How to Build Flush Mount Shaker Kitchen Cabinet Doors

Customize homemade cabinet doors for your preferences.

Kitchen cabinets stand out in your kitchen as prominent design features. Choosing the cabinet door design style affects the rest of the room’s appearance. Shaker-style cabinet doors have a basic, simple style without excessive detailing or scrollwork. This type cabinet is good for beginners who need to practice the rudiments of building a cabinet door without worrying about adorning the doors with carved details or fancy hardware.

Flush-mount Cabinets

Flush-mounted cabinet doors have a completely flat surface. Regular cabinet doors close over the cabinet’s framed opening, but flush-mounted doors fit neatly inside this opening. Careful measurements of the opening and the door ensure a close fit without it being too tight to easily open.

Shaker-style Cabinet Doors

Shaker-style cabinets use knife hinges, which are visible on the door’s side. The door might be a flat, slab door or have an unadorned frame. A rounded knob fits on the door face for opening, but this and the knife hinges can be eliminated for a flush cabinet.

Hardware

Replace knife hinges on a cabinet door’s outside with inset or flush hinges. Installing the hinge on the door’s inside hides the hinge’s bulk. Look for those that open the door up to 270 degrees for the widest possible motion range.

Building Doors

To make the doors, cut a board of the same material as the cabinet to fit in the opening. Using a slightly thinner piece of wood than used for the rest of the cabinet reduces the hinge’s wear. Rounded knobs in the Shaker style can be handmade or purchased from a hardware store. Omit the knob and install hinges that require you to push the door in slightly to open it. This creates a truly flat door for the cabinet.

References

• Design Your Own Furniture; Jim Stack
• Building Small Cabinets; Doug Stowe
• In the Shaker Style: Building Furniture Inspired by the Shaker Tradition; Fine Woodworking and Tim Schreiner