Door size and stile/rail thickness

[Ron Citerone]

I was wondering, how large can a cabinet door be before 3/4" thick wood for stiles and rails isn't enough?
I need to make a door for flush mounting that would be 22" wide X 33" tall for a jelly cabinet. Should I go thicker and if so by how much? Are there rules of thumb or guidelines?
Thanks, Ron

[Jaren Johnson]

At the shop I’m at, I’ve noticed we never make a single cabinet door wider than 22-23”. After that it gets divided into two doors. The strength can change depending on the wood, but also the width of the stiles and rails. Wider the material, the more gluing surface and better hold (we use 2 1/2” wide material). Also make sure your panel is fitted properly, as that can make the S+R frame and panel more “connected” and spread out any force from a bang or slam. For tenons I believe longer tenons are better, and the industry standard for shaper cutters seem to be 3/8” and 1/2” long tenons. Make sure they are snug enough where can put them together without a hammer and block.

So to guess what the limit is for it, I’d say that width is most likely the upper limit for 3/4” thickness. As it is a cabinet door it would seem odd having something like 1 1/2” thick door Maybe 1” would be the best balance without it being oddly proportioned to say.

Oh! Forgot to ask, do you plan on using a veneered panel material or solid wood? At that width you might start to run into problems with expansion.

[Wayne Lomman]

For that sized door I would expect to dress out of 25mm stock and end up with a finished door about 21mm thick. If you are starting with 19mm stock you will end up around 17 or 18 thick which is a bit thin. It will be structurally OK but it will feel and look a bit light weight. In general, cabinet doors are OK dressed out of 25 stock if you keep them less than 2400 high and 600 wide and use hinges at no greater than 450 centres. Cheers

[J.R. Rutter]

We routinely do doors up to 24" x 36" or so with no extra consideration than selecting flat, straight stock. This is not where you want to joint and plane much to get it flat. You want naturally flat stock and just bring ti to final dimensions. All of our doors finish out at 13/16" (pretty much like Wayne). Jaren has good thoughts on the details.