Designing sliding doors

[Brian Penning]

Have to make a pair of sliding doors for a closet and was wondering if where the 2 stiles overlap in the centre, are they made different widths to compensate for the visual loss of width when looking at them closed?
In other words, if the front door overlaps the rear door by 1 inch do you make the rear door stile an inch wider so the doors look the same?
Or, another thought, make both styles the same size but overlap them by the width of the stile. Though this could be 5-6 inches.
Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

[Mark Wooden]

Hiding the overlap with a wider stile is a good idea if the doors only slide in one direction, but they rarely do. If you made them the same size, keep them sliding close to each other, and just slightly overlap- 1/8" to 1/4"- you probably won't notice a difference in the viewing width if the stiles.

[Jeff Duncan]

I usually make the stiles the same size, to do otherwise may look funny? I don;t let them overlap by an inch though, usually more like 1/2" or so and it looks fine. And that's on doors with narrow 3-1/2" stiles.

good luck,
JeffD

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Or, another thought, make both styles the same size but overlap them by the width of the stile. Though this could be 5-6 inches.

I think this is the way to go. Looks best!

[Dave Zellers]

You would lose 5" of open space that way.

1/2" overlap for me.