Horizontal grain hardwood cabinet doors

[John LoDico]

Tell me if this makes sense: I'm building 32" high bathroom vanity from cherry that is about 53" wide. It sits off the floor on 12" high legs. Subtracting the granite top, top and bottom frames, I have two drawers to the left that are each roughly 9" high x 26" wide. I'm going to run those two cherry boards horizontally to create two doors -- 18" high by about 12" wide (that's two doors for a total of 24" wide). The two cherry board (again, about 9" by a total of 50" plus kerfs, etc.) look very nice together and I think it'll look good to run them across the entire project.

Now my questions is: you don't often see cabinet doors made of hardwood panels running horizontally, do you? I'm not enclosing them between rails and stiles. I'm going with a modern look -- just a plain slab. I'll joint and biscuit them together and maybe run a thin "z" brace on the inside of the door. It looks good on paper! Any thoughts?

[Sam Murdoch]

Hi John, see my post # 5 in this thread - http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...irection-input

I really like the look. Wood movement just need to be accommodated, as you know, so keeping that in mind - go for it. With doors that size you should be more than fine. I built an entire kitchen and some other cabinetry with that grain orientation - though in those cases as panel and frame.

[John LoDico]

Thanks Sam. I like your idea for a V or U groove -- I could make it to match the slight space between the drawers to the left of the doors.

[Lee Schierer]

My daughter wanted an entertainment center that had three drawers across the top for storage. She also wanted three compartments at the bottom with doors on the compartment on each end. Here's what I did.
heidiec.jpg

The doors are made to look exactly like they are each two drawers, yet they are in fact overlay doors. Note that the fronts of the top three drawers are all consecutive pieces from the same board.

[andy bessette]

Doors with a tall aspect ratio will look "off" with horizontal grain. And you might have trouble with warpage.

[John LoDico]

vanity1.jpgvanity2.JPG These are along the lines of what I'm thinking. These images are lifted off the web and are not my work. I think that lighter colored one with the sap wood showing is beautiful. I want to do something like that. (I'm tired of stiles and rails!)

[Bradley Gray]

I'm pretty sure your examples are veneer.

That said, I think your 9" wide solid doors will be fine.

[andy bessette]

That first example does have a nice look; likely all cut from one piece of veneered plywood. But the second example look like they used up the cutoffs from making the ends, and looks like a hodgepodge. You'll have to be careful to not create that effect.

[John LoDico]

Thank you Bradley. I agree Andy.

[John LoDico]

This is what I ended up with. It'll do. vanity.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

I think it turned out real well. I usually prefer that the lighter colored boards be at the top,but what you have goes well with the dark stone and lighter color floor. Nicely thought out clean look.

[Mike Wilkins]

Have you considered hardwood plywood? There is an article in the latest issue of Woodworkers Journal magazine that has a bathroom vanity made with Walnut plywood on a horizontal plane. Looks great; I will likely check with the Mrs. to see if she likes it for the next bathroom remodel.
Save the hardwood for a nice table top.

[John TenEyck]

Very nice. Glad to see you followed through on your idea.

John