Vintage Dentist Cabinet

This cabinet was from one of our recent scores. Mel and I knew it would be a perfect addition to our bathroom. This cabinet was in good overall condition but it needed to be freshened up.

These old cabinets were mainly constructed out of plywood. I could either paint the inside or sand it and polyurethane it, I chose the latter.

The exposed wood had lots of marks and stains from many years of use. Sanding is a good way to refresh the wood and clean it.

Before sanding

After sanding

 After everything was sanded I sprayed all the exposed wood surfaces with spray satin polyurethane.

As you can see, the wood looks warmer and it feels smoother to the touch.

The next thing I had to focus on was the base. The wood had some areas that had chunks of wood missing. Instead of producing a new base it was easier/faster to just Bondo the affected areas.

The Bondo is applied and drying in the sun.

Now that the Bondo is dry I can sand it into shape & paint it black.

This is the front corner of the base with the Bondo sanded into shape. If you haven’t considered using Bondo it is a fantastic repair material, so think about adding it to your restoration toolbox.

Once I was done with the cabinet I focused on dressing it up a little. I bought some steel washers and placed them between the pull and the drawer to dress up the drawer fronts.

When we purchased the cabinet, it originally had damage to both lower front corners. The formica was chipped off and there was wood loss. As a restorer, sometimes all you can do is hide the damage. I knew that I could just fabricate aluminum corner protectors to both protect the corners and hide the damage underneath.

As you can see, it matches well with the tile.

I really dig this cracked ice formica.

One of the biggest reasons why we wanted this cabinet is the hidden garbage can. Our dog Milo loves to get into the garbage and shred tissue paper.

Our master bathroom is really small and has very little storage, so this is a welcome piece of storage.