Tutorial: How to make a Shaker Style cabinet door.

How to make a shaker style cabinet door. They’re easy and way cheaper than buying them premade.

I used common pine boards and 1/4” plywood and ran the rails and stiles thru my table saw twice to create the dado cut for the plywood to slot into. Then used glue and pocket hole screws to attach together.

REMEMBER:
height of your door is the length of your stiles
Width of your door is length of your rails + the width of your stile x2

TIP: I found that if I used an 8” wide board, measured and cut the lengths for the rails and stiles first on my miter saw, and then ripped those boards down to two 3” wide pieces on my table saw - the lengths for those two sets were identical giving me perfectly squared doors when built.

EQUATION for middle panel:
Height: length of stiles - (width of rail x2) + (depth of dado cut x2)
Width: length of rails + (depth of dado cut x2)

Follow along with me @BarberellaHome to see how this garage storage turns out.

#diyprojects #cabinetdoors #shakerstyle #ditcabinetdoors

[bigmak]

As a new carpenter, I was making doors and I cut the center panels very snug and glued the center panel to the rails and the styles. The wood expanded and blew out all my joints. It should float, there should be a small gap between the center panel styles and the rails.

[EdwardLorreto]

Not only are you beautiful your very talented.God bless you and keep you safe.

[Bulldog]

Dont glue the center panel, even if its MDF. It's supposed to "float" to allow the rails and stiles to expand and contract.

[jdthnt]

Good job on the product, but don’t use gloves on any saw, and don’t stand on the side of the table saw.

[konnan]

Now you have the grove showing on top of the doors and drawers 👍

[chickenfoot]

Wearing gloves with saws is a great way to get your hand wrapped around the blade

[robb]

You never glue your panels inside your rails and stiles. They need to be able to move.

[ericwotton]

That table saw blade was set way too high and you shouldn't cut stranding next to the saw... I know it's for the video but you don't want to loose a finger or two.

[mikemerc]

Do the screws have enough material to screw into considering you made a groove?

[Ubetya]

Beautiful! And the doors ain’t bad neither:-)!

[Myr]

this was an excellent video on how to lose your hands.

[RyanWattersRyanWatters]

@BarberellaHome People complaining about your approach need to lighten up a bit since this is ultimately a simple means/hack to getting shaker doors done quickly for what was clearly a shop cabinet made with inexpensive materials. (As in, who cares if they don’t look perfect since they should be getting the snot kicked out of them.)

BUT for any newbie watching this video looking to make interior shaker doors that are going to last:

1. Go with pocket holes OR go with grooves and tenons for rails and stiles. The whole idea of cutting the grooves is to increase the glue surface and avoid the poor aesthetics of pocket holes. Combing the two offers no real advantage, AFAICT.

2. On the topic of the glue surface, don’t glue in the panel if you have grooves for it to sit in. The purpose of the groove, regardless of whether you’re gluing the outer frame or using PHs, is to allow for wood expansion on the piece with the most surface area. Note: if the panel is plywood—which is what it looks like here—this reduces the likelihood of expansion that’s going to damage your door.

3.If using pocket holes, buy plugs to glue into the holes and cut/sand flush. Even if the holes are on the interior of the door, it looks very amateurish when people open it.

4.Don’t wear gloves when operating a table saw.

5.One good thing to note is the use of a screwdriver rather than drill for attaching the screws. This is especially important for soft woods like the pine being used. It’s all too easy to screw your pocket hole screws (what you should use here rather than what look like interior furniture screws she’s using) all the way through the holes you’ve drilled out. (Note: best bet is to attached the screws with a drill with the clutch turned way down. And don’t use an impact driver.)

Even with the above, I think this video is a great introduction to how Shaker doors are made, and Barbarella seems to have great pointers for DIYers.

[markleland]

Great job. Where did you get that beautiful map on the wall behind you?

[campeau]

Getting the dedo cuts consistently centered is no easy task.

[russcummins]

The only thing I would do differently is not gluing the center panel and put small rubber balls inside the dado cuts instead of glue where the center panel rests. This will prevent the panel from cracking over time due to mild changes in temperature and allow the panel to adjust freely. (Paint the panel and the door separately)

[jasonm]

what a peculiar accent. English with long I like Texas. wherever could you be from?

[whissskychasr]

Nothing better than a great looking woman that can use tools and create!

[maryannkerr]

I want to see you put the doors on the cabinet

[joeynice]

Hope there's no expansion..keep the humidity exactly the same in your home.

[maryag]

I’d love to know where your lovely accent is from!