cabinet pocket doors with overlay

[Scott Welty]

The upper part of this cabinet is to house a printer on a pull out shelf. An earlier version had a drop down door to allow access to the printer without the door getting in the way. That hasn't worked out so well. In the re-design I'm thinking using undermount drawer glides and then pocket doors for the upper part to allow easy access to the printer when it's pulled out. Is this possible with 1/2" overlay doors? I see hardware for such exists but don't see how it works. I'm guessing a notch in the frame to allow the door to slide back which would be covered when the door is closed. Upper part is ~26 wide, 15 high and 18 deep. Any experience with this sort of thing?

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Scott

[Wayne Lomman]

Scott, pocket doors are designed to work set between the frame, not for doors overlaying the frame. The simplest way, based on your sketch, is to delete the face frame and make everything with flat panels. This way your pocket doors work fine. Cheers

[Scott Welty]

I was afraid you'd say that. . . This cabinet is to match up with other base cabinets which have 2" frames. Not sure I can make this one an oddball. . . .

[Scott Welty]

Check out this link from Rockler... (http://www.rockler.com/partial-overlay-pocket-flipper-door-hinge-kit)

It says for frameless OR face frame cabinets on the left hand paragraph and on the right it says for frameless. What gives?

[Dave Richards]

If the door overlays the face frame, how will it fit between the rails?

[Scott Welty]

OK...chatted with Rockler. Hardware is only for frameless but ok if door overlays on hinge side. MIGHT be workable though with a notch in the frame for the door to pass through. I might try this!

[Scott Welty]

Dave, 'between the rails'. Not sure how to picture this...
Scott

[Paul Girouard]

Accuride 1321 hardware allows for 3/4" over lay on the flipper style doors.

You just need the right hardware and hinge to allow the door to clear the style .

I think you can do this with a thicker than 3/4" door as well , but don't recall the brand hardware you'd need to source , the Euro hinge you need to use has a bigger than normal bore hole, again IIRC.

But what you plan on doing is do able with the right hardware , door weight can play into this as well, as the hardware can only handle so much weight before it malfunctions.

G/L

[Jamie Buxton]

To be clear, you can have real overlay only on the sides of your doors. The top and the bottom are going to slide back into the cabinet, so the height of the doors must be less than the height of the opening. That is, no overlay on the top and bottom. The best you can do is notch the top rail so that the opening is taller than the door where the door slides in, but is smaller for the rest of the opening. You'll still see the notch, especially because you'll mostly be looking at the door from above.

Why not do the simple thing -- a door hinged on one side? You're probably accessing the printer from one side -- wherever you're sitting to use the computer. Put the hinges on the side away from you, so the door swings open out of your way. You get to use regular hinges, with overlay, and everything works easily.

[Scott Welty]

Jamie,
I think that's it and I've considered this before. Sometimes forget being fancy and do what works.
Thanks to all!
Scott

[Paul Girouard]

To be clear, you can have real overlay only on the sides of your doors. The top and the bottom are going to slide back into the cabinet, so the height of the doors must be less than the height of the opening. That is, no overlay on the top and bottom. The best you can do is notch the top rail so that the opening is taller than the door where the door slides in, but is smaller for the rest of the opening. You'll still see the notch, especially because you'll mostly be looking at the door from above.

Why not do the simple thing -- a door hinged on one side? You're probably accessing the printer from one side -- wherever you're sitting to use the computer. Put the hinges on the side away from you, so the door swings open out of your way. You get to use regular hinges, with overlay, and everything works easily.


Jamie,
I think that's it and I've considered this before. Sometimes forget being fancy and do what works.
Thanks to all!
Scott

Go with a Aximat style hinge then.

[Marshall Mosby]

As creative the idea seems, I don't think you would be able to do the pocket door thingy overlaying without the frames. They're supposed to be in the front. It is good to know that you've figured out the way into the reality. Happy furnishing.