FuzzeWuzze's Coffin Keezer + Cabinet storage Build

Williams 728
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Finally an update, got the top cut and one of the side panels cut, far from perfect but i dont think your average person will notice the flaws.

Accidentally cut the top wrong, i was a bit pissed because its like a $30 piece of wood, i accidentally put my straight edge on the wrong line when it with my saw so it ended up being 1.5" short of what i wanted, the good thing is that i was planning on 2 inches of overhang on each side, so this only lowers that to 1.25" of overhang for each side which is still fine.

Keezer-Day15.jpg


I decided to do each side before doing the front, because they all require plunge cuts with my circular saw, which im a bit iffy about but works great now that i know what im doing, that way if i screw up something while learning that i have enough wood left to remake it...the front is so big it takes up a majority of one sheet of plywood...i tried just cutting a piece of scrap free hand with a jigsaw and realized that wasnt going to work...maybe for the original design who had trim to hide behind but i dont want to open up the cabinets and be reminded every time with some wavy ass jigsaw cut..it was that bad.
So i cut 99% of each side and finish the corners with the jigsaw to get the cut out. Cutting it with the circular saw on the floor with some foam insulation i bought is much easier, the wood is so big and floppy that trying to do a jigsaw cut long distance between two sawhorses just doesnt happen. Read about using the 2" foam insulation for cutting wood and man does it work great, way easier than setting up 2x4's as offsets, gives way more support on the wood and at 2" thickness gives me plenty of space to cut the wood cleanly and not saw into my concrete floor. Next step tomorrow is the other side and front.

Had a minor panic attack as i thought about the positioning on our wall, which is 97" long...thankfully the panel is cut such that i can hinge the door at the wall side so the door swings out to be parallel with the wall, instead of the other way which would block trying to get in it.

Overall the cabinet itself with top will be about 63" long and 32" deep...its a biggie. The height is higher than i expected, but its not a biggie as everything is still within easy reach after i did a quick fake mockup in my head of where the taps would be.

Sucks that when its all "done" im going to have to wait for over a month to get my cabinet doors, right now it looks like 25-30 business days to get custom cabinet doors...thats fine though im not ordering them until everything is done and its in my house working..no sense spending $100+ on cabinet doors that dont fit properly because i made some change along the way...which seems to happen on a daily basis.

Going to go with Hemlock corners and top edging, i like the look and it should give a decent contrast to the oak yet still stain a similar color..i dont really like how the cheap pine looks when its stained.
 
dfess1 said:
what kind of fancy doors are you getting made for $100 a door??
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No not 100 each lol, no way...just basic custom sized shaker doors in red oak...i only priced the front two and they were 65 something for both with the hinge slots cut...so im assuming the two smaller side doors will be around 35-40 total ...so 100-125ish for 4 doors...then a few more $$ for hinges and handles. We may upgrade from just basic shaker doors and add a bit of extra detail to them for a few extra $$ each, i havent gone through the pricing yet fully.

Got sick somehow, ended up leaving Superbowl party early because i felt like crap, turns out i had a 100 degree temperature...felt ok yesterday but today it kicked up to 101...ugh i just want to work on the damn bar but cant really stress my body with such a high fever.
 
FuzzeWuzze said:
Got sick somehow, ended up leaving Superbowl party early because i felt like crap, turns out i had a 100 degree temperature..
Click to expand...

That's ok, the wrong team won anyway... ;)

Simple shaker door out of red oak? Shouldn't take long to make and should be pretty cheap as long as the place has stock on hand. I'd be surprised if it takes longer than 2 days to make.
 
dfess1 said:
That's ok, the wrong team won anyway... ;)

Simple shaker door out of red oak? Shouldn't take long to make and should be pretty cheap as long as the place has stock on hand. I'd be surprised if it takes longer than 2 days to make.
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I think 25-30 business days is their lead time before they can even get to mine, they are a rather big cabinet company it seems, i may hunt around and see who else i can find...they were just the first ones to pop up on google and have online ordering and are only like a 45 minute drive. All the others require you to submit paperwork for a quote...
 
Got the front cut and put on!

God i am glad thats over, by far the most stressful thing ive done so far...because there are so many measurements and cuts that need to be made and holes to drill that if even one of them is wrong by enough the entire thing is scrap...thankfully it all came out right on the first attempt after a few nights of measuring, and remeasuring. I probably measured and remeasured the cabinet holes a good 8 times because if the center bit didnt cover where my divider was it was scrap....and once it was cut the center divider is just over 1 1/8" wide so I had to handle it with care not to crack it.

Keezer-Day17.jpg


I just propped up the corner molding against the corner to get an idea of the look and i like. It was scrap at HDepot, and unfortunately its like 2" short of what i actually need...not that it matters both front corner pieces will only be like $3.50 each.
 
