The plant-on panel
The four plant-on panels (above) are divided by three muntins that are the same length as the stiles. As shown in the illustration at left, the frame and panel have interlocking grooves and tongues, and the panel sits proud of the frame, with a chamfered edge.
To make an allowance for shrinkage and expansion, cut back the tongues on the edges of the panel. Set your table saw to the height of the tongue plus 1/16" and to the correct width. This cut is best done before tapering the outside edge.
Making raised panels with a router
The frame can be machined using two (right) separate cutters or one cutter that has both profiles on the same shank (left). The horizontal panel cutter is most safely used in a router mounted in a router table where you feed the work across it.
The horizontal cutter at left forms an ogee detail on the slope of the panel. The vertical panel cutter at right requires use of a taller fence on the router table.
To add some variety to a router-cut frame-and-panel door, you can opt to not to rout the molded detail on all four edges of the panel.

There are two types of frame-and-panel structures. In one type, the panel sits inside the frame (as in, for example, a typical raised-and-fielded panel). In the other type, the panel overlaps the frame, although it is held in a groove just as is the raised-and-fielded panel. This type is commonly called a plant-on panel.



Historically, the panel set inside the frame has been preferred by carpenters and house builders for paneling walls. The plant-on panel was preferred by furniture makers because its simplicity strips away all the visual fuss of raised-and-fielded construction and encourages the maker to select and display the beauty inherent in wood. But even though the raised-and-fielded panel was traditionally a wall-paneling construction technique, it has been used so often on doors that it has become an accepted furniture detail.

This lesson will explain how to make both plant-on and raised panels.

Plant-on Panels

The plant-on panel offers the designer a radically different opportunity with which to work, and it’s a particularly good option when, for instance, you have wood that displays stunning color and grain pattern. The plant-on panel is the ideal way to display that wood because its surface won’t be disrupted by raising and fielding. The groove on both the frame and panel is filled with a tongue. The thickness of the tongue equals the width of the groove. So, in cutting the desired groove with the correct cutter setting, you simultaneously make the tongue.

Set the cutter to its own width above the table. Make the panel groove with the inside face down on the table. Make the frame groove with the outside face down on the table. Made to this setting, the tongue is the same dimension as the groove, which is too tight; but once you remove the machine marks by hand planing both faces, the two parts will slot and slide neatly into each other. Make test pieces to confirm the cutter settings are correct. Once you have cut all the parts to correct dimension, the order of work is:

• Joint the frame structure.

• Cut the grooves in the frame and panel.

• Fit the panels in their grooves.

• Dry clamp the whole assembly.

Chances are that test fitting will reveal that the joint shoulder lines on the frame are no longer flush. If so, remove the panels, put the frame back together dry, and plane the frame flush on the outside face. It’s impossible to get at the shoulders with a plane and difficult with a sander after glue-up. However, you can plane the inside shoulders.

There’s no need for the panel to project above the frame more than 1/4" for furniture purposes. Because a panel left square-edged looks coarse, taper it to 15°, a simple operation on the router table with a chamfer cutter. Alternately, the edge can also be refined by a small rabbet to halve its thickness.

Raised Panels

The popularity of this construction arises from the ease with which matching router cutters, with the same setup, shape the edge of the frame all around, make the groove all around, and make the four corner joints by coping the ends of the rails. A second cutter raises and fields the panel. The downside is that you are stuck with the same set of profiles until you acquire more cutters, and even then the range of profiles for both frame and panel is limited.