Cabinet Inset Doors – Frame Rail / Stile Width
davep71
| Posted in General Discussion on
Hello all,
I’m planning on building some cabinets in our family room for my son’s 70-gallon fish tank. Box construction will be from 3/4-inch Baltic Birch with simple inset Shaker style doors with rails & stiles I’m leaning toward being 2.25-inches wide. The counter will either be granite or 6/4 walnut, and for the base I plan to carry the floor base molding – 1×4 with a base cap – from the wall, around the cabinet. What I’m not sure about, is how wide to make the rails / stiles on the cabinet frame…I don’t want something that looks dainty in comparison to the door width, equally I don’t want to over power the door with an extra wide frame. If you have any thoughts, opinions, or links, I would love the help. Thanks! Dave
Replies
If you look at historical examples, the Shakers used a variety of widths, sometimes very wide stiles on their casework, upwards of 6 or more inches. Personally, I keep them in the 2.5" to 3" range, unless you are matching an original piece. The picture is of an adaptation of a Shaker cupboard. The stiles are 3" overall with a 1/4" bead, the flat is 2.75".
Regarding the doors, 2.25" is fine for stiles and upper rails, however you should make the lower rails wider 2.5"-2.75". If you make them the same, comparatively, they will seem lighter than the upper rails. Besides, by making the lower rails wider than the upper ones, it gives you the opportunity to majorly screw up by mortising the wrong side for hinges on one door :-)...
Thanks, appreciate the info. After looking at photos, it looks like +/- matching the door stiles is where I want to be. I guess I will need to play around with top rail to get the counter height right, and bottom to work on the spacing between the door and cap molding. This is where some experience pays off I guess...a face frame sounds simple until you start thinking about the details.
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