Frame and panel

Frame and panel construction, also called rail and stile, is a woodworking technique often used in the making of doors, wainscoting, and other decorative features for cabinets, furniture, and homes.

The basic idea is to capture a 'floating' panel within a sturdy frame, as opposed to techniques used in making a slab solid wood cabinet door or drawer front, the door is constructed of several solid wood pieces running in a vertical or horizontal direction[1] with exposed endgrains.

Panels are made slightly smaller than the available space within the frame to provide room for movement.

It is common to place some sort of elastic material in the groove between the edge of the panel and the frame before assembly.

A popular item for this purpose is a small rubber ball, known as a spaceball (a trademarked product).

[2] In modern cabinetry, the cope and stick joinery is achieved with a set of special router cutters.

For extremely large and heavy doors, the cope and stick joint can be further reinforced with dowels, loose tenons, or by some other method.

For the other methods of frame construction, the inside profile is created either by mitred sticking or by an applied moulding.

The door then moves on to finish sanding where it is brought to its final thickness, and the outside profile is added if required.