth or a touch more, so the box sits flat and the bottom is fully captured. Keep the groove consistent on all grooved parts so the panel drops in square.