How to Make Cabinet Doors
The simplest cabinet door is a slab: one piece of 3/4 in (18 mm) MDF or plywood, cut to size and edge banded. A shaker door is a five-piece door: two vertical stiles and two horizontal rails, 2–3 in wide, grooved to hold a thin flat panel. Both are sized from the cabinet, not the opening, when the doors overlay the cabinet front. Building cabinet doors for a whole kitchen follows the same steps for every door, and making DIY shaker cabinet doors needs only a table saw or a router for the grooves.
1. Size the doors
| Cabinet | Door size |
|---|---|
| Frameless, full overlay, one door | Cabinet width − 6 mm × cabinet height − 6 mm (a 3 mm, 1/8 in, gap at each edge) |
| Frameless, two doors | (Cabinet width − 9 mm) ÷ 2 each, with 3 mm at the edges and between them |
| Face frame, 1/2 in overlay | Opening + 1 in in width and height |
| Inset | Opening − 1/16 in (1.5 mm) all round |
Doors wider than about 24 in (600 mm) sag on their hinges: use two doors.
2. Slab doors
- Cut the door from 3/4 in MDF or plywood, square and to the exact size.
- Band all four edges, short edges first.
- Ease the edges with a sanding block, or rout a small round-over.
- Drill the 35 mm hinge cups, then paint or finish.
3. Five-piece shaker doors
| Part | Size |
|---|---|
| Stiles (2) | Door height × stile width (2 1/4 in, 57 mm) |
| Rails (2) | Door width − 2 × stile width + 2 × tenon (3/8 in, 10 mm) |
| Panel (1) | Opening between the frame + 2 × groove depth − 1/8 in (3 mm) for movement |
- Cut stiles and rails from 3/4 in MDF, poplar or plywood strips, all exactly the same width.
- Cut the groove, 1/4 in wide and 3/8 in deep, centred along the inside edge of every stile and rail.
- Cut stub tenons on both ends of each rail to fit the groove, or use a matched rail-and-stile router bit set.
- Cut the panel from 1/4 in MDF or plywood, slightly smaller than the space in the grooves.
- Glue the tenons only (never glue a solid wood panel, it must move), assemble, check the diagonals and clamp.
- Sand, prime and paint, then drill the hinge cups in the stiles.
Our shaker door plan works out the stiles, rails and panel for any door size:
4. Hang the doors
Drill 35 mm cups 3–5 mm from the door edge, about 3–4 in from the top and bottom, press in concealed hinges and clip them to plates on the cabinet side. See cabinet hinge types and how to adjust cabinet hinges to get the gaps even.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make shaker cabinet doors?
Cut two stiles and two rails 2–3 in wide from 3/4 in board, cut a groove along their inside edges, a short tenon on each rail end, and a 1/4 in panel to fit the grooves. Glue the frame around the floating panel and clamp it square.
How big should a cabinet door be?
For full-overlay frameless cabinets, the size of the cabinet minus a 2–3 mm (about 1/8 in) gap at each edge and between doors. For face-frame cabinets with 1/2 in overlay, the opening plus 1 in each way.
Can I make cabinet doors from plywood or MDF?
Yes. MDF makes the flattest painted slab and shaker doors; plywood slabs need their edges banded. Both stay flat if the door is not much taller than about 36 in.
How wide are shaker door stiles and rails?
2 1/4 in (57 mm) is classic; 1 1/2 in or less gives a slim shaker look; 3 in suits tall pantry doors.
What are common cabinet door sizes?
Base cabinet doors are commonly 12–24 in wide and 24–30 in tall; wall cabinet doors are 12–24 in wide and 30, 36 or 42 in tall. A cabinet wider than about 24 in gets a pair of doors.