While slab style cabinet doors can be built from plywood or melamine with the edges banded it is relatively simple to build slab doors from solid wood.
Build cabinet doors plywood.
If you are making flat panel doors you will need to cut your panels out of thick cabinet grade plywood or if they are painted thick luan plywood.
Using this technique that won t matter.
A flat door panel will usually be made from 25 inch 6 mm plywood the same wood type as the rest of the cabinet.
The sample base and wall cabinets shown belowhave these features to make building them as simple as possible.
The center panel of these cabinet doors are made of 1 2 plywood to give you space to join the panel to the rails and stiles without a center groove therefor no router is needed.
Begin assembly of the door.
Decide on the final dimension of the cabinet door then calculate the size of your stiles rails and center panel as follows.
The 3 4 plywood case eliminates panel jointing planing and glue ups.
These smaller panels are a lot easier to handle than full sheets and since most of my cabinets were built 24 wide i did that on purpose i only had to cut the door panels down in one direction since the 2.
Warping plywood cabinet doors cabinetmakers agree that plywood is not suitable for making doors because of its tendency to warp.
For the panel look for 1 4 in.
A table saw makes that easy.
Face frames cover plywood edges.
Plywood that lies flat but don t worry if it s not exactly 1 4 in.
To build a square door the stiles and rails must all be exactly the same length with perfectly square ends.
For flatness and stability mdf core material is a better choice.
Ordinarily this will be the width of a table saw blade.
The overall size of the panels needs to be i taller and 1 wider than the opening created by the frame.
Columbia s appalachian traditions line answers the need for the edge glued lumber or plank matched look perfectly.
But i wanted a really nice natural color for the bottom doors so i used the hickory 2 x4 purebond plywood panels for the doors on the base cabinets and pantry.
Probably the most inexpensive and versatile style of a cabinet door is the slab.
For cabinet doors a plywood face can give you a finished look regardless of the type of plywood you ve chosen to use for the box construction.
How to make shaker cabinet doors project directions.