Shaker drawer front plans – DIY

Here are shaker drawer front plans to go along with our shaker cabinet door plans. Shaker drawer fronts are easy to construct, you only really need a table saw to make all of the cuts. It helps to have a few different, specific, blades to ensure you get clean cuts. But if you are ok with sanding and/or possibly cleaning up with a chisel, you can definitely get by with just a general purpose blade.

Check out our shaker drawer front plans below, and if you have any questions leave us a note in the Comments section and we’d be happy to help you out.

Materials Required

  • 2 – 6″ pieces of 1×3 per drawer front
  • 2 – 19 1/2″ pieces of 1×2 per drawer front
  • 1 – 19 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ piece of 1/2″ plywood per drawer front

Tools Recommended

  • Table saw
    • general purpose table saw blade for cutting plywood and dimensional lumber to size
  • Miter saw (optional) for cutting dimensional lumber
  • Sander and sand paper
  • Measuring tape
  • Square
  • Band clamps
  • Wood glue
Shaker drawer front - dimensions

Step 1: Cut the rails and stiles to length

To build a 24″ wide by 6″ tall shaker style drawer front, start by cutting two 6″ pieces of 1×3, and two 19 1/2″ pieces of 1×2. If your dimensions are different, you’ll have to adjust these measurements accordingly.

Step 2: Rabbet the stiles

We’re going to need to cut a 1/2″ wide, by 1/4″ deep rabbet in one of the 6″ sides of your stiles. If you have a flat tooth table saw blade, you should be able to accomplish these cuts fairly quickly.

Shaker drawer front plans - stiles

Step 3: Rabbet the rails

The rails in these shaker drawer front plans are slightly more complicated than the stiles, but still fairly simple to cut on the table saw with the right blades.

Start by cutting a 1/4″ x 1/4″ rabbet off of each end. Then, cut a 1/4″ deep by 1/2″ wide rabbet off one of the long edges, ensuring the remaining tongue is on the same side as the end rabbets.

Step 4: Cut the 1/2″ plywood

The plywood is a simple piece, cut at 19 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. Normally I would recommend a good plywood cutting blade for cutting plywood. However since all of these edges will be hidden, a simple combination blade should do just fine.

Shaker drawer front plans - plywood

Step 5: Glue and clamp

Once all of your pieces are cut, and you’ve test fit them dry, it’s time to time to glue them up. Apply a liberal amount of wood glue on all connecting edges and then clamp together with a band clamp. Once the glue is dry it’s time to sand and finish your new shaker style drawer fronts.

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