old cabinet repair

[Sean Hill]

Hello,

I have an old freestanding cabinet I’d like to salvage. Checking the front, I see that it is a trapezoid, out of square by 5/16 across the 36 inch bottom-left to top-right diagonal. It is an open cabinet with no fixed middle shelf.


I should be able to knock off the old face frame, rack it back into square with a long diagonal clamp while I glue on a new square face frame – so that I can, later, fit it with a new inset door-- yes?

[Yonak Hawkins]

Cabinets are normally kept square with the back panel. Adding one could fix your problem.

[Robert Engel]

Yes, doable, but you need to see if the back is square first. If not, take it off and redo it square.

Its possible the cabinet was on uneven floor at some point and the front sagged.

If the back is square (it should be) then just do what you plan.

[Sean Hill]

Yonak and Robert:
Thank you for your replies.


The cabinet does have a back and it is square. It is a fairly deep cabinet, 33 inches. The old face frame at 1 1/8” was surely too narrow for the cabinet aesthetically and structurally, and allowed it to move. The new one will be 2.” So I’ll go ahead and get started on it.


Thanks,
Sean