How to make beadboard insert shaker-style kitchen cab doors

[jason mowery]

Hi Everyone! I'd reallly like to give our kitchen cabinets a facelift in the near future, and my wife is especially fond of the type of doors that have beadboard insert panels, with simple, non-arched rails and styles. I've made shaker-style doors before, for a vanity I made, but I did this by planing the insert panel to 1/2", and creating a 1/4" rabbet along the perimeter so that it would fit into the rails and styles. Hope that makes sense...
Anyway, what's the simplest way to accomlish these doors? Can I somehow use beaded panelling for the insert? Is there a better option? How would you guys (and girls) tackle this?

Thanks!

[Dennis Hatchett]

You can make your own beadboard panels if that's what you're asking. The quarter inch paneling you can pick up at the big box stores would leave an ugly back of the door you'd have to deal with but you could cover it with something. That approach would be fast but it also leaves a flimsy feeling door that is likely to rattle in my opinion.

If you're gonna do a first rate job on your own cabinet doors with solid wood, I'd edge bead some 2.5 to 3 inch stock (1/2 inch thickness) on one edge and then glue up your panels. Use biscuits to make sure you get the panels to fit just right since you can't plane down the surface after you glue it. You can smooth the back but not the top. Clean up your squeezed out glue with a wet sponge before it dries unless you want to spend a lot of time sanding those joints with a tiny piece of sandpaper. You'll want to use a headless pinner (23 gauge) to secure your panel in your rails and stiles to keep it from shifting around too much. There are differing opinions about that but I've never had a problem using a pinner.

There were two ways I saw it done in the old days. The router plane with a bead bit was a way to create a beaded panel. But I once saw a guy who made his own hand planes use a twin "V" shaped plane with a straight edge to score the surface of the panel and create small grooves that correspond to wooden hand plane with a bead shaped plane iron. A straight edge clampled to the panel would then guide the beaded plane to plow out beads that run the length of a finished panel. This would enable you to smooth plane the surface of your panel flat before the beads are run. So if you have some neander blood running through your veins, you may check out the neander forum for getting that kind of tool. I know a lot of those guys make their own such tools.

[Jim Becker]

You can certainly use pre-made bead-board (especially for painted pieces), but you may want to consider making your own so you can get the proportions correct on the panels. You can use either a router table or a table saw with a molding head to accomplish this.

[jason mowery]

Thanks for the input and suggestions, I really appreciate it. You're right, 1/4" or even 5/16" beaded panelling would be flimsy, I was just wondering if there was a practical way to use that in conjunction with (glued on top of?) a more solid panel.
Ok, so if that's not a quality option, can either of you (or anyone else) give me a little more insight into creating the beaded look on the center panels? I have a router table but am probably a novice concerning techniques compared to most of you. Don't be afraid to dumb it down for me, I probably need the "extreme newbie" explanation :o. Thanks again!

[Rob Haskell]

Look up Magic Molder on the web. It works with your table saw and will put beads in the middle of a slab of wood or plywood.

[Jim Becker]

Look up Magic Molder on the web. It works with your table saw and will put beads in the middle of a slab of wood or plywood.
That's what my cabinetmaker neighbor uses to do custom beat board for cabinet panels. Excellent system, albeit not inexpensive. (But it's also extremely well balanced which increases safety as well as the quality of the cut)

[fRED mCnEILL]

I did my daughters kitchen with craftsman style using beadboard that I made myself.

To make the beadboard cut slots in the plywood(or solid wood) using the tablesaw. Then glue a dowel in the grove. It looks identical to beadboard. I've done it with paint or stain and it looks good.If I recall the grove is 1/4 in(used dado head). The other advantage is that you can make any spacing you want.

Fred Mc.

[jason mowery]

Thanks to all for the good ideas, I appreciate it very much!

[Charles McCracken]

Jason,

We just introduced router bits that make beadboard in stock from 3/8" to 3/4" thick:

http://www.freudtools.com/images/product/large/152_3_.jpg

http://www.freudtools.com/images/product/large/152_4_.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Charles, that's a pretty kewel cutter setup. Thanks for letting us know about it.

[Glenn Clabo]

Thanks Charles. I've been looking for something like that...Amazon ($94 bucks right now) will take another bite out of the paycheck.

[John Headley]

They now have 25% off, which makes it $71.23. I just ordered a set for my kitchen project. My wife wants something similar, and I've had a hard time finding the premade beadboard that didn't look like paneling. Thanks for the great feedback in this post.

[J.R. Rutter]

I use the Magic Moulder to do beadboard for door and cabinet backs. I find it easier to start with a panel, then bead it, rather than making strips...

[josh bjork]

It is amazing how cheap the fake wood stuff looks in this format but yet real wood can look kind of stylish and authentic.

[jason mowery]

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas and feedback, that gives me a lot of ideas to consider. I really appreciate it!

[Brian Ross]

Nothing wrong with making your own deadboard but am somewhat confused as to the concern for using a 1/4 inch beadboard panel. I am not aware of any of the commercial door manufacturers that sell flat panel doors that use anything other than 1/4 inch panels. Your door strength comes from well built rails and stiles. If you are painting them you can buy 1/4 inch MDF beadboard in 4x8 sheets The rattle concern can be handled with space balls or any other similiar material. A drop of glue on each side would also alleviate this concern. For the MDF sheets I would check with lumber yards rather than the big box stores. Good luck with your journey

Brian