Went and got another piece of 3/4" plywood, the one i had was just too bowed, i did some wetting and what not to try and flatten it out and its much better but the lid piece was accidentally cut 1.5" too short front to back, which is the offset of my circular saw because i accidentally cut from the wrong direction...so i just got a new one..ill use bits of this old lid for some other project like a cat play house thing or whatever...

The local store only sells small pint size jars of the color i need for some stupid reason, and online on Amazon the price is twice what it is in the store, why i dont understand... so since there's two pints in a quart anyways there's no point in buying online when i can just buy two more pint's locally for the same price as a quart online. Left the corners undone so that i can glue on the trim pieces properly.

Going to be gone until Sunday, but have Monday off and hope to get a lot done with the lid. Its actually quite a dark shade, but with the sunlight shining directly on it, it looks a bit lighter.

Keezer-Day18.jpg


I want to do some research into Cabinet lights as well, i found these nice Rockler micro switches to turn the lights on when the cabinet is opened and off when its closed, but their like 20 something each and i cant tell if they can power some LED light bars or something i can hide up under the front shroud.
 
Got my new top cut, and its perfectly flat, good deal! After a ton of blunders getting the top on its finally on with 4" long 3/8 bolts counter sunk into the top.

I made a few mistakes along the way, first i for some reason thought it would be smart to drill the holes in the lid of the freezer without the wood to get them where i wanted them...problem was then trying to figure out where the hell i had to drill the holes in the wood to match up with those holes...ended up getting the freezer and wood lid in place, outlining the freezer door on the underside of the lid..taking it all off and laying it on the floor and lining it up, then drilling through my existing freezer lid holes to drill out the wood...worked perfectly once i had SWMBO help me align everything...getting 1 1/2" on all 4 sides is quite a chore by yourself...move one side aligned, other side is off..did that whole tango for an hour before i gave up and waited for her to get home. Once everything was done and bolted on the front left corner was only 2/32" off the front right corner...good enough!

Also dry fit all of my kegs and CO2 tank exactly how they will be and thankfully they all fit perfectly and the extra length on the bolts dont hit anything....

In total i have four 5 gallon kegs, a 2.5 gallon keg(for carbonated water for faux soda stream), 5# CO2 tank with double regulator and 4 way manifold.

Keezer-Day19a.jpg

Keezer-Day19b.jpg


Also i need to clean the freezer badly before i put it in service, seems i spilled some beer in it before i unplugged it and its pretty disgusting smelling inside.
 
Looks really good for no carpentry skills. LOL. I have carpentry skills and my build is deliberately looking like it is all salvaged parts. Maybe, staining has cropped up in my thoughts a couple times. HAHA.
 
sablesurfer said:
Looks really good for no carpentry skills. LOL. I have carpentry skills and my build is deliberately looking like it is all salvaged parts. Maybe, staining has cropped up in my thoughts a couple times. HAHA.
Click to expand...

Ha i think having no skills doesnt impede the quality necessarily, but it definitely is impeding my speed :) Just like yesterday where putting the top on took most of the day because of the dumb decisions i made and having to go back and forth to the store many times. It came out alright, just took me 2-3 hours longer than it should have :)
 
Got the top trim cut, decided to go with some Hemlock for the 1x3 trim pieces, i like the straight grain and it will offset all the rest of the thing being oak not to mention its like $7 cheaper(like 40%) than its oak equivilent and since i need so many 10 foot lengths it'll save me like 45-50 bucks. Got some liquid nails holding the front bit down...didnt realize it takes so long to cure...so going to have to spread getting the other ones down out over a few days....tomorrow i work on the downward top trim. We decided we were going to make them a flush corner rather than inset like the original design. I may do a round over bit with a router but probably not.

Keezer-Day20.jpg
 
how much of an over hang do you have between your trim and the top itself? I'd come in from underneath and sink some screws through the top up into the trim. Liquid nails doesn't always hold when moisture is involved.

How are you keeping your mitered corners together? Glue the joint? That's a pretty wide span to keep dead nuts flat. Either a pocket screw or a biscuit would help there.
 
dfess1 said:
how much of an over hang do you have between your trim and the top itself? I'd come in from underneath and sink some screws through the top up into the trim. Liquid nails doesn't always hold when moisture is involved.

How are you keeping your mitered corners together? Glue the joint? That's a pretty wide span to keep dead nuts flat. Either a pocket screw or a biscuit would help there.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention but yes i will be screwing in from the bottom. My overhang is only as wide as required for a vertical board to be flush with the top. Much like the original design i plan on screwing in an additional 1x1 below the lid and flush with the front, so that my vertical pieces have more surface for glue...so the stackup from top down is 1x3(horizontal top), 3/4" plywood top, 1x1 wood stub..ill buy some screws if i dont have them that will screw up through that properly without busting out the top.

