Shaker Cabinet Face Frame Dimensions

Begin with the right cabinet dimensions.

Shaker cabinet face frame dimensions.

Face frame stiles for cabinets are almost always 3 inches in width. In contrast a full overlay cabinet door covers the cabinet s entire face frame with no visible gaps. Framed cabinets are attached to each other through the width of the face frame. A shaker cabinet door is basically a flat panel door that is framed with a raised border.

This makes room for adjustments when installing them next to one another. Typical vertical stiles for face frames are all 3 inches wide. In this example the stile and rail widths are 2 1 4 wide. Face frames cover plywood edges.

Assembled face frames are only grain and color matched on the faces. Additionally the border can be inset into the door frame or you can go with an overlay plan. For the overlay doors i have been making all perimeter rails and stiles 1 3 4 inches and all middle stile and rails at 2 1 4 inches so i end up with 1 1 4 inch of all of the stiles and rails exposed with my 1 2 inch overlay doors. Please note that assembled face frames will have a size tolerance of 1mm on the overall sizes and 1mm within each opening.

The stiles are the part of the face frame that runs vertically the rails are the part of the face frame that runs horizontally. All natural wood characteristics are acceptable on the inside edges. The basic structure of shaker cabinets is no different than any other cabinet using hardwood face frames which is almost always 3 4 inch thick. Pilot holes should be pre drilled.

Question in the past i have been building exclusively overlay face frame cabinets but lately i have been getting some inset door jobs. Once you have recorded this information it is time to determine the size of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. Face frames on sides of kitchen cabinets should overlap 1 4 in. This allows the screws to anchor more deeply into the attachment points of the adjacent cabinet.

Build the face frame so that the bottom rail rails are horizontal boards and stiles are vertical boards projects 1 16 in. You can build your own from scratch or update a flat cabinet door that you already have. Framed cabinets can accommodate a longer screw length usually 2 1 2 due to the width of the face frame and the solid wood material. On the outside edge.

Overlaps on the sides let you fine tune the cabinet width during installation. Stiles that divide cabinets in the center are typically 2 inches in width but some custom cabinetmakers use 3. The sample base and wall cabinets shown below have these features to make building them as simple as possible. Above the bottom shelf of the cabinet.

The 3 4 plywood case eliminates panel jointing planing and glue ups.