Slab-Style Cabinet Door Plans

With the grooves cut in the boards of our slab-style cabinet doors, the next step is to cut the tongues. When making tongue and groove joints on the table saw, it is always advisable to cut the grooves first. It is much easier to cut a little more off of the tongues to gain a proper fit than it is to cut more out of the grooves.

Set up the stacked dado blade set in your table saw to 1/2" width, and set the depth to 3/16".

Next, clamp a sacrificial board to your table saw fence. Be sure that the clamps are at least one inch above the table saw surface. Adjust the fence so that the sacrificial board is just barely touching your dado blade (but the blade can still turn freely).

Lay the face of one of the boards to receive a tongue flat on the table, and the edge receiving the tongue against the sacrificial fence. Turn on the saw and run the board through the blade, then, repeat the step on the opposite face. This should make a tongue that is a little thicker than you'll need to fit into the groove.

Attempt to dry-fit the tongue into the corresponding groove. If everything went according to plans, you should need to remove a little more material from each side of the tongue, so adjust your table saw blade depth accordingly and cut both sides of the tongue again. Check the fit of the tongue and groove joint. You want it to be snug, but not too tight.

Repeat these steps for each of the tongues.