Building Cabinets 6 - Building Doors and Drawers

Introduction - Materials - Overview - Cutting/Assembly - Faceframe - Doors/Drawers - Finishing - Attaching/Installing

Building the Doors and False Front

The doors and false front will overlap the openings by 3/8" and are rabbetted along the edges so that they are inset into the openings by 1/4". You may choose not to make your doors inset but rather sit entirely on top of the face frame. Another choice is to buy ready made doors out of the same kind of wood that you build the cabinet out of. The doors and false front are made the same way that we made the face frame. Use dowels at each butt joint and when you cut your stock make it long enough for the amount of overlap that you desire.

1. Rip and crosscut your stock to length.
   
2. Dowel, glue and clamp the rails and stiles together and allow to dry.
   
3. Cut the rabbet along the edges for the inset. To make a rabbet cut, you can use a router or a table saw.
   
4. Rout out the back so the door panels can be inserted. As a suggestion, use a scrap piece of wood to check your cut. Advance the router slowly, so as to not to splinter the wood and move it in the proper direction, you can feel the difference if you are moving against the cutting bit.
5. Make rabbet cuts on the back side of the door and false front to insert the panels in exactly the same way.


6. Use a table saw or a circular saw with a straight edge to cut the door insert out of 1/4" oak plywood. To compensate for the small curved corners use a saber saw to cut a small radius in the corner. This provides a perfect fit.
   
7. Use a 1/4" round over bead to shape the doors false front, and door front. Note: Shaping is a personal design choice, there are many different shapes you can choose from. You can use a shaper or a router for this process.

   Note: Also you can build raised front doors. This involves making bevel cuts on a solid or built up front panel of the door. Set your table saw at 15 degrees and then run all four sides of the panel through the saw in such a way that the height of the blade protrudes slightly beyond the face of the panel.
   

Building Drawers - Optional

There are many ways to build drawers and we are showing you only a brief outline here. As you design your cabinets, you must decide if you want drawers, and if so their sizes. Also you must also decide on the way they are to be installed, as this will affect their size.

1. Cut the sides, backs, fronts, and bottom of the drawers out of plywood.
   
2. Cut any needed dado, or rabbet cuts, in the backs and fronts.
   
3. Glue and nail the drawer together.
   
4. Install the slides on the doors and cabinets and install the doors.

Introduction - Materials - Overview - Cutting/Assembly - Faceframe - Doors/Drawers - Finishing - Attaching/Installing