I am about to make some paint grade upper and base cabinets for a room that my wife is turning into a craft room. I plan on using 1/2" plywood for the flat panels (not raised) for the cabinet doors surrounded by 2 1/2" stiles and rails. My questions involve the stiles and rails.
- Since I won't be raising the panels, the groove in both the stiles and rails needs to be 1/2". How thick should the rails and stiles be? Is 1" too thick? If they are only 3/4", and if I center the groove, that would leave only 1/8" on either side of the panel, which seems to be too little.
- I won't be using a stile/rail router bit, but merely cutting a groove. I prefer to do this on the table saw with a dado blade, and I don't have a concern about doing so with the rails since their ends will be hidden. However, if I groove the entire length of the stiles, the groove will be visible at each end, so the groove will need to be stopped. Am I therefore forced to use a router table rather than a dado blade?
Thanks for the help/suggestions.