Raised panel wainscoting from used kitchen cabinet doors

2manband · Post by **2manband** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:39 am

Has anybody done a project like this?

I have a friend who is remodeling his kitchen, and is going to throw out a bunch of solid oak raised panel cabinet doors. I'm thinking of salvaging them and installing them along one wall of my dining room as wainscoting. I can think of a couple of issues:

1. I'd rip each door to width to get rid of the profiled edge so that each panel will butt squarely against its neighbor. This will require some careful planning and cutting to make the arrangement of panels nice, neat, and even. Any tips or tricks to help me get this right?

2. The doors have arched top raised panels, which I haven't seen very often in wainscoating. Would this look odd?

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:08 am

I would think that you could go ahead and "save" the doors, and give it a try.
cut a couple and get an idea if you like it since it sounds like all you'd be out is some time and effort.
(In my head I keep seeing Gothic arches but I realize these will probably have more subtle arches).

2manband · Post by **2manband** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:11 am

The panels are shaped like the one in the foreground of this picture, if that helps:

pinkiewerewolf · Post by **pinkiewerewolf** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:32 am

I think you are on the right track with squaring them up so there isn't a seam from rounded edges. The table saw can take care of that in a jiffy.
Your idea might work well in quite a few applications. Under a bar, or island, so I'm seeing some possibilities there.

2manband · Post by **2manband** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:40 am

[quote="pinkiewerewolf"]I think you are on the right track with squaring them up so there isn't a seam from rounded edges. The table saw can take care of that in a jiffy.
Your idea might work well in quite a few applications. Under a bar, or island, so I'm seeing some possibilities there.]

I think that I'll have some panels left over when I'm done with the dining room, so I'll probably head into the den/office/library next, or possibly build some nightstands for the guest bedroom.

I wonder if anybody else is recycling these - kitchen cabinet refacing has become pretty popular lately, so there would have to be a lot of used raised panel doors out there.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:29 am

I don't know how long these doors are but for wainscoating to look right it should be from floor to about 3-4 foot high on the wall. That might be a problem using the doors.

How about not cutting the panels and placing them around the room at eye level almost as shields hung on the wall. In the center of the few you could mount a scone (light) and on some perhaps a family crest on others perhaps a smaller decorative panel, and so forth. I would think this would add an air of elegance to any room

Depending on how the edges of the raised panels look when you remove them from the stiles and rails you may want to leave them in the rails and stiles and simple cut down the width of just the stiles or possibly both the rails and stiles and do a fancy edge on them to make them look less like doors hung on the wall and more like wall plaques or applicades (I think that is what they are called).

2manband · Post by **2manband** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:31 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:I don't know how long these doors are but for wainscoating to look right it should be from floor to about 3-4 foot high on the wall. That might be a problem using the doors.

How about not cutting the panels and placing them around the room at eye level almost as shields hung on the wall. In the center of the few you could mount a scone (light) and on some perhaps a family crest on others perhaps a smaller decorative panel, and so forth. I would think this would add an air of elegance to any room

Depending on how the edges of the raised panels look when you remove them from the stiles and rails you may want to leave them in the rails and stiles and simple cut down the width of just the stiles or possibly both the rails and stiles and do a fancy edge on them to make them look less like doors hung on the wall and more like wall plaques or applicades (I think that is what they are called).

I was aiming for about 36" high as that's where I've set the chair rail in other rooms of the house. I beleive that the kitchen cabinets are fairly tall as they go all the way to the ceiling instead of stopping a foot or so below. I'm going to take some measurements this evening and start to firm up my plan.

jim · Post by **jim** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:58 pm

I'd use a cutting sled on the tablesaw to ensure that the trimming cuts are square.

Also, I'd think about a trim piece along the top and bottom of the door panels, 1) to give the wainscoting the proper height and 2) to tie the pieces together. The top trim piece should include a raised chair rail. Additionally, you may have problems getting the doors to fully fill the length of the wall space, upright stiles as 'spacers' might be a solution there. I'd make the trim and stiles slightly proud of the door panels.

This sounds like a very neat reutilization of material and a unique custom craftsman's touch in the dinning room. I'd be interested in seeing how it comes out.

2manband · Post by **2manband** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:22 pm

jim wrote: Additionally, you may have problems getting the doors to fully fill the length of the wall space, upright stiles as 'spacers' might be a solution there. I'd make the trim and stiles slightly proud of the door panels.

This sounds like a very neat reutilization of material and a unique custom craftsman's touch in the dinning room. I'd be interested in seeing how it comes out.

That will be a lot of help in getting the spacing right! I can take just enough width and height off of each panel to remove the rounded "door" edge, and rip the spacers to whatever width is then needed to cover the wall with a whole number of panels.

And, if I leave the horizontal and vertical spacers a bit proud of the panels, I could rout a profile in the edge of the spacers that helps them tie in.

Thanks

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:05 pm

As the long edge of the panels, may be a bit hard to handle on the infeed side of a Mark V (without an infeed table), you could use the conical disk sander to square the sides. May need quite a few passes, but more controllable.

As for spacing along the wall, I would use oak boards of a width that will come out even, wall to wall. For height, I would use a wider new floor molding and a narrower piece of molding for the top.