# Proportions in frame and panel doors, and hinge question



## RDS (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi -- new guy here. I used to be a semi-regular at the DIY chatroom, but lately I've been doing a major remodel and not on-line much. I'm relatively new to woodworking but not a complete novice. Hoping to get a little help with the very last piece of the kitchen remodel.

I want to build frame-and-panel doors for a large pantry cabinet that's recessed in the wall. The cabinet itself is already built and installed. Because of its dimensions, the doors (four of them) will end up having unusual proportions: 13 1/4" wide by 59 1/2" tall. (That's if I build them with the amount of overlay that I'd prefer to -- see below. Otherwise they might be a little smaller in both dimensions.)

My first of two questions is basically aesthetic. Given those overall door dimensions, what width should I make the door rails and stiles so it looks good? If it matters, they will be Shaker style -- I'm using a set of three router bits (cope and stick plus the panel raising bit) I already got from Rockler. Because of the height of the doors I was thinking I'd have an additional rail halfway up the door.

My second question is of the 'will this work?' variety. The face frames on the cabinet, to which I'll be attaching the doors, are wide -- 2 1/2". (I'm kind of regretting making them that wide, but too late.) The middle two doors will be attached to a central stile, also 2 1/2" wide. What I would *like* to do is use the Blum cup-style hinges that allow a 1 1/4" overlay. But if I do that, is there enough side-to-side adjustability in the hinges so that the two middle doors, back-to-back on the same 2 1/2" central face frame stile, won't interfere with each other? I have never installed this kind of hinge before, and so am worried I might be creating a problem for myself if I do it this way.

If it's going to be a problem I could just switch to 3/4" overlay hinges (which would of course mean I'd build the doors a little narrower, and shorter too to keep the reveal consistent) but I'd really like to cover more of those wide face frames if possible.

Hope I didn't leave out any important information. Thanks in advance for any help.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

RDS said:


> My first of two questions is basically aesthetic. Given those overall door dimensions, what width should I make the door rails and stiles so it looks good? If it matters, they will be Shaker style -- I'm using a set of three router bits (cope and stick plus the panel raising bit) I already got from Rockler. Because of the height of the doors I was thinking I'd have an additional rail halfway up the door.


The sizes aren't out of whack. I've made them taller than that with the width as close. As for rail and stile widths, consider what door edge profile you will be using, as the hinge cup is close to the edge. A center rail will work, but isn't that necessary.



RDS said:


> My second question is of the 'will this work?' variety. The face frames on the cabinet, to which I'll be attaching the doors, are wide -- 2 1/2". (I'm kind of regretting making them that wide, but too late.) The middle two doors will be attached to a central stile, also 2 1/2" wide. What I would *like* to do is use the Blum cup-style hinges that allow a 1 1/4" overlay. But if I do that, is there enough side-to-side adjustability in the hinges so that the two middle doors, back-to-back on the same 2 1/2" central face frame stile, won't interfere with each other? I have never installed this kind of hinge before, and so am worried I might be creating a problem for myself if I do it this way.
> 
> If it's going to be a problem I could just switch to 3/4" overlay hinges (which would of course mean I'd build the doors a little narrower, and shorter too to keep the reveal consistent) but I'd really like to cover more of those wide face frames if possible.
> 
> Hope I didn't leave out any important information. Thanks in advance for any help.


With the euro hinges, they can open and close with very small gaps when the doors are back to back.










 







.


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## RDS (Jan 12, 2012)

Thank you cabinetman. I hadn't thought about an edge profile. For a Shaker-style door I guess I was assuming minimal or none, but I will look at some examples. Glad to know the proportions aren't weird and that the hinges should work.


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