Expert: Jamie Yocono - 7/23/2008

Question
QUESTION: Can I mortice the rails (as the styles)to attach to the cabinet?What is my best option for building the face frames as far as joinery goes?mort tennon,biscuits,etc.

ANSWER: Hi Paul,

There are many ways to join the stiles to the rails in face frame construction. Some cabinetmakers do a mortise and tenon joint, as you suggested, but some do anything from a simple biscuit, to a double dowel, to your basic butt joint with toe nails.

Since most face frames are also glued and nailed to the cabinet box, any of these joints will be very strong.  They're really not going anywhere, unless you're going to hang a heavy door off the face frame. Of all the joints, I personally prefer the doweled joint, as I have a Dowl-it jig that allows me to drill two 3/8" holes side by side in just seconds. It's easy and makes a strong joint.

I sort of feel like a mortise and tenon joint is a little "overkill" for this joint. But if you're set up to make these quickly, it really would be almost as simple as the dowel joint I use.

My least favorite is the nailed joint, unless it's beefed up with a small plywood block behind it, that's glued in place to help keep the joint together. This method was often used before biscuit joints became so prevalent. I'm not a huge fan of biscuits, as I've seen them fail under heavy loads.

So if I had my way, I would rank them in this order:

dowel  or  mortise-and-tenon
biscuit
butt with nail

I hope this helps,  there's an old book by Jere Cary called Building You Own Kitchen Cabinets that has been a good reference tool for me. You might find it cheap on Amazon or Half.com. It's a little outdated, but reading it is like getting a lesson from an "old-timer" and it's helpful.

Good luck, write back if you have more questions.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com
My woodworking blog: www.wooditis.blogspot.com


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Jamie,My lower shelf for the kitchen sink base is almost done.In order to dado the styles,I also would have to dado the rails,as I did not plan for the face frame rail.Can I dodo the rails also?


Answer
Paul,

I'm not sure I understand your second question, can you please clarify what you mean? I have no idea what you're asking, as far as dadoing the stiles or rails for your face frame. If you can elaborate, I'll try to help.

Another thing just occurred to me, I have, in the past, made a face frame with half lap joints. I don't remember the specifics of why I chose that joint, but for some reason, it was what was needed. So if you're talking about dados to make a half-lap joint on the face frame, yes, that can be done.

Most sink base cabinets don't have a shelf, as the plumbing gets in the way. Many of the sink base cabinets I see utilize some sort of pull-out unit, so that you can store things easily. Some of these units are "two storied" so that you have double the space for storing your cleaning supplies, etc.

If this didn't help, write back with a little more information and I'll try to help.

Jamie Yocono
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com