Building cabinet doors

[BeauxTi]

I am finishing out my router table and need to build two cabinet doors. I have never (Never) done this before- any suggestions on nice but simple style and method? I have seen some of the work you all are putting out - Amazing! I am willing to learn new things. BTW - I have the router table far enough along to actually use. Thanks in advance....

[Pappy]

Do you have a rail and style bit set? Relatively easy to build and the insert can be plywood, pegboard, plexiglass....

[cabinetman]

A very simple door can be made without rail and stile bits. You could make the stiles run through and half lap the rails. Then rabbet the back inside edge to install a plywood panel, which would look like a flat panel door.

With the same procedure you could use ¾" plywood, and glue on a wood edge and profile it (like a raised panel), and just glue it into the rabbet.

.

[JimD]

There are three sorts of router bits for cope and stick. There are reversable bits where you swap the cutters around - which I do not recommend. There are stacked bits, which I use sometimes and there are two bit sets, which I also use. The two piece sets might be the easiest starting out. Both cuts are made with the face of the wood towards the table - which is probably easier to remember. You also don't have a big cutter hanging out the top. MLCS woodworking has instructions on their website.

A cope and stick bit is a very easy to make a door but it might be a little confusing the first time. A similar way is to put a groove, like 1/4 wide and half an inch deep, all the way around and then make stub tenons on the end of the rails (the horizontal pieces). A piece of 1/4 plywood makes a perfectly acceptable panel. Luan is less than 1/4 but will work OK. If you paint it, caulk around the panel to fill the gap.

Jim

[mpc]

A similar way is to put a groove, like 1/4 wide and half an inch deep, all the way around and then make stub tenons on the end of the rails (the horizontal pieces). A piece of 1/4 plywood makes a perfectly acceptable panel. Luan is less than 1/4 but will work OK. If you paint it, caulk around the panel to fill the gap.
Jim

This is basically what I did for a series of garage cabinet doors years ago. Simple painted sticks for the frames with grooves and tenons. I used unpainted Masonite as the panel just to have a different color. Looked fine. Still have them too. Only a table saw was really necessary to make them. I did a two-pass technique on the frame pieces to cut the grooves, running both the front and back faces of the frame pieces against the saw's fence using a plain rip blade. This way I got a perfectly centered groove and it was easy to tweak the width to match the Masonite. I made the tenons the same thickness as the Masonite.

Another idea I've seen is to use chalkboard material, or paint the panels with chalkboard paint, so you can scribble notes, cut dimensions/sizes, and reminders right on the cabinet doors.

mpc

[atgcpaul]

If you have a dado blade for your TS, then I think the easiest doors to build are the stub tenon type. Requires very little setup. You can even use your regular old TS blade to plow the grooves and to form the tenon stubs.