At DP Juza we craft 90% of our custom cabinet doors in the shaker style, utilizing a mortise and tenon joint. While we can make any style of cabinet door, the shaker style is how most cabinet doors begin.
Each cabinet door features a center panel, with rails on the top and bottom and stiles on either side. This door also has a bead, a rounded piece of wood, that are added to door fronts for aesthetics.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
Our woodworkers confirms what cutter to use, and the dimensions listed on the project print. Once the print sizes are confirmed the woodworker references the print to size all the cabinet doors.
Whenever possible, we cut our cabinet door pieces to ensure the wood grain on the panel matches top to bottom and right to left on the cabinet. We achieve this by cutting the pieces of the door from the same sheet of wood. This results in an aesthetically pleasing finished piece.
Two woodworkers independently size all the doors to double-check their measurements, ensuring they both have the correct sizes. Once they determine the correct size, a cut list is made.
Organization Key
Organization is important in this process due to the number of pieces needed to make the doors for a fixture. For instance, a fixture with six doors requires a total of 54 pieces, as each door consists of 9 parts.
To aid in organization, our woodworkers keep the stiles and rails separate and labeled for easy reference. They first cut the stiles to size, double-checking the cuts for accuracy.
The rails are cut so they fit into the stiles. The stiles and rails are cut on separate shaper machines, one shaper is set up with a coping shield for the rails. This ensures safety for the woodworker and precision cuts to the rails.
QT along the way
When the stiles and rails are all cut the panels are cut to size for each door. The doors are then assembled on a bench, like on the cabinet, to ensure the correct fit and size.
Once all the pieces are cut, the panel is sanded and put together using a door clamp machine. They glue the joints and clamp each door for 5 to 7 minutes each. After clamping, they clean off the excess glue and sand the door again.
The woodworkers check the door size for accuracy, especially along the diagonal, to ensure each door is square. An unsquared door can disrupt the entire cabinet fixture’s appearance, making accuracy paramount in the millwork phase before assembly.
At left, is an un-sanded maple door waiting for paint, at right, is a finish sanded cherry door waiting for stain. Our woodworkers consider the final finish of the doors during the build process, as different finishes require varying levels of pre-finish sanding. For example, paint highlights defects more than stain.