After some research I'll likely go back to just using my gorilla wood glue to put the remaining bits down.

Not sure what you mean about flat with regards to the corners? All of the corners seem to match up pretty well with a minimal gap if any that i can fill in with putty as mentioned, although its going to be stained dark anyways so wont really even be noticeable to begin with.

Also i have a bunch of small dumbells that i put across the length to keep it down if thats what you mean by flat...the hemlock is also very straight so not much weight was needed if any.
 
Also forgot that i tried a method i stole from some woodworking video i saw on youtube awhile ago and it seems to work. Basically its just to sand the mitered corners a bit and rub some fine sawdust in the crack while the glue is in there setting...overall it seems to actually work pretty well. I may still need to use a filler but its looking like i might not. Once everything gets set ill go in there and blow around to see if it all just comes out or not.

Before
Keezer-Day20b.jpg


After
Keezer-Day20c.jpg
 
Decided on a coffin top i think
Keezer-Day21.jpg


It should be 24" long with taps 3" from the side and 4" from center between eachother. And 14" tall, putting the taps at around 12" which feels right. It will also be 10" deep or so. The depth felt right, i had to mock up a front with cardboard and move it back and forth to see what felt right..i couldnt really follow other peoples designs because i have an additional 8" in the front due to the cabinets that other most keezers dont.

In an effort to use wood i already have instead of buying more the plan is to use 3/4" plywood on the sides that i glue some of my extra 1/4" oak plywood onto as a veneer of sorts. The corners and top trim will be the same 1x3 Hemlock i used for the top. Inside of my box i plan to do a "Jester" style box with a big U shape cut made out of insulation foam...left fan sucks air up, right fan blows air back down.
 
From that pic, looks like your tap handles will rise above the top of that portion. Will you ever be using that for active storage? Will anyone be putting stuff up there and taking stuff down on a regular/daily basis?

I ask because if no, and no one will ever be reaching over the tap handles then you will be fine.

But, if people are constantly reaching over them to get at something, I can see a lot of spilt beer as they bump the handles. If it is an active spot, I would move that whole tap bar down a bit.
 
Good question but no there's no reason someone would be putting stuff up there, the entire freezer is surrounded by giant 4 cabinet spaces for storing our glasses and what not and the counter top will more than adequate in size(60"ish long by 32"ish deep) to set drinks on if people are hanging out around it...it would be quite awkward to reach over and put something on top so i cant see why anyone ever would.
 
Slow progress, but progress none the less. Been busy with wedding planning and various trips we've had planned seemingly every weekend!

Got the coffin a good portion done, its slightly modified from my Sketchup, only in that i mounted an extra 3/4" of plywood behind the taps, which means i pulled the corner bits out 3/4" as well. This gives me a nice hidden lip all the way around the inside front of the coffin in which to hide my LED light strip.

This was the easiest way to use up the wood i have(and still have) and yet still hide the unseemly plywood edges and seams. Mounted a extra bit of oak painted with the blackboard paint. I'd prefer if it was totally smooth but i kind of like the subtle oak texture it has.
Keezer-Day23a.jpg

Keezer-Day23b.jpg


Im trying to figure out what i want to do with the back. Because the top inner plywood is "inset" and not laying on top of the coffin, i cant just hinge off the top. The back is not connected even if it appears so, its actually a piece of 3/4" plywood that sets between the left and right, with a piece of extra 1/4" oak plywood over it to make it more seamless looking. It'll still have some seams on the side back edge from the 1/4" oak but once its painted dark i don't think it will be noticeable. I think to hinge it i am just going to use the jigsaw to cut a big square out, leaving maybe 2" on all sides, hinge it from the top so that gravity keeps it (mostly) closed.

Next up is the top, im hoping to finish that tonight once we get back from our night out...then comes drilling of the lines.
 
This all looks great! and tiring... really tiring I'm really getting swayed towards going upright looking at it. I'm sure it is going to be great when done though.
 
Yea all of the extra cabinetry work being done is making it much tougher than just building a box around a freezer, and because i don't know the tricks of the trade its all measure and remeasure and in some cases hit things until they are lined up properly ;)

I didn't want to end up with cabinet holes that are all crooked or not the same size then get to the end and realize there's no way i can mount cabinet doors.
 
Turns out when i ordered my extra 525SS to fill in the 5th hole i forgot to complete the order for the extra shank...i spent a good 30 minutes last night looking for a shank that didnt exist....thank god for Amazon prime it should be here Saturday.

Hand drilled one of the front holes, then quickly realized how stressful hand drilling 2 1/2" of wood perfectly level was...it came out alright but i remembered a co-worker with a drill press and after some maneuvering to get the giant box in there we got all the holes cut.

