Build DIY cabinet doors with confidence! Here's an easy, certain-fire way for anyone to build bonny doors with common tools. And yous won't need a router.

Build DIY cabinet doors with confidence! Here's an easy, sure-fire way for anyone to build attractive doors with common tools. And you won't need a router.

DIY Cabinet Doors

Intimidated past the thought of making cabinet doors? Hither's the solution. This step-by-pace tutorial shows the easy way to build attractive cabinet doors without complicated tools. That means you won't need a router or table saw.

Beadboard and inexpensive shop-bought molding requite these do-it-yourself doors a classic look that's perfect for a kitchen, bath, or DIY furniture project.

Get the free program and build some today.

Y'all may also savour How to Build DIY Shaker Cabinet Doors.

This tutorial contains affiliate links to supplies and tools. Purchases made using these links help back up the Saws on Skates website and allows me to share more projects and tips with you. There is no cost to you for using these links. Visit my site policies for more information.

Before we get into how to brand DIY cabinet doors, be sure to click the subscribe button at the lesser of this folio to sign upwardly for my FREE weekly newsletter loaded with helpful pocket hole tricks, space-saving workshop ideas, clever DIY tips and more!

Table of Contents

  • Inspiration for This Project
  • Where Can Y'all Use DIY Chiffonier Doors?
  • What Are the Parts of a Cabinet Door Called?
  • What Tools Do You Need to Make Cabinet Doors?
  • What Forest Should You Utilize?
  • How Do Yous Finish the Cabinet Doors?
  • How to Make a DIY Cabinet Doors
    • Tutorial
    • Video
  • Get the Gratis Printed Programme

Inspiration for This Project

A friend of mine recently bought two condos in a 1900s building virtually a ski resort to utilize as vacation rentals. He owns a outset-floor unit and a second-floor unit.

For the second floor unit, I made these shelf brackets so he could add together a picayune more than storage to the kitchen area.

Related: How to Make DIY Shelf Brackets

The kickoff-flooring unit is a small studio-style apartment. I built these drawers to add together some storage to the closet. For the modest bathroom, I built this vanity with a subconscious toilet paper holder.

Related: How to Brand a DIY Bathroom Vanity

A studio-fashion apartment ways the bedroom, living room, and kitchen are all one room. So the tiny kitchen expanse is a big characteristic of this minor unit.

The kitchen area was in desperate demand of a makeover. We started past removing the old kitchen cabinet. Yep, there was but one cabinet! Next, I built five new kitchen cabinets.

The bed faces the kitchen, so the cabinets needed to have some cool doors.

My friend wanted the doors to take beadboard panels. The vertical grooves in the panels would add together top to the small-scale infinite.

I wanted the doors to experience more than similar a slice of furniture rather than a kitchen chiffonier. I likewise wanted the doors to accept a classic wait to match with the experience of the early 1900s building.

Here's what I came up with: attractive, easy-to-make DIY cabinet doors that characteristic store-bought beadboard and cove molding.

Front view of a DIY cabinet door

Dorsum to Table of Contents

Where Tin can Yous Use DIY Cabinet Doors?

  • Kitchen Cabinets
  • Bath Vanities
  • Laundry Room Storage
  • DIY Furniture Projects

Back to Table of Contents

What Are the Parts of a Cabinet Door Called?

There are 3 basic parts for cabinet doors.

  • The rails are the horizontal pieces at the top and bottom of the door
  • The stiles are the vertical pieces on each side of the door
  • The panel is the heart part of the door
Sketch showing the part names of a cabinet door

Back to Table of Contents

Making your own cabinet doors may seem complicated but it's as easy as making a uncomplicated frame. It'due south a project that can be made using basic woodworking skills and only a few common woodworking tools.

Tools like a miter saw, pocket pigsty jig, and a drill. We'll likewise need an boosted saw to cutting the panel for the door.

