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Making Mitered Cabinet Doors

February 7th, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments

Make Cabinet DoorsThere are two methods used for making five piece framed mitered kitchen cabinet doors. The excellent video below is entertaining and well produced. This clip will walk you through all of the steps for fabricating a beveled miter door. The developer also touches on how a stick and cope door or a full mortise and tenon style is made.



Five piece cupboard doors consist of two styles, two rails and one center panel. This instructional demonstrates how the styles and rails are fabricated. The stock size of the frames are usually in the neighborhood of three quarters of an inch (3/4″) thick and two and a half (1/2″) wide. In the movie he starts with a two and an eight wide piece because he will be adding cock bead molding on the outside of the door to make it the correct size after he attaches screws through the rails.

The detailed profile is cut on stock pieces by using a router set up in a table. The video shows a double rounded over bead being applied hardwood frame stock.

The next step is to use a stack dado blade on the table saw and to groove the hardwood pieces for the center panel. The groove is cut one quarter of an inch (1/4″) wide and three eights of an inch (3/8″) deep.

Using a miter saw or chop saw the forty five degree angles are cut on the kitchen cabinet door stiles and rails.

The first method that is used for gluing the mitered pieces together is known as a biscuit joint. The machine that makes the groove for the wooden biscuit to fit into is called a Lamello machine. These are hand-held power tools that can be purchased from any major hardware supply store.

Once all of the grooves have been cut into the stiles and rails, the wooden wafers that will create the bond between the two pieces need to be cut off. This is done in order to allow room for the center panel to miss the wood biscuits.

The pieces are then put together with glue and by screwing them together. The author of the video suggest that before fastening the parts together with screws, the wood frame should be clamped and the glue should be allowed to thoroughly dry. He also points out that it is best to drill a pilot hole and use wax on the screws.

That’s it for the first method. Now let’s explore a few details on the second option for fabricating a miter kitchen cabinet door.

Making a mortise and tenon miter cabinet door will require having mortise machine. It appears that this method may take a little longer to complete, but the creator of this instructional suggests that this is the preferred method of making these five-piece beveled doors.

Here’s the short version:

  1. Cut the stock hardwood rips at two and a half inches (2-1/2″) by three quarters (3/4″)
  2. Route the detailed inside and outside edges on the stock
  3. Cut your stile and rail pieces to length
  4. Mortise the groves
  5. Cut the tenon with a dado blade on the table saw
  6. Notch the tenon to the right length

Well that’s it…the video is more detailed than the article on how to make mitered cabinet doors. He didn’t really go into any details on how to make the center panel. His main focus was on milling and assembling the frame pieces.

Here’s another video that demonstrates how the center panels are made.

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