Making a cabinet door

[todd]

I'm in the process of making a shop cabinet on top of which will be the resting place of my planer. This is my first attempt at cabinet construction. I'm mostly following along with "Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinetry" by John Paquay to guide me through the process. I'm doing this not only to get the planer off of the top of the cardboard box it came in, but also to practice my cabinet-making skills in case I ever get the idea that my wife will let me build kitchen cabinets. I have the carcasses constructed (I'm guessing that was the easy part), and now I'm thinking about doors and drawers. I'm making the cabinet as a whole out of two 18" wide cabinets. One cabinet will just have a big door for adjustable shelves, and the other cabinet will be all drawers. My question regards the door. My preference would be to use a stile and rail router bit set and use a plywood insert for the panel. However, $50-100 for a stile and rail bit for a one-off door isn't making me happy. My little woodworking brain tells me that a few options are

1. Use a tongue and groove construction for the door frame. Use a dado to cut the slot for a plywood panel.
2. Make a solid door either out of solid wood or perhaps edge-banded plywood.

How would you make a door if you were short a stile and rail set?

todd

[Tom]

Todd wrote: >I'm in the process of making a shop cabinet on top of which will be the

Considering that it's a shop cabinet, I'd go with option one or two. If your wife ever let's you build the kitchen cabs, then SHE'LL have to decide if the expense of the bit set is worth it. It probably will be. Luckily (or not), my wife decided on slab doors, so I've yet to buy a rail and stile set-up. But with something like that, you might have to practice some. Say, on your shop cabinets. ; ) That's like, the second "emoticon" I've ever used.Tom Someday, it'll all be over....

[Frank McVey]

Yes, it'll work, but the door will be relatively weak. Better to use biscuits, unless the groove is pretty deep.

Better yet to use M & T.

You can either build the door round the ply (using a groove to house the ply), or

You can rebate the frame members, assemble them, then insert the panel last, using mitred mouldings to hold the panel in. If you do this, you need to use a long-and-short shouldered tenon.

Or you can make the frame with no grooves or rebates, assemble it, rout a rebate all the way round, square off the corners with a chisel, and insert the panel, holding it with planted mouldings

No reason why not, other than aesthetics. You'll need to consider your hinge options, though - plywood doesn't like screws in the end grain too much, so an inset door with simple butts is not a good idea.

Another option is a ledged-and-braced door, if you're in a hurry. (Like an outhouse door!)

As above, if I were just making one or two, and wasn't too concerned about appearance. If you're going to be doing a kitchen-full, then bite the bullet and spend the money!

HTH

Frank

[B a r r y]

Mortise and tenon corners with a slot to trap the panel.

Barry

[Mike G]

If I had a biscuit jointer I'd use that for the frame and plywood for the door.

If I didn't have a biscuit jointer I could use half lap, bridle, M&T, stub M&T, or spline joints for the door frames, Then still go for the dado ply panel.

[Stephen M]

Below is my favorite, but my dad did solid MDF doors (no pannel). It's simple and is perfectly acceptable for a shop.

[Rumpty]

Agree

[todd]

Thanks for all the replies.

After looking up a bridle joint, that is the correct description of what I had in mind when I said "tongue and groove". It seems like it will be relatively easy to make and strong with the large amount of surface area for glue.

Todd

[nospambob]

[Scott Burright]

For a shop cabinet-- slab doors, Melamine.

Easiest kind of frame and panel doors would seem to be pegged half-laps with rabbets in back for a thin plywood panel (or glass or acrylic or whatever), which is held in by little nailer strips.

I'm not going to try cope-and-stick until I get a shaper.

--Scott

[bob]

I am currently "practicing" making cabinet doors in my shop, in preparation for the kitchen cabinet project that SWMBO wants. I have a rail and stile bit set. I built the shop cabinet in Shop Notes #75, but I did real raised panels for the drawers and doors. I must be doing something right as SWMBO was in the shop the other day and said something to the effect of "damn those are nice cabinets. Too nice for your shop. Move them up to my kitchen". (I did build the shops cabinets out of genuine mahogany......so the wood choice made them look extra good). I take compliments any way I can get them from the wife..

Bob