What is a panel?
A panel is a flat field enclosed by a frame of stiles (vertical) and rails (horizontal). You find it in doors, shutters, wainscoting, cupboard doors, wall linings and ceilings. In everyday use the word is also applied to any sheet-like building element, such as a facade panel or a solar panel.
Why panels exist
The panel is not a decoration someone thought up afterwards — it solves a problem in timber. Wood moves: it shrinks and swells mainly across the grain as humidity changes. A large solid board held rigidly in a frame would cup or split.
The solution is the floating panel: the flat field is not glued or screwed in place but sits loose in a groove in the surrounding frame. It can move freely without distorting the frame. That is why an eighteenth-century panel door is still flat, while a glued board of the same age would long since have cracked.
Practical rules when making one:
- Leave the panel a few millimetres of play across its width in the groove; movement along the length is negligible.
- Do not glue the panel in. To centre it, use a small spot of glue or a locating pin exactly in the middle of the top and bottom rails.
- Finish the panel before assembly. If it shrinks later, an unfinished stripe appears along the edge otherwise.
Types
- Flat panel: an ordinary board, sunk in the groove.
- Recessed panel: the panel sits back from the frame face, often with a moulded transition.
- Raised panel: the field is thicker in the middle and bevelled down towards the edges, so it stands proud of the frame.
- Infill panel: a modern sheet infill of plywood, MDF or glass.
Related terms
- Panel door
- Frame
- Internal door
- Facade panel
- Raised panel
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