D.I.Y.

DIY Shaker Doors

June 14, 2022

This past spring, I made these shaker doors for my workbenches as part of the one-room challenge (in case you missed it, I organized and transformed my garage – here’s the reveal). During this journey, I omitted sharing how much of a struggle I had wrapping my head around these shaker doors for my workbenches. Truly my brain hurt. Once I figured out that it would be most cost-effective and simple to NOT go with concealed hinges I was able to pull myself together and create some gorgeous shaker doors. If you’re nervous, that’s ok. I was too. Then I made six doors in a few hours. There’s less to be nervous about than you think. Are you encouraged yet? Or just annoyed that I haven’t started talking about how to make these shaker doors?

First, you need to get your measurements. I’ll tell you how to make these without measurements because there’s barely a 0.5% chance that we will be making the same size doors.

What You Need to DIY Shaker Doors

Reminder to make sure you get enough of the material below to make as many and the sizes of shaker doors you need.

Wood – I got 1x3x8″ pieces of lumber – this will be for your rails and stiles (aka top/bottom and sides)
Sheets of 1/4-1/2″ plywood or other (I used leftover beadboard) – this will be the panel in between your rails and stiles
Pocket hole screws (1 1/4″)
Pocket hole jig
Mitre saw
Circular saw
Router and 1/4-1/2″ rabbet bit
Clamps
Wood glue

How to Make A Shaker Door

Cut your rails and stiles – I made my rails the full length of my doors and accounted for the height of the stiles given this (i.e., made them two rails widths shorter)
Using your jig, add your pocket holes
Glue your rails and stiles together and using a clamp – to make sure nothing slips out of place – use a pocket hole screw to secure them
Once the frame of your door is assembled, take your router and rabbet bit and create a little ledge for your panel to sit in the middle of the frame.
Cut your panels to size using a circular saw
Line the ledges in your door frame with wood glue, add your panels in and secure them using clamps. My clamps weren’t quite the right ones so I had to add in scrap wood to really secure it in.
Repeat until you’ve made all your doors! That’s it then you’re done it!!!