What are the thoughts on grain direction in drawer panels for kitchen cabinets? I'm building a small kitchenette for our basement and the plan is to make inset drawers/doors in a Shaker style. The construction will be in red oak and just simple square stiles/rails with a flat panel made with rabbetted 1/2" oak plywood. I'm struggling with the best option for the drawers. The base cabinets will be a combination of doors and drawers. The grain direction in the doors is obvious but I'm struggling with the drawers.
I've got some relatively shallow drawers (≈4") that will get a solid oak panel for the false front. My question is the deeper drawers (+8") will get a rail/stile/panel front but I don't know what would look best from a panel grain direction standpoint? The drawer widths are 12" and 25" which I think confuses this as I'm afraid a vertical grain direction on the wide drawer panels would look a little weird.
Searches on the internet have not helped as I see both designs. The two pictures on the right are the exact design I'm planning on using.
Oak Shaker Style Drawer and Door (2).jpg Oak Shaker Style Door.jpg Oak Shaker Style Drawer Face.jpg
Would love to hear peoples thoughts on this dilemma or ideally pictures/examples?
Thanks,
Wes
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