Keezer-Day24.jpg
 
First pour, i couldnt wait to stain everything, got the holes drilled into the lid...went with 3 1/2" holes because i bought a hole saw to drill the wine holes...its slightly big for a 80mm fan but it fits and the fan doesnt fall through it or anything..just a slight gap on either side of the fan which im not worried about.

Keezer-Day25.jpg
 
Here it is all stained up, taking a few pictures with the flash has shown a few areas that are a bit light, so Ill give those another coat. Got the chalkboard coated in chalk just to keep it from getting any stain to stick to it so that i noticed it easier.
Keezer-Day28.jpg


The back of my coffin, this actually worked out quite well, it looks might lighter than it actually is with the flash so close..its the same shade as the rest of it. Once i get all my shanks and stuff put back in ill take a few pictures of the inside setup, as it is now it hinges on the bottom and gives me lots of access inside.
Keezer-Day28b.jpg


And finally somehow i lucked out, the gap between my freezer wall and the cabinet is almost exactly 3.25" which is the width of a gang box. You can see i accidentally cracked the faceplate while shoving it in...dont care its not visible and serves its purpose of keeping all the electronics in. I have 1 cold line wired, and 1 always on socket wired. The always on socket will likely just host a small extension cord and host the coffin fan, coffin LED lights, and Arduino when i wire it up to some microswitches to control the cabinet LED lighting at some point.
Keezer-Day28c.jpg


Now i just wait for SWMBO to return from a trip tomorrow to give the final go/no go on the stain if we should go darker or if there are light spots im missing, then i start the multi day process of applying the many coats of semi gloss poly.
 
Got it stained and poly'd and in the house, yay it actually fit...you measure and measure and convince yourself its going to fit, but you never know with big furniture until you try to do it :)

Keezer-Day30a.jpg

Keezer-Day30b.jpg


Its definately a big beast, need to move some other furniture around to get it centered on the wall properly. Also very important i'll need to reposition my beer posters to the left and right as they are partially blocked by the coffin now :)

Today i am going to work on getting the LED lights in the coffin set, as well as finishing up getting my hoses in...turns out I lost one of my beer ball lock and swivels so had to buy new one today at the LHBS.
 
Looks great! Thanks a lot for the detailed steps. I've decided to attempt to build a similar one. Quick question, I assume you cut some holes in the top of the freezer lid and ran pvc piping to the taps similar to the original builder did? If so, have you noticed any issues with the cooling of the taps doing it this way? Do you have any pictures of the fan placement?
 
Older thread but in a search for new keezer ideas came across this and after showing the SWMBO the pics, she is on board. Fuzze, would you mind sharing the Sketchup model you have? Even if incomplete would be a great starting point for designing this thing.
 
Sure but it will have to wait. . just got married last week so on honeymoon. No access to the files for another week or so.

I'll update this as I finish the build, been busy the last month or so with wedding stuff so havent finished the build.

It's a big beast, if I had to do it again I'd probably only use 1 by 6s instead of 1 by 8 to frame the cabinets. The extra storage space is nice though.
 
Lol so much truth.

No rush at all. Congrats man! I would not be starting this project for a few months anyways as I am moving into my new condo in a month and have enough stuff to deal with. Just want to be plenty prepared!
 
Yea he posts here too,I had a long back and forth with him on reddit about his process and he's right a lot of it will be custom as you go. Because none of my measurement were exact as I wanted I just modified where needed. The only constraint I had was it had to be under 34 inches deep or it wouldn't fit through any doors. I have to take the lid off and bring it in sideways then reattach it. Not a big deal, just something I have to do whenever I move again.
 
stuntman2625 said:
Looks great! Thanks a lot for the detailed steps. I've decided to attempt to build a similar one. Quick question, I assume you cut some holes in the top of the freezer lid and ran pvc piping to the taps similar to the original builder did? If so, have you noticed any issues with the cooling of the taps doing it this way? Do you have any pictures of the fan placement?
Click to expand...

I responded to you in pms but never here, so in case anyone else cares I didn't copy his design. Mine is two holes, one blows air up out of the freezer into the box and across the taps and down. The hole down back in is where I feed my lines up. I already had a 3.5 inch hole saw for the wine holes so used that for both holes and it works great
 
It's looking looking good I dig the LEDs. I had always planned on adding LEDs but haven't gotten around to it. I figured you had finished the build once the PMs on reddit stopped rolling in.

What are you planning on doing for the bar top?
 
Bankshot said:
It's looking looking good I dig the LEDs. I had always planned on adding LEDs but haven't gotten around to it. I figured you had finished the build once the PMs on reddit stopped rolling in.

What are you planning on doing for the bar top?
Click to expand...

Some type of wood likely, they also make wood pergo that looks like stone, so we may loom at that also. Wish it was done, long project...but wedding trumped it the last few month or two :)
 

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