Frame And Panel Door Construction

Vertical stiles and horizontal rails form a rigid frame with minimal seasonal movement.

Frame and panel door construction.

The panel floats inside the frame housed in grooves so its seasonal movement is hidden especially if the panel is stained and finished before it s installed. Using the straightforward process detailed here you can crank out great looking doors for many applications including furniture cabinets and built ins. Frame and panel doors add class to any project but they don t have to add a lot of assembly time. A general purpose saw blade will do the job although a dado stack cuts smoother tenons.

The basic principles of good construction are the same. Its primary purpose is to create a large panel with minimal wood movement. There are distinct structural and stylistic advantages to frame and panel construction of doors for cabinets and room passageways. The basic idea is to capture a floating panel within a sturdy frame as opposed to techniques used in making a slab solid wood cabinet door or drawer front the door is constructed of several solid wood pieces running in a vertical or horizontal direction with exposed endgrains.

Frame and panel door construction has changed little in the last 1 000 years. The frame and panel construction provides stability to a wooden door allowing the large floating. Only during the last 100 years or so have there been changes mainly with the tools used and the quality of glues. Whereas solid wood shrinks and expands with changes in humidity affecting its overall dimensions a frame and panel doesn t.

Frames use 3 4 thick stock with 1 4 panels in various materials and veneers. Frame and panel construction also called rail and stile is a woodworking technique often used in the making of doors wainscoting and other decorative features for cabinets furniture and homes.