Door construction ideas needed...

[DaveO]

I have an upcoming project and I am having trouble figuring out how to build the doors the way I would like. The doors will be approx. 32" tall and 16" wide, frame and raised panel on a frame-less carcass, full overlay. The hard part is that I would like to have the top 6" or so of the door look like a drawer front, but still be part of the door that opens.
My only ideas are to make my stiles full length, and make three sets of rails. The middle rail will be approx. double the width of the other two. I'll cut a V groove in the middle of the double width rail to mimic the division between the door and drawer. The lower "door" section of the whole door will have a raised panel. And the upper "drawer" section of the whole door will have a flat panel as it will only be about 6" tall overall and couldn't fit a raised panel in it's section of the frame.
Does that make any sense, is there a better way to go about it, is that going to look weird???????


Thanks for any help and/or advice, in advance


Dave

[Mike Davis]

Could you route a lip around the upper opening and inset a drawer front?

[DaveO]

Yes, I think I could. A rabbet would get rid of the cope/stick joint profile on the stiles, and I could set a false front into that. My only concern would be the false front protruding more than the RP door. But it might not look bad at all


Dave

[toolferone]

What if you made the f/p part of the door normal, then glue on a 6" solid top piece made to look like a drawer. I like the idea of the "v" groove to show a seperation between them.
my .02 worth.

[walnutjerry]

Maybe consider a dado instead of a v-groove for the seperation?

Jerry

[rhett]

You could make the two pieces seperate, and then rout a stopped rabbit on the top of the door and bottom of the drawer. Glue in a spacer on the back that sits flush, and gives the appropriate distance between the door and the false front. Then any edge work will be consistent.
May just be the long way around the barn.