Understanding the Cabinet Door Profiles at Cutting Edge
Updated November 21, 2024
Discover the key cabinet door profiles, including stiles, rails, and panels, to choose the perfect design for your next project.
Whenever you order from a supplier for the first time, you feel stressed and nervous. This is especially true in the cabinetry and woodworking industry, where every cabinet door manufacturer has different cabinet door profiles and profile codes that work together differently. Ordering cabinet doors isn’t a low-risk venture. Getting the wrong profile is a costly mistake – from paying for a new set of cabinet doors to disappointing your customers and gaining a bad reputation.
When you order your cabinet doors, will you get the correct style? To be sure, you need to understand the cabinet door profiles your supplier uses.
At Cutting Edge, we understand this need. We help hundreds of customers choose the correct profiles every year, whether it is their first time ordering from us or they are trying to match another cabinet door manufacturer’s work.
To avoid ordering the wrong cabinet doors, you must first understand how the profile codes work. Keep reading to find out:
Why Cabinet Door Manufacturers Use Cabinet Door Profiles
Thanks to the sheer number of terms used in multiple ways in the woodworking industry, it is a poor idea to rely on vocabulary to determine a door style.
For example, you might ask for a shaker-style cabinet door, thinking that shaker is a standard door style across the industry. However, even shaker doors can have any combination of options – from inside profiles, outside profiles, stile and rail widths, and panel types.
Can you see where the possibility of mistakes and errors comes in using this method?
So, instead of relying on industry terms to determine door styles, most cabinet door makers develop specific cabinet door profiles, using a combination of letters and numbers. Each cabinet door profile dictates the appearance of a specific section of the cabinet door.
As long as you understand how your supplier’s cabinet door profiles work, this is a much better method. However, the key is your understanding – so let’s dive in and look at how Cutting Edge’s profile codes work!
Cabinet Door Profiles at Cutting Edge
First, you need to understand the parts of a cabinet door. Most cabinet doors have five pieces; two rails, two stiles, and a centre panel. Different profile codes apply to different areas of these five pieces.
To make this article as helpful as possible, we will discuss each cabinet door profile in the same order they appear when you place your order.
1. Stile & Rail Wood Species
First up – the stile and rail wood species. Here, you select a wood species – for example, Maple or Pine. The wood species you choose here is the wood species our team uses for the stiles and rails of your cabinet door.
2. Panel Wood Species
Next up is the panel wood species. The wood type you choose here is the wood our team uses for the centre panel of your cabinet door.
3. Arch
The arch profile sets the appearance of the top rail of your cabinet door. Our standard arch profile code is 100; this leaves the top rail square.
All arch profile codes are three digits, increasing by 100. For example, you can choose 100, 200, or 300, etc.
You can change the last zero to a five if you want the appearance of the top rail reflected on the bottom rail. For example, arch profile 205 has an arched top and bottom rail.
4. Rail Profile
The rail profile changes how the inside edge of the top and bottom rails appears. The rail profile is a number between zero and 23; some numbers have letters added to the end, which indicates a slightly modified appearance.
5. Stile Profile
The stile profile changes the appearance of the inside edge of the left and right stiles. Stile profiles use the same profile codes as the rail profiles; usually, you would choose the same stile and rail profile. However, you can combine a rail profile with a different stile profile.
6. Panel Profile
The panel profile you choose changes the appearance of the centre panel. Some door entry options (like plywood panel doors) only have specific panel profiles available.
We use letters for our panel profile codes; for example, A, B, and C. In addition, some panel profiles have additional letters at the end, which indicate a slightly modified appearance.
7. Outside Profile
The outside profile code is next. These are two-digit numbers, starting at 10. Although our stile/rail and outside profile codes overlap, there is only one number that applies to both options – 10.
This profile code changes the appearance of the outside edges of your cabinet doors.
We use letters for our panel profile codes; for example, A, B, and C. In addition, some panel profiles have additional letters at the end, which indicate a slightly modified appearance.
8. Top/Centre/Bottom Rail Widths
The top, centre and bottom rail widths are three separate entry options. Our standard stile and rail width is 2.25” (or 57.2mm), which is what our machinery is usually set at. However, you can customize these widths – within limits. If your rail widths are too narrow, we can’t safely machine them. Our system will alert you if you choose a width we can’t produce.
9. Left/Centre/Right Stile Widths
Like the rail widths, the stile widths have three separate entry options. We make stiles at 2.25” (57.2mm) wide as standard. Again, you can customize these widths within limits; our system will alert you if you select a width we can’t produce.
These aren’t the extent of our profile options; however, they are the most common. So what if you didn’t see what you were looking for? You can keep reading to learn about our additional cabinet door profiles or skip straight to some examples.
Additional Cabinet Door Profiles at Cutting Edge
You may want to add details to your cabinet doors, like finishing, hinge drilling, and more. What are those options?
Panel Face
You can add grooves to the centre panel of your cabinet door using the panel face option. This selection works along with the V-Groove/Bead Location; if you select a panel face option, you also need to choose a location option.
Cabinet Door Hinge Drilling
You can ask our team to predrill your doors for Blum hinges.
Rustic Treatment
Do you want your cabinet doors to look perfectly imperfect? You might be looking for a rustic treatment option. Choose from add-ons like wire brushing (to emphasize grain patterns and add texture) or rough sawing to add character to your cabinet doors.
Finish Colour
Finally, you can add a finish colour to your order. If you want to look after the finishing, choose raw. Otherwise, you can select from a preset list of options or request a custom finish.
How Cutting Edge’s Cabinet Door Profiles Affect Your Cabinet Doors
Now, let’s look at a couple of examples of how different profile codes change the appearance of cabinet doors.
Maple, 100 4 P 75, 2.25”
At Cutting Edge, a Maple shaker-style cabinet door (like the one to the right) uses the profile codes 100 4 P 75, 2.25”.
100 means the top rail is square. 4 means both the stile and rail profiles have our #4 profile, while the P means the centre panel is plywood. 75 means we leave the outside edges unprofiled, and the stile and rail width is 2.25”.
What about a more complex door?
Sappy Walnut, 100 8-Mod/13 S 75, 3”/2.25”
In this case, where the stile and rail profiles and widths vary, we separate the two values with a slash.
Again, this door has our 100 arch – a square top rail. The rail profile is 8-Mod while the stile profile is 13. The centre panel is solid wood and the outside profile is unprofiled. The rails are 3” wide and the stiles are 2.25” wide.
Red Oak, 200 2 A 46, 2.25”
And here is one more example – the traditional cathedral-arched Red Oak door.
This traditional cathedral-style door has our 200 arched top rail, our 2 inside profile, a solid wood centre panel with our A profile, and a decorative outside profile, 46.
Understanding Cabinet Door Profiles Prevents Costly Mistakes
In an industry where the same terms can mean multiple things, it is vital that you and your supplier understand each other – especially when you place your first order. Misunderstandings, miscommunications, and mistakes cost you time, money, and customers.
So, now that Cutting Edge has guided you through their profile codes and empowered you to avoid costly ordering mistakes, you can take the next step. Learn how to place your first order online and take control of your cabinet door profile selection.
