Cabinet Face Frame Material

Now is the time to be lazy if you have the tools.

Cabinet face frame material.

All natural wood characteristics are acceptable on the inside edges. Assembled face frames are only grain and color matched on the faces. Prepping face frame material for use. On the outside edge.

I generally always build my face frames out of 1 2 poplar when painting. Please note that assembled face frames will have a size tolerance of 1mm on the overall sizes and 1mm within each opening. I use wood glue and my k5 kreg jig set for 3 4 material and use 1 1 4 coarse thread pocket hole screws. A face frame is basically a frame usually made of hardwood in a species for the final finish of the cabinet.

Standard stile rail dimensions for face frames is 1 1 2. This keeps the costs down think about how expensive it would be to build solid walnut cabinets and the labor less you only have to finish the face frame. To remove saw marks or other imperfections rip all face frames to 2 1 8 wide on your table saw. Face frames on sides of kitchen cabinets should overlap 1 4 in.

Solid wood refacing stock rfs100 is the closest match to the grain of new doors and is ideal for face frame applications. While it doesn t matter what you build your carcass out of finish wise hidden behind face frame and doors drawers the material you choose for your face frame is the finished look of your cabinet. A face frame does a better job of this if it overlaps the box edges a bit. Who wants to sand saw marks off the edge of the face frame in a finished cabinet.

Making the face frame run past all the plywood edges provides a little wiggle room and hides not so perfect saw cuts on the plywood.