DIY - Inset Cabinet Doors - A Beginner's Way

Creating two sets of inset cabinet doors was a job that I kept on postponing for a very long time. Finally, I decided to tackle this job and the one thing I now ask myself is why it took me so long? It wasn't that difficult!

It was exactly a year ago when I was in a rush to finish this room and have it ready for Christmas. Installing the coffered ceiling and painting the entire room were the last big tasks I tackled, but there were many little details that I postponed for "later".

Installing the quarter round and the cabinet doors were some of those finishing details that were driving me crazy, and it was only a month ago that I decided to put an end to that story.

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From the moment that I got rid of the tiny baseboards to the almost complete room you see in the picture above, there was a big lapse of time.

You can check every step of that process by clicking on the links at the end of this post.

For now, let's build THE DOORS!

I think I was a bit scared to build this kind of door, and maybe that's why it took me a year to do it. After all, these were the very first doors I was going to build! 😨

So, this is not a tutorial. I'm going to give you all the details of what I did, in case you're thinking of giving the inset doors a try. ;)

The good thing is, now that I've gone thru it, I don't think they were that difficult to build! My cabinets and doors are far from perfect, but guess what? They are working and the doors are opening and closing without trouble and that's the most important thing to me. So, let me show you how it all went:

For the rails and stiles, I used 1 x 3 pine material.

For the inside panel, I used ¼" plywood.

1. MEASURE & CUT THE MATERIAL

The first step I took was to go and measure the opening of the cabinets very well. 

The size of the doors was set following those measurements, giving a 1/16" clearance all around the door.

Having the measurements at hand, I cut the material to size using a miter saw.

Ryobi ONE+ Trim Router

2.  MAKE RABBET CUTS

Since I don't have a routing table or table saw, which would've been the easiest way to make the grooves on the stiles and rails, I decided to use a handheld router to make the rabbet cuts, which are the groves where the panel would sit.

Kreg Jig  |  Drill

3. DRILL POCKET HOLES

The stiles and rails were connected with pocket hole joinery. Using the Kreg Jig, two pocket holes were drilled on each side of the rails.

Milwaukee 11in. 1 Multi-Tip Screwdriver with Square Drive Bits

4. ASSEMBLE THE FRAMES

Using 1¼" screws the frames were put together.

Note: At this point, I didn't use glue and I used a screwdriver with a square drive bit to secure the pieces together nicely. This is a dry-fit, if the frame is too big or too small you might need to disassemble it to fix things.

If you're building many doors, LABEL them!

5. DRY-FIT

Once the frames were done, I went ahead to try them on the cabinets. It must've been beginner's luck or the fact that I'm finally taking good measurements because they fit perfectly!! ☺️

Rockler Jig It  |  Long Shank Carbide Forstner Bit  

6.  DRILL THE CONCEALED HINGE CUP HOLES

The whole hinge part is craziness when you're a cabinet door-building rookie! There are thousands of hinges out there. I had to take a crash course on this matter even before I bought the wooden material.
My key points for choosing the hinges I chose were these:

• They had to be concealed - not showing.
• Good for inset doors.
• They had to be good for face frame cabinets.
• The other good points with the hinges I chose: soft closed and three-way adjustability.

Knowing the hinges I was going to use, the first task was to drill the holes on the frames to mount them. I bought a Jig over at Rockler and that made things easier.

The holes were set at 3" from the top and bottom of the door. The hinge instructions let you know if you have to set the jig at 3mm. or 5mm. Then, it's just a matter of clamping the jig and drilling the hole or holes.

Blum Inset Face Frame Hinges

Using the jig gave me peace of mind and I had no trouble whatsoever with the eight holes I had to drill.

7. INSTALL THE PANELS

The ¼" Plywood was cut to size. Those corners were adjusted with a utility knife and the plywood corners were rounded.

Makita 23-Gauge Cordless Pin Nailer

Then, using wood glue and pin nails they were set in place.

Wood Filler

8.  FILL GAPS AND HOLES WITH WOOD FILLER

The pocket holes and gaps were closed with wood filler, sanding them smooth.
Sand the entire door and clean it very well before going on to the next step.

DeWalt Sander  |  SandNet Sanding Discs   |  Wagner Home Decor paint sprayer

9. PRIME AND PAINT

Use a good-quality primer to prepare the wood for the final finish. I gave the doors two coats of primer, sanding with a 120 grid sandpaper between coats.

Then, using a paint sprayer I gave the doors two coats of paint in a semi-gloss finish.

10. INSTALL THE DOORS

The final step is to install the doors, installing the hinge part onto the cabinet. I had to confess that I didn't do this part. That's another item that goes to my list of things I don't like doing. :/  And ha, Mr. RLC didn't want to deal with this job either. I had to call my bil and he spent like an hour installing all four doors.

Well, that's pretty much how it all went.

I began organizing all my stuff in there. Oh, we also added door stoppers, the doors were getting a bit inside the cabinet.

| Cabinet Knobs |

They still need some more adjustment, some sides have a bigger gap than the other, but my BIL said he'll do it one of these days. I'm so glad for all of his help!

Overall, I'm SO happy with these doors, they look good, and as I said... They're far from perfect, but they're opening and closing and that's the main thing! ;)

| Shibori Tapestry Wall Art  | Door trim |

In my next post, I'm going to show you how this room looks now as my office. Stay tuned!

For complete details about all the work done in this room, follow the links below:

Part 1: The Starting Point

Part 2:  The Base Cabinets

Part 3:  The Decorative Toekick

Part 4: The Shelves

Part 5: The Bench

Part 6: The Table Makeover

Part 7: The Ceiling

Part 8: The Cabinet Doors

Part 9: DIY Pull-out Drawers

Part 10: The Final Reveal

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