Hand opening a DIY cabinet door

Miter Saw

I used a miter saw to cut the rail and stiles for my cabinet doors. These cuts demand to exist authentic otherwise the door won't be square. Before cutting the parts for your cabinet doors, check the accuracy of your miter saw and melody it up if necessary.

Related: How to Adjust a Miter Saw for Accurate Cuts

Once your miter saw is tuned up, information technology's important to cut the rails and stiles to the same length. Any difference could as well cause the doors non to be square. For these cuts, I set upwards a terminate on my miter saw. This ensured the boards were cutting to the aforementioned length.

Related: seven Miter Saw Tricks Every DIYer Should Know

Pocket Hole Jig

We tin use any pocket hole jig to drill the pocket holes. The user-friendly Kreg Jig 320 is an cheap selection to drill the pocket holes for this project. You lot may want to consider the Kreg Jig 720 if you accept a lot of doors to build and a lot of pocket holes to drill.

Related: 9 Pocket Hole Mistakes You Don't Want to Brand

Drill

The drill was used to drill the pocket holes and to drive the pocket screws that join the parts together.

Related: Touch on Driver vs Drill: What'due south the Difference?

Additional Saw

Nosotros'll need an additional saw to cut the panel for the door. I used a table saw to cut the panels for my doors. If you are non comfortable using a table saw, y'all could use a round saw instead.

A circular saw and a Kreg Rip-Cut or Kreg Accu-Cut could be used to cut the parts to size.

Related: 4 Ways to Make Straight Cuts with a Circular Saw

Back to Tabular array of Contents

What Forest Should You Use?

The cabinet door frame can be fabricated with just about any blazon of wood. I build many of my projects with pine. I've used pine to build doors for article of furniture projects and I even used pine to build the doors in my workshop. Pine is inexpensive and easy to work with, only information technology might non exist the best selection for chiffonier doors.

Closeup of the molding and beadboard detail of a DIY cabinet door

Pino is a softwood that dents easily. This means it's not the best choice to stand up to the daily abuse of a kitchen.

I used poplar to build these cabinet doors. Poplar is a hardwood, durable, and relatively inexpensive. It also takes pigment and stain well.

I purchased the poplar boards at my local home comeback shop.

Related: Beginner'southward Guide to Forest Sizes

You could build the doors with other hardwoods like ruddy, oak, maple, etc. Or choose a woods species to lucifer your existing cabinets.

Whatever species you cull, be certain that the wood is straight, flat, and relatively knot-free.

You'll also want to consider the material that you choose for the door panel. I used poplar for the door frame and birch beadboard for the panels. I painted the doors so I wasn't concerned about using two different types of forest.

If y'all plan to stain your project, you'll most probable want to match the wood of the door frame and panel. Otherwise, the different types of forest might stain differently and not lucifer.

I should likewise mention that I tried MDF beadboard before I bought the birch beadboard. The grooves in the MDF beadboard were deep. These deep grooves would leave a big gap betwixt the door frame and the console. I switched to the birch beadboard because the grooves were not every bit deep.

Pencil pointing to the groove detail of beadboard used as a panel for DIY cabinet doors

Back to Table of Contents

How Do You lot Cease the Cabinet Doors?

The cabinet doors could be finished in a multifariousness of ways. They could be left natural, painted, stained, or a combination of pigment and stain.

I planned to paint my doors. Beginning, I applied several coats of this shellac-based primer to prevent any knots from bleeding through the paint.

Related: How to Stop Knots from Haemorrhage Through Paint

I haven't painted the cabinet doors nevertheless, Merely when I practice, I will apply two coats of Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel in white.

