Raised panel ends for cabinets

[Jeremy Bracey]

I am getting ready to build some vanities. I want to have decorative ends (raised panels.) I was at the BORG today and looked at some they had with raised panel ends. They had a full plywood carcas with and extra panel applied to the end.

If you were building cablinets with a raised panel end panel(called "furniture ends" at the BORG) would you first build the cabinet out of ply and then attach the panel or would you make the raised panel end part of the structural cabinet.

I hope I made sense.

[Jim Baker]

I've made several cabinets with raised panel ends. Some of them with one, some two, some four, and some of them with 6 raised panels. I have always made the raised panel section be the actual end of the cabinet rather than applying it over a plywood end. It's worked great for me and I hope it will work nicely for you as well.

[Steve Jenkins]

If you are putting drawers in that cabinet it's easier to mount the slides if you have a ply box with the raised panel assembly attached to it. Many if not most production shops will do it that way because they don't have to alter the way they construct the cabinets. Steve

[Roger Kirkpatrick]

I build the plywood box first then apply the end panels later. Mostly because I order the doors and drawer fronts after construction is complete. I order the end panels at the same time.
And secondly because I don't want to see the backside of the end panel on the inside of the cabinet.
I just make the face frames 5/8" wider then I order the end panel (to match the doors) without an outside back edge detail.

[Joe Scarfo]

I make the raised panel cabinet end part of the cabinet structure.

Tks
Joe in Tampa...

[Jim Becker]

My cabinet-maker neighbor almost always makes plywood carcass boxes and then applies panels to them if they are part of the design. It makes for a lot of flexibility and as Steve points out, it makes it much easier to deal with drawer slides, etc. I would definitely use this method for cabinets that will be left natural (not painted)

I will add that for the painted cabinets in my kitchen renovation, I made faux panels by applying "rails and stiles" to the plywood carcass using 1/4" thick poplar, a very few dabs of glue in the center of the pieces and 23 guage pins. But my panels are flat, not raised...

[Steve Clardy]

Yep. Build box, then apply raised panel end as a seperate end, attached with screws from inside the box ply side. Do not put any screws into the panels though, just the rail and stiles.
Steve

[David Eisan]

I have always made the cabinet and then applied the panels afterwards.

Look for a post of my parents kitchen in the next few days showing end panels applied. Make the panels 1/4" oversized to the wall, then scribe them to fit. Looks great.

David.

[Greg Heppeard]

In ten years of cabinet making, I've done both...it's easy enough to attach drawer slides to the stiles of the panel. Most applications were done with a plywood carcass first. I always make my face frames after the carcass is complete. David is right about scribing the cabinet to the wall...it does look more professional. Most installers now just use a small scribe strip attached to the cabinet and formed to the wall.

[Lee Schierer]

Here is a photo of the vanity I made for our bathroom with raised panels made into the ends. You would make the ends the same way you would a door. I used lap joints at the corners in this instance.

You can cut raised panels on a table saw with few problems. I have instructions at my web site on how I do it.