Cabinet Door Cut List Calculator
Enter the finished opening and the joinery your router bits or shaper cutters actually produce. The calculator sizes each door, its rails, stiles, and panel, then totals the frame stock for matching openings.
Finished size of each door19 inches W x 31 inches H
- Stile cut list
- 2 stiles, each 31 inches long
- Rail cut list
- 2 rails, each 15.25 inches long
- Panel cut size
- 1 panels, each 15.125 inches W x 27.125 inches H
- Total doors
- 1
- Total stiles
- 2
- Total rails
- 2
- Frame stock before waste
- 92.5
- Frame stock to purchase
- 106.37
Frame-stock totals are linear inches; add a separate allowance for grain matching or fixed retail board lengths.
Cut parts slightly long when your milling and joinery process needs a final trimming pass.
How to use this calculator
- Measure the finished opening after the face frame or cabinet sides are installed, using the smaller measurement where the opening varies.
- Choose the single or paired layout, then enter the overlay or inset reveal and the meeting gap you intend to leave.
- Measure a test joint to enter the true cope length and panel-groove depth from your tooling.
- Enter the number of matching openings and waste allowance, then verify the cut list before milling stock.
How the cabinet door cut list is calculated
A frame-and-panel door starts with its finished outside size. For a single overlay door, the width is the opening width plus twice the side overlay, and the height is the opening height plus twice the top-and-bottom overlay. An inset door instead subtracts the reveal at both outside edges. For a pair, the calculator subtracts the meeting gap before dividing the available width between two doors.
The central formulas are:
single overlay width = opening width + 2 × horizontal overlaypaired door width = (available width − pair gap) ÷ 2stile length = finished door heightrail length = door width − 2 × stile width + 2 × cope lengthpanel width = door width − 2 × stile width + 2 × groove depth − 2 × panel clearancepanel height = door height − 2 × rail width + 2 × groove depth − 2 × panel clearance
The rail formula includes both rail ends that enter the stiles. That entry is commonly called the cope, tenon, or stub-tenon length, depending on the cutter and joint. The panel formula begins with the clear frame opening, adds its engagement in opposite grooves, then subtracts clearance at both edges. It gives the overall panel blank size, not the raised field or profile size.
What changes the cut list most
Overlay, reveal, and paired-door gap set the finished door size, so they affect every subsequent part. Stile width has a particularly large effect on rail and panel width because it is removed twice. Measure the actual cut from a test joint: a cutter sold as a three-eighths-inch cope may not make that exact effective length once the profile and setup are considered.
The stock estimate is linear inches: two full-height stiles and two rails per door, multiplied by the number of doors and then by one plus the waste percentage. It is useful for planning rough stock, but it cannot choose board lengths or arrange parts for grain and color matching.
What this calculator leaves out
This calculation assumes a basic four-piece frame with one floating panel. It does not design the cutter profile, glass retainers, arched rails, center mullions, hardware clearances, or a board-by-board cutting diagram. Solid-wood panels need a movement allowance based on species, grain orientation, moisture content, and panel width; the generic groove clearance here is only assembly clearance. Dry-fit a test door before cutting a whole run.
Worked example
For an 18 inch by 30 inch opening with a single half-inch overlay on all sides, each door finishes at 19 inches wide by 31 inches high. Using 2.25 inch stiles and rails, a 0.375 inch cope, 0.375 inch panel groove, and 0.0625 inch panel clearance, each rail is 19 − (2 × 2.25) + (2 × 0.375) = 15.25 inches long.
The panel is 15.125 inches wide by 27.125 inches high. One door needs two 31 inch stiles and two 15.25 inch rails, or 92.5 linear inches of frame stock. With 15% waste, plan on 106.375 linear inches before allowing for board lengths and grain selection.
Common questions
How do I calculate rail length for a cope-and-stick cabinet door?
Use the finished door width minus twice the stile width, then add twice the measured cope or stub-tenon length. Each rail has one end entering each stile. Measure the actual entry from a test cut because the effective dimension depends on the cutter set and setup.
What size should a Shaker cabinet door panel be?
Start with the opening between the stiles and rails, add the depth of the opposing grooves, and subtract clearance at both edges. This calculator returns that overall blank size. A raised panel still needs its own field and profile layout after the blank is sized.
How much overlay should a cabinet door have?
Overlay is controlled by the hinge, face-frame layout, and the reveal you want between nearby doors and drawers. Half an inch is common in face-frame work, but it is not a universal setting. Check the hinge manufacturer’s overlay specification and make a sample installation when several reveals must align.
How do I size two cabinet doors for one opening?
Find the total available finished width after overlay or inset reveals, subtract the gap where the doors meet, and divide the remainder by two. Both doors receive that same finished width. The meeting gap should match the hinge adjustment range and surrounding reveals.
How should solid-wood panel movement be handled?
Allow the panel to float in the grooves and use an allowance appropriate to the species, panel width, grain direction, and expected humidity change. Do not glue a solid-wood panel across its full width into the frame. The calculator’s panel clearance prevents bottoming out but is not a wood-movement recommendation.