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Five-piece Shaker doors with square edge frames and flat recessed panels, paint grade or stain grade, made to a cut list with hinge boring and matching drawer fronts.
A Shaker door is a frame of two stiles and two rails around a flat, recessed center panel, with a square inside edge and no decorative profile. It is the most ordered cabinet door style in North America, so cabinet shops and kitchen brands buy it from door plants by the thousand instead of making it in-house. The plant works from a cut list: each door with its finished width and height, species, panel type, hinge boring and finish.
The price depends mainly on the frame joint, paint grade or stain grade material and the finish. A paint grade door with an MDF panel, primed and bored, is a very different product from a stain grade white oak door with a veneered panel and a factory finish, even at the same size. Odd sizes, very tall doors and narrow drawer fronts also add cost because they need more setup and more care to stay flat.
Name the type on the RFQ. Factories that make one type well do not always make the others.
| Type | What it is | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Cope-and-stick 5-piece door | Rails are cut with a cope on the ends that fits the groove along the stile edge. The joint is a short stub tenon glued into the groove. | Most production Shaker doors. Fast to run and strong enough for standard sizes. |
| Mortise-and-tenon 5-piece door | Rails have full length tenons glued into mortises in the stiles, sometimes pinned. | Tall pantry doors, inset doors and heavy doors where a stub tenon is not enough. |
| One-piece MDF Shaker door | An MDF slab with the recessed panel routed by CNC, so there are no frame joints. | Paint grade lines where joint cracks are not accepted and cost matters most. |
| Matching drawer fronts | Five-piece fronts with the same frame width, or slab fronts for short drawers. | Every kitchen. Drawer fronts below about 5 to 6 in tall are often made as slabs, typical. |
| Slim Shaker door | A Shaker door with narrow frames, about 1 to 1-1/2 in wide, typical. | Modern kitchens and furniture fronts. Narrow frames need tighter joints to stay strong. |
Starting points used across the trade. Your drawing sets the real values, and each factory confirms what it can hold on the quote.
| Spec | Typical value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Stile and rail width | 2-1/4 to 3 in, typical | State one width for all doors or give it per door. |
| Door thickness | 3/4 in (19 mm), some lines 7/8 in, typical | Must match the hinges and the cabinet design. |
| Panel | About 1/4 in MDF or veneered plywood, recessed about 1/4 in, typical | Solid wood panels must float in the groove to allow wood movement. |
| Size tolerance | About ±1/32 in (±0.8 mm) on width and height, typical | Give finished door sizes, not cabinet openings. |
| Flatness | Warp within about 1/16 in over the door, typical | Tall and narrow doors need extra care. State a limit for doors over about 40 in. |
| Hinge boring | 35 mm cup holes, about 3 to 6 mm from the door edge, typical | Give the boring pattern, cup depth and distance from top and bottom. |
| Moisture content | 6 to 9 percent for frames, typical | Match the market. Very dry homes in winter cause joint cracks. |
Typical values, not a guarantee. Confirm every value that matters to you on the quote and the approved sample.
The usual process chain, from dried lumber or panels to packed goods. Ask which steps happen in-house and which go out to another plant.
Cabinet shops often order per kitchen, from about 20 to 60 doors, while brands order standard sizes by the container. Many door plants set a minimum per order or per species and finish, and quote odd sizes and tall doors by size band.
Order doors per job from a cut list and build the boxes themselves. They need exact sizes, correct boring and fast repeat orders for missing doors.
Buy standard door sizes in volume for a fixed range. They care about color match across lots and packing that survives parcel shipping.
Buy doors and drawer fronts to fit existing cabinet boxes. They need custom sizes and matching veneer or paint for face frames.
With these points stated, every matched factory quotes the same product.
Approve one sample in writing and keep it as the reference for every shipment.
The problems that cost buyers of Shaker cabinet doors the most time and money, and how to head them off in the RFQ.
Related guides:
Reference: Wikipedia: Frame and panel
Most Shaker doors use stiles and rails about 2-1/4 to 3 in wide on a 3/4 in thick door. Slim Shaker styles go down to about 1 to 1-1/2 in. Keep one width across a kitchen so doors and drawer fronts line up.
Paint grade doors use MDF, poplar or maple with MDF panels, since paint hides grain and color changes. Stain grade doors use maple, cherry or oak frames with matching veneered panels, sorted for grain and color.
Solid wood frames expand and shrink with humidity, which opens a hairline line in the paint at the rail joint. It is normal on painted solid wood doors. MDF frames or one-piece MDF doors avoid it.
Yes, most door plants bore 35 mm cup holes for concealed hinges. Send the boring pattern (distance from the edge, cup depth and distance from top and bottom) and say which side each door hinges on.
Send finished door sizes. The overlay and reveal depend on your cabinet design and hinges, so the cabinet maker should work them out. This avoids doors made too large or too small.
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