DIY cabinet door slightly open

Back to Table of Contents

DIY Chiffonier Doors

Printed Plan

  • Click here to get the Free program (includes detailed instructions, measurements, and bonus tips)

Supplies

  • Wood (per printed programme)
  • 1-¼" Pocket Screws
  • ½" Brad Nails
  • ¾" Pin Nails
  • Woods Glue
  • Set up Patch

Tools

  • Record Mensurate
  • Drill
  • Kreg Jig
  • Kreg Multi-Marking
  • Miter Saw
  • Table Saw or Circular Saw
    • Kreg Rip-Cut (with circular saw)
    • Kreg Accu-Cut (with circular saw)
  • Brad Nailer or Hammer
  • Pin Nailer or Hammer

Step 1. Get together the Frame

📝 Notation: This plan builds one door (12-½" × 21"). Adjust the dimensions for your chiffonier doors.

Cutting 2 pieces of wood to length for the stiles. Cut ii pieces of wood to length for the rails and drill pocket holes in each end.

Related: How to Use a Pocket Hole Jig

Use glue to the ends of the rails, clamp to the stiles and attach using 1-¼" pocket screws.

I filled the pocket holes with pocket hole plugs. When the glue was dry, I trimmed the plugs flush with a chisel. Then, I smoothed the plugs with an orbital sander and filled whatsoever gaps with Ready Patch.

Related: How to Make Pocket Hole Plugs

Stride 2. Attach the Console

To brand the panel, first I cut an oversized piece of beadboard with my Kreg Rip-Cutting.

I measured and made a marker at the heart of the door opening.

Measuring the opening in a DIY cabinet door

And so, I positioned the door frame on the beadboard. Later, I'll add some cove molding to the door. I placed a slice of scrap molding on the beadboard. Then, I moved the door frame and molding from side-to-side until the beadboard blueprint was pleasing to the heart.

Finger pointing to the space between the molding and beadboard used to make a DIY cabinet door

When I was happy with the position, I marked the center of the door frame on the beadboard.

Pencil marking the center on a panel for a DIY cabinet door

I added 1" to the door opening measurement and divided that measurement in half. This will give a ½" area on each side of the beadboard to attach information technology to the door frame. Adjacent, I measured that distance to the right and left of the mark.

Pencil marking the width of a DIY cabinet door panel

I used my table saw to cut the beadboard to width. You could as well use a Kreg Rip-Cutting or Kreg Accu-Cut to make these cuts.

Related: iv Ways to Make Straight Cuts With a Circular Saw

Next, I measured the length of the door opening. I added 1" to this measurement and used my miter saw to cut the panel to length.

I centered the beadboard on the door frame and traced it with a pencil.

Tracing the panel on the back of a DIY cabinet door frame

This pencil line showed me where to apply the mucilage.

Applying glue to a DIY cabinet door

I attached the beadboard with ½" brad nails.

Related: Brad Nailer vs Finish Nailer: Are They the Same?

Attaching a panel to a DIY cabinet door with a brad nailer

Step 3. Attach the Molding

I cut a 45-caste angle on one end of the cove molding and positioned it in the opening.

Positioning the molding on a DIY cabinet door

Then, I rotated the molding towards me.

Next, I marked the intersection where the rail meets the stile.

I drew a line in the direction of the angle that I would need to cut. I made this 45-degree angle cut with my miter saw. I test fit the molding in the opening and adapted the fit with my miter saw if necessary.

Attaching the molding to a DIY cabinet door with a brad nailer

Pace iv. Terminate the Door

I drilled whatever necessary holes for hinges and doorknobs. So, I filled the nail holes and whatever pocket-sized gaps with Gear up Patch.

See How to Finish the Cabinet Doors for more data.

Video: How to Make Cabinet Doors

Watch this quick video to learn how to make DIY cabinet doors without a router.

Last Thoughts

Intimidated by the idea of making cabinet doors? Hither's the solution. Build chiffonier doors the easy mode without complicated tools. Beadboard and Inexpensive shop-bought molding give these do-it-yourself doors a classic look that's perfect for a kitchen or bath.

Click here to get the free plan (including the detailed instructions and measurements) now!

Thank you lot for stopping by. If yous enjoyed this tutorial, would yous please take a moment and pin it to Pinterest? I'd really capeesh it!

Pin This For Afterwards