Rail to stile ratio

Highwayman · 4 Jan 2013

Hi long long time lurker here with what should be an easy question

Is there a ratio for rails and stiles ?

Im building some wardrobe doors aprox 6 ft tall and cant seem to get the proportions right in my head for rail/stile

Cheers

Paul

AndyT · 4 Jan 2013

I suggest that your first step should be to look at lots of doors and think about what makes some look right and some look wrong for you.

Google image search is an easy first step.

In my opinion, the most important points are

- that stiles and rails should not be skinny - as they are in the very cheapest furniture -
- the top rail should be the same breadth as the stiles
- the bottom and centre rails should be broader - up to about twice the breadth.

But so much of this depends on the look of the whole thing that it's futile to generalise too much. What works on a single door would look wrong on a run of six tall thin ones. The presence of mouldings on the edges of stiles and rails changes the proportions hugely.

You could do worse than make up some dummy doors in thick cardboard and stand them in place for a while to look at them 'live'.

Anima · 4 Jan 2013

I've no experience of this whatsoever but someone on here asked a similiar question about proportions a while ago. Some people said they used Fibonacci numbers when trying to make multiple dimensions look right.

Hope that helps.

imageel · 4 Jan 2013

Hi - I must admit I have just this week completed a new paneled front door, and when at the drawing stages I too was perplexed about the ratios and proportions and read up about the Golden Ratio, browsed door manufacturers websites etc and ended up ignoring all and building what looked on paper 'right'.
Below is what I ended up with - literally just hung with only one coat of varnish on the frame, to my eyes it looks ok, but I guess others may beg to differ :wink:
If I were you I'd take AndyT's advice and copy one that you like!

Cheers
Ed

Argus · 4 Jan 2013

.

Looks fine to me.
Very nice door.
I do exactly the same - go for what looks right, never mind the rules.

......... after all, if it looks wrong, it is wrong and it will remind you of the fact every time that you clap eyes on it. Whereas good proportions just blend in nicely.

All best.