sizing a cabinet door

[Dennis Putnam]

What is the proper way to size a cabinet door? I have the formula for the length of rails and stiles but they start with knowing the door width and height. Is the size determined by the hinges chosen or is there a generally accepted size based on the opening and/or face frame width? TIA.

[Kyle Kraft]

Proper way?? I make mostly overlay doors, so I simply take the overlay distance of the hinge and apply it on each side of the door. For instance, when using 3/8" overlay hinges I make the door 3/4" taller and wider than the opening in the face frame.

[John Gregory]

The door size is determined by the opening size and the amount of overlay you want. You can buy hinges that require different over lay sizes. Or if you do inset doors, the door will be slightly smaller than the opening.

We do mostly overlay, 1/2". When appropriate, we use European type hinges.

The rails will be the width of the opening plus twice the overlay minus twice the width of the stiles (generally) I hope that makes sense.:confused:

[Dennis Putnam]

Thanks. That was sort of what I was looking for. I take it there is no rule of thumb, so to speak. I plan to make overlay doors as well but I haven't picked out the hinges yet. What if I use blind hinges? There must be some asthetic guidelines for what will look best. Show as much face frame as possible? As close to half as possible? Show as little face frame as possible? What is the concensus as to what looks best?

In case you haven't figured it out yet, as my wife says, all my taste is in my mouth. I am the last person to decide what looks good. :-)

[John Gregory]

what is the project that you are doing? If they are kitchen cabinets for example, go to a display at one of the borgs and see what looks good to you. Take your tape measure, measure overlay, stile and rail width, face frame width. Then duplicate that look or modify it to please you and your wife. You can do the same thing with a bathroom vanity.

[Dennis Putnam]

what is the project that you are doing? If they are kitchen cabinets for example, go to a display at one of the borgs and see what looks good to you. Take your tape measure, measure overlay, stile and rail width, face frame width. Then duplicate that look or modify it to please you and your wife. You can do the same thing with a bathroom vanity.

Thanks. This is going to be a cabinet for housing home theater equipment. One door will be glass (for IR remote controls) and the other will be speaker cloth to hide the subwoofer. It will need to look like a peice of furniture so I plan to use a stain or maybe just oil and poly depending on what wood I choose. I've been looking at other doors but I don't want it to look like a kitchen cabinet or a bath vanity. :-)