Building Cabinet Door Frames

Above the bottom shelf of the cabinet.

Building cabinet door frames.

Learn how to make simple face frame upper and lower cabinets including doors and drawers. This makes room for adjustments when installing them next to one another. Upper cabinets are constructed in the same basic manner using box or case construction for the sides bottom and a 3 4 inch plywood top. The facings are cut and installed in the same manner.

Plan to use 1 3 or 1 4 hardwood boards for the door s frame. You ll find this material at most home centers and lumberyards. Cut the door panel insert slightly less than the size you need to allow for wood expansion and contraction. The sample base and wall cabinets shown belowhave these features to make building them as simple as possible.

For cabinets with face frames if doing inset doors subtract from both the height and width of your frame opening to get your door size. The actual dimensions will be 3 4 x 2 1 2 in. If your cabinet sides are not visible and you used the wood screw or pocket hole method to build your cabinet you can use pocket hole screws to attach your face frame. Then using butt joints screw through the cabinet base and into the edge of the panels.

Begin assembly of the door. Wood magazine s kevin boyle shows you this foolproof method expla. It s fast and secure. Face frames on sides of kitchen cabinets should overlap 1 4 in.

Build the face frame so that the bottom rail rails are horizontal boards and stiles are vertical boards projects 1 16 in. For cabinets with face frames if doing partial overlay add 2 times whatever you want your overlay to be to the height and width of your inside opening and be sure get hinges to match your overlay. Join the base panels to the bottom. Pilot holes are a good idea here.

Overlaps on the sides let you fine tune the cabinet width during installation. Ordinarily this will be the width of a table saw blade. A flat door panel will usually be made from 25 inch 6 mm plywood the same wood type as the rest of the cabinet. Apply some wood glue and drive your screws into the pocket hole.

Face frames cover plywood edges. Align and glue the base panels so that one flat face is flush with the back edge of the panel and the other is 3 back from the front end. In this video i am copying the dimensions of an old cabinet door in order to replace one that is missing in the kitchen. Pocket hole screws on the inside of cabinet.

The 3 4 plywood case eliminates panel jointing planing and glue ups. Or 3 4 x 3 1 2 in.