Raised Panel Doors

[Paul Dell'Anno]

I am planning on building a small island for our kitchen and I want to match the design of the existing cabinet doors. The cabinet itself will be made from birch plywood. SInce this is my first experience with raised panels, am I correct in my thinking that plywood is not the best choice for the raised panel. Each door will be approximately 18" wide (only need two). What type of wood is usually used for the panels in the door? I want to try to use stock which I can cut to the correct width since I do not yet have a Planer and Jointer. Thanks for the help.

[Ace Karner]

I take it your are going to paint them, if so MDF machines well and paints beautifully.

[Paul Dell'Anno]

The cabinet will actually be stained a dark cherry.

[Ace Karner]

If I were doing it and wanted to stain it dark my first choice would be Cherry and let it age naturally, second choice would be mahogany, and if money was an issue then poplar.

I have used a solution of 1/4 teaspoon of Red Devil Lye to a cup of water to age the cherry to a nice dark aged look. Do be careful the lye is real caustic but it gives ya about 50 years of age in minutes.

[Dave Hammelef]

Originally posted by Paul Dell'Anno
....... I want to try to use stock which I can cut to the correct width since I do not yet have a Planer and Jointer. Thanks for the help.

Be carefull, depending on the size of the door the panel could be big and a single piece would be more susceptible to movements.

Dave

[Carl Eyman]

Are you going to cut the panels with a router or table saw? It'll work either way and there are plenty of instructions out there. You don't mention rails and stiles. These are more easily done with a router (table) but can be done other ways. More specific questions may get you more spedific answers. LOL