I built these cabinets for our living room out of poplar & birch plywood. There are 9 stacking cabinets total in 4 rows. The upper units are 18″ tall while the lower units are 24″ tall. Each row is sitting on a small spacer runner which is constructed out of 1×3 MDF which was painted black to give a shadow effect.

There are 9 total cabinets. The overall size of the installation is about 8’x8′ and they are 14″ deep. The sizes are:
Top Row: 2′ 4′ 2′
2nd Row: 5′ 3′
3rd Row: 4′ 4′
Bottom Row: 3′ 5′

Front view of stacking modular furniture cabinets

detail of face frame and black spacer runner on stacking modular furniture cabinets

detail of corner, face frame and black spacer runner on stacking modular furniture cabinets

Wide shot of stacking modular furniture cabinets from above

The construction is a 3D torsion box in that each wall is a separate MDF torsion box joined at the corners by half-lap joints. Then the frame was skinned with 1/4″ Birch Playwood. Finally, I built some poplar face frames which are joined on the 45 with a biscuit. This face frame was glued and clamped to the box. I sanded, applied a stain conditioner and then stained them with oil-based stain. They were then rubbed down with paste wax. There is about 40′ of white tube lights snaking behind the cabinets. I blacked out the spots where the lights run vertically and where they cross from one cabinet to another using black gaffers tape.

Here’s the pieces for one of the assemblies – in total, there were about 900 dados cut. I burned out 1 radial arm saw in the process.

prepared MDF pieces to create 3D torsion box for stacking cabinets

prepared MDF pieces to create 3D torsion box for stacking cabinets

Bottom construction of MDF 3d torsion box. There are 3 horizontal runners and 5 front-to-back runners.

Detail of half-lap joint for 3d MDF torsion box for stacking cabinets

Closeup of glue-up of half-lap joints for 3d torsion box assembly for stacking cabinets

Clamp-up assembly of half-lap joint in 3d torsion box made from MDF

close up of clamp-up assembly of half-lap joint in 3d torsion box made from MDF

End piece ready to be installed in 3D MDF torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet

End piece installed in 3D MDF torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet

Top bar runners being installed in 3d MDF torsion box

Closeup of half-lap joint for top runners in 3D MDF torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet

Closeup of 3-way half-lap joint of 3D MDF torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet furniture

Closeup of 3-way half-lap joint of 3D MDF torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet furniture

Complete view of 3d torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet

Complete view of 3d torsion box assembly for stacking cabinet

Total cost (including a new radial arm saw from craigslist) was about $700.