An idea for fitting inset cabinet doors

[Roger Feeley]

Every article I've seen involves making the frames and then making the doors and then fitting the two. I wonder if it's possible to combine the two a bit and avoid some of the pain.

Here's what I have in mind.

1. Make the face frame as normal. You still have to measure. This method only corrects for very minor aberrations.
2. Add some temporary braces across the back side of the face frame to create sort of a box. This will be your clamping frame for the doors. Be very careful not to distort the frame when adding the braces. You probably should use a nailer, not screws.
3. Measure your hinge gap (G) , multiply by two and machine your rails and stiles so that the door is 2xG smaller than the frame. Here you can go custom. Suppose the bottom of your frame is just a hair smaller than the top. Simply cut that part smaller to fit. Same way with the height. In a way, this is your fitting in case the opening is a bit of a trapazoid.
4. Apply glue to your door frame and lay it in the opening in the frame. Use wedges against the frame to gently clamp. This way, you are transferring any inaccuracies from the frame to the door. So if your opening is a little bit of a parallelogram the door will be similarly out of square.

Figure out some way to mark which door is which. I am thinking of a series of holes, notches or nailheads that would be covered up by the hinges.


So am I crazy? In my case, I only have a couple of doors and have never made inset doors before. What I'm trying to do is avoid the high stakes fitting process at the end where if I screw up, I have to make a new door. With this technique, the worst that can happen is I have to make a new stile or something.

[Philip Rodriquez]

I actually make them to fit the exact opening and hand plane them to fit. IMHO, this is way less pain ;)

[Kenneth Speed]

So Roger, if you were making a door to go between your dining room and your kitchen would you make it in the door frame before the door frame was installed in the wall? I really don't mean to be offensive, if this method works for you, great. I would never try to build an inset door this way myself.

Build the door over size and plane it to fit, save yourself a ton of grief.


Ken

[Erik Christensen]

I think everybody's build method is tailored to give the best results with the tools and skills that they have. I have a Festool track saw so cutting a door to a precise line is pretty straight forward. I build doors 1/4"-3/8" oversize, fit hinge side & mark bottom - cut it just slightly proud, fit again & mark top - cut that, mark inside edge and cut. For final fitting I have a shooting board sized for doors so that I can shave a thou at a time to dial the fit exactly where I want it. My method takes me a bit more time but as you point out it is always easier than making a new door.

I have seen videos of guys fitting inset doors and drawer fronts with just a block plane. I am a klutz with hand tools so my attempts to duplicate that process did not result in an acceptable fit.

[Carl Beckett]

For me, mounting the hinges is a big source of my error/misalignment.

So I make the door 'too big' for the opening. Mount the hinges. Then hand plane to the spacing I want.

[Roger Feeley]

I would never try it on a big door. In my case, I am making a two door medicine cabinet. Just a couple of doors. Normally, I would use overlay doors and european hinges and avoid the hassle. But the bride wanted bead board panels and the doors are so narrow (long story) that stiles wide enough for the hidden hinges wouldn't have shown enough panel. That, among other things, led me to my first encounter with inset doors. I'm trying extricate myself with a modicum of dignity.

[Roger Feeley]

So I tried this and it worked pretty well. As I expected, I transferred all of the fussing from the last step to the first. I would have to say that the result was a bit imperfect but a little sanding should make it right. I would also have to say that it may well have taken longer than all you guys (that know what you are doing!) would take. But the up-side was that my risk at any point was confined to a single part. At no point did I run the risk of ruining the door or frame.

[Mel Fulks]

As far as the time it's taking ,it's pretty slow for everybody. Not many inset doors done these days,but it's still a good traditional look and a sign of high standards. I dare say there are guys making cabinets for a living who have never had a single call for them.

[Larry Frank]

With euro hinges making and fitting cabinet doors is much easier. Most of the cabinets that I have made lately have been frameless with full overlay doors. I just make certain the box is square and make the doors slightly oversize and then either trim or plane to an exact fit.

[trevor adair]

So I tried this and it worked pretty well. As I expected, I transferred all of the fussing from the last step to the first. I would have to say that the result was a bit imperfect but a little sanding should make it right. I would also have to say that it may well have taken longer than all you guys (that know what you are doing!) would take. But the up-side was that my risk at any point was confined to a single part. At no point did I run the risk of ruining the door or frame.

Be careful with the "a little sanding" I would suggest a good block plane instead to make small corrections (don't ask me how I know this :) )

[George Gyulatyan]

Things get more fun when fitting veneered slab inset doors. :eek:

[Larry Edgerton]

I use somewhat the same idea. I do a lot of inset raised panel beaded doors where planing is not an option as I generally put the bead on the door instead of the cabinet so double doors can have no center style.

I cut 3/4 x 3/4" sticks to go between the rails so any play in the mortices is automatically compensated for, clamp, pull out the sticks, check for square and move to the next one.

Experimentation is how new things are discovered, so have fun with it. Its just wood.

Larry

[Jim Becker]

I build the face frames and then fit the doors into them, generally using a block plane to refine fit as others have mentioned. What hasn't been discussed is the need to calculate wood movement relative to the gap you leave...and "when" during the calendar you are building will affect that. A door built in the summer is going to shrink in the winter months, leaving a wider gap. Vice versa for the other way around. What might seem like a nice even 1/16" gap all around becomes something else altogether when mother nature has a hand into it. Wood species plays into this, too.

BTW, don't forget that you'll need to also back-bevel your doors on the non-hing side so that you can close them without hitting the face frame, especially during the "tight" part of the year.

[scott vroom]

I do a lot of inset raised panel beaded doors where planing is not an option as I generally put the bead on the door instead of the cabinet so double doors can have no center style.Larry

Larry, do you have a pic of what you're describing? I'm trying to understand why planing beaded raised panel doors is not an option. I don't think I have a correct vision of what you're trying to describe. If the bead is on the outside edge of the rails/stiles couldn't it be added after planing the door to fit?

Thanks