Pantry cabinet door joinery

[Justin Jones RDH]

Is cope and stick joinery strong enough for a pantry cabinet door? I don't have the full design yet but i was thinking around 5 feet? Would a floating tenon be a good choice here? Regular mortise and tenon?

[Paul Greathouse]

Justin

Cope and Stick will be plenty strong. I just finished a new kitchen which included an 8' tall by 44" wide free standing pantry. The bottom doors are 67" tall by 17 1/2" wide. There are two stiles and 3 rails per door with 3/4" thick raised panels contained within the stiles and rails. They are hung on 4 euro concealed hinges for each door. I have built many doors in this way through the years and have never had a problem. I use a Freud cope and stick router bit set.

[Justin Jones RDH]

Did you use 67+" pipe clamps for the rails? Did use brads or other fasteners?

[Lee Schierer]

You can also use lap joints at the corners if you are concerned about strength. That is what I did for this pantry.http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/kristinpantry2.jpg

[Paul Greathouse]

Did you use 67+" pipe clamps for the rails? Did use brads or other fasteners?

Actually, you would clamp it across the width. In my case 17 1/2". Most cope and stick sets are made such that the rail profile fits inside of the stile profile.
I use Bessey parallel clamps. If you use pipe clamps, you just have to be more careful that your doors stay flat once they are clamped. The pipes have a habit of flexing thus causing your door to no be flat.

[Justin Jones RDH]

Thanks for the posts. That was an embarrassing question. Im sure clamping the end grain of the stiles would be really effective:p

[frank shic]

don't worry... better than going out to rockler's and asking them for a 72" clamp lol

[Jamie Buxton]

If you make the panel from plywood, you can glue it into the frame. It acts as a great big gussett to the frame joinery, and makes the door immensely stronger than if it has a floating solid-wood panel.

[Edward P. Surowiec]

Lee, great looking cabinet and very nice work. Would you describe in more detail how you made the inside mitered corners of your half lap joint? Did you cut the miter and the entire half lap joint before routing the inside edge??
Thanks
Ed