To configure door and drawer-front settings in Mozaik, open the Settings tab and work through the Door and Drawer Fronts section: pick a door style from a door library, assign it to each opening type (wall doors, base doors, top drawer fronts), then verify the door's routing, edge, pull, and hinge/lock setup in the Libraries tab before you save. Doing this on a template means every new job built from it applies the same doors, fronts, and hardware automatically.
This guide follows Mozaik's official walkthrough. Watch the original on Mozaik's channel:
The goal is to set up the door and drawer-front behavior for a template once, so every new job built from that template applies the same doors, fronts, and hardware automatically. In the video, this is demonstrated on a paint-grade template using an MDF door.
Where door and drawer-front settings live
The settings live under Settings > Door and Drawer Fronts. This is where you choose which door style is used, assign it to each opening (wall doors, base doors, drawer fronts), and confirm the routing, edge, pull, hinge, and lock options that travel with each front. The companion verification screens live under the Libraries tab (Doors and Hardware).
Step 1: Choose your door library
Mozaik gives you two door libraries to pull from — the Mozaik door library (the standard door library) and your own door library. In the video's example, the doors are selected from the Mozaik door library.
Open the door selector from the Door and Drawer Fronts section. The door that's currently in use is highlighted blue. Scroll to find the style you want and select it. In the example, the choice is the MDF flat-panel square door for paint-grade cabinets.
Step 2: Bring the door in and review its routed-door options
If the door you pick is a routed door, double-clicking it opens the routed-door options before it loads. This shows:
- The panel tool group used to machine that door.
- The pocketing tool for the panel recess.
- The outside edge treatment (a cutout tool, in the example).
Click OK to bring the door in. Mozaik then carries the panel tool group and pocketing tool with that door automatically.
Step 3: Verify the door in the Libraries tab
To confirm everything assigned to a door, open it in the door library under Libraries > Doors. First make sure the Source Library shown here matches the library you selected in Step 1. Find your door (for example, MDF flat-panel square). You can double-click to edit a door — open its editor and use the 3D viewer to see how the door looks.
Step 4: Set the door's build and machining options
Inside the door editor (right-hand options panel), you can turn on the behaviors you need:
- Buy-out door / no cut list — if you purchase doors from another company (and have the optimizer), this gives you a list of just the door sizes instead of sending them to the optimizer as a cut list.
- Oversize the door — add material for sanding or final sizing.
- Bore hinges on the back — note: boring hinge cups on the back of an MDF door creates a flip-side operation on the CNC. One operation carves the panel; a second operation runs the door flipped to bore the hinge cups.
- Bore for pulls — drill pull holes (off by default unless checked).
- Apply locks — typically used on commercial jobs.
- Apply beading — adds beading to the center panel; you can confirm it in the 3D viewer. Beading also has its own setup under Settings > Beading.
- Apply banding — turn this on if you edge-band your doors and drawer fronts. You can set up an edge-banding template and deduct for the banding thickness so your cabinet reveals stay consistent.
Step 5: Confirm the routed-door tools and panel recess
The Settings > Profiles area separates door types — traditional doors, miter doors, and routed doors each have their own section, and the active tab is highlighted. For a routed door, selecting the routed-door tools opens the panel tool group selector. In the example, the routed door uses the Shaker 5/16" deep panel pocket tool group, which cuts the recessed center-panel field.
The key rule here: the depth of the panel tools must match the depth of your pocketing. The pocketing depth is set by the panel recess value. (The tool depths themselves are configured on the optimizer side of Mozaik.) Get these aligned, then click OK.
Step 6: Assign doors and drawer fronts to each opening
With the door verified, assign fronts to each opening type:
- Wall doors — bring in the chosen door.
- Top drawer front — bring in the flat-panel drawer front. Many shops use a reduced-rail front on the top drawer.
In the video, a top drawer front came in as a reduced-rail drawer even though the reduced-rail wasn't manually selected. The reason: that drawer front had a sizing condition set on it.
Step 7: Understand sizing conditions (automatic front swaps)
A door or drawer front can carry a sizing condition that automatically swaps it for a different front below a size threshold. You can review this under Libraries > Doors for the drawer front. In the example, when the drawer front is less than 8½ inches tall, it's automatically replaced with the MDF flat-panel reduced-rail drawer front. This is why a front can look different than expected — Mozaik applied the rule.
Tip from the video: click the blue question mark in the door library to open the door-library help document covering how to set up and modify door libraries.
Step 8: Set pull size and placement
The pull settings (under Libraries > Hardware > Pulls) cover the size of the pull and its placement on the door:
- Choose whether the placement is measured for a base or top door.
- The placement measures from the top or bottom of the door to the center of the pull (not to the first hole).
- The distance from the edge of the door controls how far in the pull sits. In the example, this was changed from 2½ to 1¼ inches so the pull sits visually centered on the stile.
There's also drilling information — a drill diameter (a 5 mm hole in the example) and center-to-center hole separation. Important: those holes are only drilled if Bore for pulls is checked on the door itself (Step 4). If that box is unchecked, the pull shows for display but the holes aren't drilled.
Step 9: Set up hinges (and the centerline)
The hinge settings (under Libraries > Hardware > Hinges) can be switched between inches and millimeters. They include:
- System plate distance from the front of the cabinet (37 mm in the example).
- System screw spacing — the distance the system screws are drilled apart (32 mm in the example).
- Centerline of the hinge — set this carefully. It's measured from the bottom (or top) of the door to the first system group, not to the center of the hinge.
The video walks the centerline math: with system holes 32 mm apart, half of that is 16 mm. Adding 16 mm to the first-hole figure of 85.6 gives 101.6 mm to the center of the cup, which is 4 inches. The Drill option shows what gets bored on the back of the door for that hinge — review it before machining. Bring in both the base hinge and the wall hinge.
Step 10: Set up locks (if used)
If you add locks to your doors or drawer fronts, the Libraries > Hardware > Locks section is where you select the lock and its position — left/right for doors, top/bottom for drawers, and so on. As with the other categories, use the blue question mark to open the help document.
Step 11: Save the template
After you finish every category, save the template. Once saved, starting a new job will automatically apply this template — your chosen doors, drawer fronts, sizing conditions, pulls, hinges, and locks all carry forward.
Get it done-for-you
You can set this up yourself using the steps above. If you'd rather skip the setup, PAC's Mozaik training and done-for-you services can help — phillanton.com.
Full disclosure: this guide is published by Phill Anton Consulting.
FAQ
Why did my drawer front change to a reduced-rail style on its own?
Because that front has a sizing condition attached. In the example, any drawer front under 8½ inches tall is automatically swapped for the reduced-rail version. Check the front's settings under Libraries > Doors to see or change the threshold.
I set up pull drilling, but no holes are being drilled — why?
Pull drilling only happens if Bore for pulls is checked on the door itself (in the door editor). The drill size and hole spacing in the Pulls library are used for display unless that box is checked on that specific door or front.
Does boring hinge cups on an MDF door affect machining?
Yes. On an MDF door it creates a flip-side operation: one CNC operation carves the panel, then the door is flipped for a second operation to bore the hinge cups. Plan for the flip when you machine these doors.
Why do the panel tool depth and pocketing depth have to match?
The routed-door panel tools and the pocketing (set by the panel recess) cut the same panel area, so their depths must agree to produce a correct door. The panel recess sets the pocketing depth; the tool depths are configured on the optimizer side of Mozaik.