Built-in entertainment center design

[Steve Griffith]

Hello Chad,

Thanks for standing up these forums, this is awesome.

First question, do you have a tutorial anywhere that shows ideas for building an entertainment center with your cabinets? I’ve seen your “bookshelf library” video which goes part of the way where I want to go. So I have started a design (beginning of which is shown below) with a central open space for a wall-mounted big screen tv, with library book shelves over the top and to the far left and far right, and it will need deeper cabinets underneath to hold A/V components and speakers.
Second question, do you have thoughts on how to best accommodate speakers (most likely bookshelf type, not floor standing). My thoughts are to allow for some open “cubbyholes” where the speakers would be visible, or, might you offer something that would essentially be a cabinet door with a large opening in it that could accept a cloth covering mounted from the rear of the opening that would be acoustically transparent but would hide the speakers?
Thanks!

[Steve Griffith]

Sorry, not sure how to embed an image from my local drive…

[ChadBarker]

Sure, see the image below.

For the base portion of the entertainment center, you would typically start with a row of base cabinets with finished ends. I would prefer to have a flush toe kick and then attach some base molding to the face to give it a properly finished look.

The issue lies with the upper portion. Ideally, the best-looking entertainment centers have a face frame that defines the TV opening and creates dedicated spaces for speakers. However, our construction method does not use a face frame, so this isn’t something we can offer. We do have exposed wall cabinets, but the material used there is only 3/4″ thick, which I feel is too thin for this application.

That said, we recently began offering 1.5″ thick plywood end panels, which match the thickness of a face frame and would work well for an exposed shelf system. We also have a lot of extra fall-off material, so I need to find a way to make use of it.

Give me a few days to review some options. Worst case, we could supply a finished end panel style that could be used to construct the open shelving above the base cabinets. This would allow you to order the parts as needed and simply glue them together on-site.

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[Steve Griffith]

Hi Chad,

Thanks for the reply, you are very informative as usual! I’m really looking forward to see what else you might come up with. I have a 15’W x 8’H wall to fill up with library shelves, cabinets and this A/V center and I’m really hoping to put it all together using Barker since the room is contiguous with the kitchen, which will also be Barker. Thanks again,
Steve

[ChadBarker]

Alright, I just added the first 1.5″ thick plywood exposed interior cabinet! You can check out the wall version here:
Wall Exposed Thick Cabinet: https://www.citycabinets.com/product-p/wexposedthick.htm

I’ll be adding the base and tall versions in a few days along with possibly another product that allow syou to order the 1.5″ thick plywood with banded edges at custom sizes. This will allow you to build virtually anything you want.

Upgrade: You can now order it in a depth that mimics the finished end panels. This means you can select a depth that extends 5/8″ or 13/16″ beyond a whole number. This allows you to place a 12 13/16″ deep thick exposed cabinet next to a 12″ deep regular wall cabinet with a door, ensuring that the face of the exposed cabinet aligns almost flush with the door of the adjacent cabinet.

This creates a super tight reveal, making the entire cabinet line look perfectly flush for an ultra high-end design.

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