Mortise and Tenon Cabinet Doors

Our Expert

Deep mortise-and-tenon joinery will add to the strength of a cabinet door by increasing the glue surface area. To cut the mortises
use plunge router and Amana Tool straight plunge bit no.45414. 

My favorite method for cutting tenons is with a tablesaw and Amana's stacking dado head #658030. Another option is to cut the tenon with a router table and mortising router bit no.45505. With either method, I use the miter gauge to guide the stock along with the fence to control the tenon length.

When constructing a door with mortise-and-tenon joinery you have a number of different design options. For example, you can choose to shape a decorative "sticking" profile along the inside edges of the door frame. The sticking can be cut with any number of profile bits such as Amana Tool no.49510 corner rounding router bit or no.54170 beading router bit. Where the profiles intersect in the corners of the frame I cut a miter on the stiles and rails with the tablesaw. Mitering the profile also allows you to use profiles that cannot be coped, such as the bead in the photo

Of course you can also omit the sticking for a simple Mission Style door.

To cut the panel groove first decide what type of panel and panel material that you'll be using. Amana has a number of different raised panel profiles such as no.54119 and 54117. To cut the 1/4" frame groove for the panel you can use Amana Tool no.53210.

The Amana E-Z Dial Slot Cutter no.55500 will allow you to cut an undersized groove for a plywood door panel. Most plywood is undersized and the E-Z Dial adjusts in increments of .004" so you can achieve a perfect fit.

View Illustration - Door With Mitered Sticking 
View Illustration - Mission Style Mortise and Tenon