Slab-Style Cabinet Door Plans

By Chris Baylor, About.com Guide

After the glue has set for 24 hours, it's time to remove the clamps and cut the cabinet door to it's finished size.

Begin by cutting the ends off of the assembly. Making the first cut can be done with a circular saw and a straight-edge. Simply use a square to align the straight-edge so that the circular saw will remove a minimal amount of stock, and clamp the straight-edge in place. Verify that the straight-edge is square to the jointed ends, and cut off the end of the cabinet door.

Then, set your table saw fence to the desired height of the door. Place the assembly flat on the table with the newly cut door bottom against the fence and run the door through the blade. Your cabinet door should now be the desired height.

Next, adjust the table saw fence to the desired width of the door, and trim the door to width.

TIP: When trimming tongue and groove assemblies to width, it is advisable to take an equal amount of stock from each side of the assembly. In this manner, if the joints show on the finished product, the joint assembly will look balanced. To achieve this look, instead of taking all of the material off of one side to trim the door to width, take half of the stock to be removed off of each side.