How to Add a Mitered Quirk & Bead to Cabinet Doors

Remove the cabinet doors if they are already installed. Label the hardware for each door, such as "Door A" and "Door B," so you can reattach the corresponding hardware for each door when you complete the project.

Measure each cabinet door, and determine where you want to place the quirk-and-bead line. Use a level and a square to draw a rectangle at the top of each cabinet door with a carpenter’s pencil. Each rectangle will be a layout guide for shaping the quirk and bead and for mitering corners. Your layout line will be your center-point reference.

Add a mark 1/4 inch beyond the rectangle you drew on each door. That mark will establish the outer edge for creating a mitered corner.

Attach a 3/16-inch corner beading router bit to a router. Set the height for the bit at ¼ inch on the router.

Set the router blade at a 45-degree angle on the left side, which is called the stile, to shape the bead. Begin making your cut at the outer mark that is 1/4 inch past the edge of the rectangular frame line.

Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for the right stile side.

Create the quirk-and-bead for the top and bottom, which are called the rails, by repeating Steps 4 and 5. When working on a rail, glide the router bit so that it meets precisely the left and right edges of the quirk and bead on the left and right stiles.

Set a table saw to cut miters. Adjust the table saw miter gauge to 90 degrees, and set the angle for the blade at 45 degrees. Position the router blade so that the tooth tip touches the edge of the quirk. Carefully make 45-degree angle miter cuts through the beads, connecting the stile and rail corners on each side.

Sand the cut edges if necessary.