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Picked pocket hole screws over dowels for a face frame, zero regrets so far
Been building cabinets for about 12 years now, mostly residential kitchens. I always used dowels for face frames because that's what my first boss taught me. But last month I had a run of 14 identical upper cabinets for a house in Maplewood and the dowel jig kept slipping on me, drove me nuts. I switched to pocket holes for that batch, just the 1.5 inch fine thread screws with the right bit. Took me about 2 hours less per 4 cabinets and the frames came out dead square. Customer's inspector even walked through and said they looked clean. I know some guys swear dowels are stronger, but these are painted face frames, not structural. Has anyone else made the opposite swap and regretted it?
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lee.diana1d ago
That batch in Maplewood might make you feel good now, but wait until the first humid July when those painted frames start moving. Pocket screws pull the joint tight in one direction and that's it, they don't hold against racking the way a dowel does because a dowel glues face to face across the whole joint. I've seen a 12 foot run of uppers where the home owner leaned on the corner while reaching for a top shelf and you could hear the pocket screws creak. Fine thread into pine is one thing, but a lot of that "2 hours saved" comes back as callbacks once the paint shrinks into the screw holes and you're filling and touching up 40 of them. Dead square on the bench is easy, staying square after two winters of heat cycles is the real test.
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