Jelly Cabinet - unfinished furniture

A jelly cabinet is a small piece of furniture, historically used to store jelly.  It's usually about 15 to 20 inches wide and about 12 inches deep.  A free standing jelly cabinet is going to be about 4 feet tall. A wall mounted one may be more in the area of 20 to 24 inches tall.

A jelly cabinet can be laid out in a variety of ways.  Usually there will be a large door over most of the front, and there may be a drawer above or below the door.  Inside the door the space can be divided with shelves, some may have fixed shelved and other will have adjustable shelves.

There may also be punched tin in then door, although this is more often associated with a pie safe.  If there is tin in the door and any other hardware make sure it can be easily removed without disturbing the integrity of the cabinet.  Getting the unfinished jelly cabinet painted or stained will be much easier if all hardware is removed and the parts painted separately.

Purchasing unfinished furniture is very popular with any do it yourselfer.  A significant consideration with looking to purchase an unfinished jelly cabinet, or any unfinished furniture, will be the wood used to build the cabinet.  The two most common types of wood will be pine and oak.  Other woods may be available or can be custom ordered if you are getting the unfinished jelly cabinet handmade.  If available, cherry or maple would be two excellent woods for the jelly cabinet.

If the plan is to paint the unfinished jelly cabinet pine, or maybe poplar, would be likely choices for wood.  Painting oak, cherry or maple would almost be a crime.  These hardwoods really demand to be coated with a high quality stain.