I'm in the midst of building 7 bookcases for our new house. I've got the
cases together and am starting on the face frames. Usually I do my own
design, but I ran across a plan I really liked the looks of so I'm using
it.

The face frame has a 2.5" wide top rail and a 5.5" wide bottom rail. The
stiles are 2" wide. Not worried about the top rail but that wide bottom
rail seems to me to be pushing the limits for cross-grain construction.

A bottom trim piece will cover the lower 3.5" of the bottom rail. I'm
considering splitting the rail into 3" and 2" pieces and leaving a 1/2"
gap, which will be covered by the trim, between them. But that's a bit
of extra work I don't want to do if it isn't needed. Am I being overly
paranoid about wood movement?

BTW, between shelf pin holes, holes for connectors, screw holes for
levelers, and holes for screws to attach the trim, I drilled almost 1000
holes! I don't want to see a drill bit for the next 6 months :-).

--
Where have all the flowers gone? Pete Seeger 1919-2014