Making Raised Panel Doors Plywood

After choosing your materials pick a profile for the frame and raised panel.

Making raised panel doors plywood.

Since the edge of plywood is about 50 long grain a butt joint would suffice but alignment would be easier with some other sort of joint. Cabinets usually need a door or two and deciding on the style of the door can be make or break the appearance of the piece. However it s growing more common to find raised panels that are veneered. For my door i used 1 2 1 27cm inch mdf for the panels.

The shakers are probably the best known for flat panel doors except their doors were actually raised panels turned backward. If you ll paint your doors substitute medium density fiberboard mdf for the solid stock and birch veneer plywood for a glass smooth finish. Simply run the raised panel profile as a molding in solid wood and frame the plywood panel mitering the corners. There are lots of different choices and lots of different hardware considerations but one door style that makers come back to time and time again is the frame and panel door and particularly the raised panel door.

The panel raises when we apply a second plywood panel framed with molding. In a time where plywood was not an option gluing up the door with the raised panel facing inward was the only option to get a flat panel look on the exterior of the door. Suitable joints would be a small tongue and groove a biscuit spline or dowel. Plywood and mdf are great options for panels as they are stable and easy to come by.

Plywood slot cutters are laser etched with the size of groove they cut and on which bit of the rail and stile bit sets they are installed.