Making Frame And Panel Doors

Frame and panel construction also called rail and stile is a woodworking technique often used in the making of doors wainscoting and other decorative features for cabinets furniture and homes.

Making frame and panel doors.

With all of the upper cabinets for my kitchen made and installed i moved on to making the cabinet doors. I build mine by laminating two pieces of 3 4 thick stock. The basic idea is to capture a floating panel within a sturdy frame as opposed to techniques used in making a slab solid wood cabinet door or drawer front the door is constructed of several solid wood pieces running in a vertical or horizontal direction with exposed endgrains. Clamps clamps and more clamps.

The door frame is built using loose tenons or dominoes with a panel that floats in a groove in the frame. Making a frame and panel door. Frame and panel doors consist of the rails the top and bottom pieces the stiles the side pieces and the panel. Frames use 3 4 thick stock with 1 4 panels in various materials and veneers.

This yields a stronger more stable door frame which has less tendency to warp or distort over time. The process at least. Simple frame and panel doors in 30 minutes frame and panel doors add class to any project but they don t have to add a lot of assembly time. I don t know if this will be worthwhile to anyone but as i m making some panel doors for a project right now i thought i d take some pictures along the way and share the steps i happen to use.

The style i picked is a simple frame and panel with the frame made from solid maple. The panel may be flat or raised. I m not by any means suggesting that my way is the best way. Raised panels take more work and arched raised panels require the most work.

Interior doors are usually 1 3 8 thick.