Cabinet Doors, a Dummy's Tutorial

Shaker-style cabinet door

Woodworking and carpentry newbies are often dumbfounded by the broad array of tools and the specialized lingo. The measurements of lumber are particularly confusing: finished lumber has a nominal size that's bigger than the actual size. In other words, the board called a 1 x 4 isn't one inch by four inches, it's ¾ inch by 3½ inches. You get used to it... unless you're Suite.io's A. L. (Amy, Amanda) Fetherlin, who never quite got the hang of nominal measurements and also ain't so sure of the terminology. Even inexperienced carpenters will see her ignorance shining through in "Do-It-Yourself Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Frosted-Glassed Doors."¹ 

Hey, even that title's off-putting: "frosted-glassed" doors? doesn't she mean "frosted-glass" doors? But we merely quibble... where Fetherlin starts getting it all wrong is in her materials list for building a door:

• Two 15-by-2-by-1-inch pine boards
• Two 24-by-2-by-1-inch pine boards
• 14-by-23-inch frosted glass

Here, we remind you that the actual dimensions of lumber are not the same as its nominal dimensions. A 1 x 2 (when citing board dimensions, the typical order is thickness, width, length; the opposite of A's list) is really ¾" by 1½". All of A. L.'s instructions beyond this point are wrong: wrong because she didn't specify actual dimensions. Dumbass.

You wouldn't be able to build A. L.'s doors, anyway, because of other mistakes, chief among which is contained in:

"Cut a 1/2-inch dado, which is a long slot cut into the wood, into two 15-by-2-by-1-inch pine boards. Make this cut the length of one 1-inch-wide edge of the boards not a flat 2-inch edge. Now cut a 1/2-inch dado into the 1-inch edge of two 24-by-2-by-1-inch pine boards the same way."

A dado is, as Fetherlin says, a slot or a trough. As such, any instructions for a dado require precise measurements: the width, the depth, and the dimensions of the "shoulders." Presumably, she wants the dado centered on the edge - but that's not a given - and she also doesn't specify depth. Oh yeah, and in an actual 1 x 2, the shoulders of a 1/2-inch dado would only be 1/8" wide if it were centered. Not very... sturdy.

To assemble the door, you're supposed to Use a pencil to mark two small, light dots on the flat 2-inch wide ends of the 15-inch pine boards. Make the dots 1 inch apart, centered on the edges. Mark one dot on both ends of the uncut 1-inch side of the 24-inch boards, centered. Get a handheld power drill. Take the screwdriver bit out and insert a 1/2-inch drilling bit into the collet. You may have to measure the bit to see which is the 1/2-inch bit if they aren’t labeled. If they aren't labeled, put masking tape around the end that fits into the drill and write the sizes on them. This simple step saves you trouble each time you need to drill a hole. Drill a 1/2-inch-deep hole into the marks using that bit.

The Antisocial Network's most experienced carpenter had to puzzle through those instructions for a good five minutes: "What," he wondered, "is the 'flat 2-inch wide end' of the board?" He also wondered why anyone would call the chuck on a power drill the collet, or who would ever have unmarked bits. Most of all, he wondered why anyone would use 1/2-inch dowels on the rails and stiles of a door when 1/4-inch would be just fine.

But A. L. Fetherlin's most glaring error, the one that shot her straight to number one on our short list for DotD? OK, go back over the instructions: If you follow them to the letter (which is not, as we've already mentioned, easy), you end up with a door frame whose opening is 24 inches high and, depending on whether the dimensions are nominal or actual, 11 or 12 inches wide. You're suppose to slip a 14" x 23" sheet of glass in there? We hate to tell you this, but it's not going to fit...

Finally, Ms Fetherlin instructs her readers to pack silicone putty into the dado (why???) and insert the glass, then complete assembly by adding the fourth side; the second 15-inch rail. OK, class, where did A. L. screw the pooch on these instructions? She doesn't know the difference between nominal and actual size She doesn't specify the dimensions of her dado She unnecessarily uses silicone putty in the door She never mentions squaring the door - doesn't even include a square in the materials list: oops...

By the way, if anyone's interested, that's not a Shaker cabinet door: it's just a cabinet door - and not a very good one, at that, since the instructions were written by a well-deserving recipient of the award we call Dumbass of the Day.

¹ This website is now defunct, and archive.org's Wayback machine never made a copy of the post. Oh, well, no loss...

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DDIY - CABINETS