Advice needed: Making curio cabinet door with glass insert

[Rob Warburton]

Hi everyone and Merry Christmas,

I am in the process of building a display wall cabinet for my daughter's (19 yr old) snow globes. The carcass and face frames are done.

I am about to make the doors and would like a wood frame with glass center to see the snow globes even when the doors are closed.

I can really use some advice on this part, as I have not added glass before. BTW, I will use the Blum euro style for face frame hinges with soft close.

Each door will be ~17" wide with 2" wide rails and stiles.



What is the best way to make the inset in the wood to accept the glass?
What is the recommended thickness of glass?
What is the best method to secure the glass in place?


Also, If I use glass shelves (36" long) what thickness of the glass is recommended?

Thanks,
Rob

[Jamie Buxton]

If your doors are overlay, 2" stiles may not be wide enough for euro hinges, particularly when you subtract the width of the rabbet which you'll cut to accept the glass. A related issue is that you'll be looking through the glass at the big mass of chrome which is the hinges. But I understand your interest in narrow stiles to maximize viewing area. Perhaps you can make the stiles narrow, but the make rails taller than 2". Then you put the hinges in line with the rails. That solves both issues. You get narrow stiles -- even less than 2" if you want -- and it hides the hinges pretty well.

[Jim Becker]

The glass should be inserted from the inside of the doors and held in place with strips of wood that are mechanically fastened and removable. "Stuff happens". I suggest you use tempered glass for this application for both the door panel and the shelves. (Kinda required for the latter anyway) You will find that glass is expensive, but the end result will look very nice.

[Gary Ragatz]

I agree with Jim re: tempered glass. I would think that 3/16" for the doors would be fine. Thickness for the shelves will depend on the weight they'll carry. You can find a calculator that might help here:

https://www.dullesglassandmirror.com/glass-weight-load-calculator

Jamie raised a good point about the width of your styles if you want to use the European style hinges. I think I'd consider a different type of hinge - maybe something visible and decorative.

[John TenEyck]

I am unaware of any code that mandates the use of tempered glass in a cabinet door, nor for shelves. No argument that tempered glass is safer and can carry greater loads. In my own work, I've never used it for either application and never had an issue.

John

[Alex Zeller]

1/8" thick glass for the doors would be just fine since you are only talking a piece less than 14" wide. You could go with tempered but people often don't. If your daughter is the type of person who might be a little rough then tempered might be the better option. As for the shelves is it going to be a full 36" across without any support in the middle? I assume one edge will be exposed. If it was me I would have a center support for the glass. I don't think I would use tempered as the edges are pretty sensitive to causing it to shatter. Plate glass will chip if the edge is struck by something. With support in the middle you could use 1/4" thick glass but if this is something you really want to feel proud of go with either 3/8" or even 1/2" and pay to have the exposed edge ground/ polished with a fancy edge. 3/8" and 1/2" glass are pretty hard to break.

[matt romanowski]

I've done it by using the regular cope and stick profiles for the doors and then cutting off the inside part of the mortise so you have a rabbit to put the glass in. I'm not sure it's the best way, but it worked. I was working with ash and then used glazing push points to hold the glass. The plan was good until it came to pushing those push points into the ash. They were pretty tough to push in, but do hold the glass.

[Jamie Buxton]

There are zillions of ways to make glass-window cabinet doors. Here's what I like...

Make the stiles the full height of the door. The rails run between them -- that is, no miters at the corners. As I said in my first post, you can make the stiles narrow, and the rails taller than the stiles are wide. I join the stiles and rails with mortise and tenon joints. (I don't trust cope-and-stick unless the door has a glued-in plywood panel.)

The glass will be retained by glass-stop molding which is L-shaped in cross section. The molding is held in place by #4 screws that come straight in from the back -- no angles required. With the door closed, you see only wood when you look through the glass. When you open the door and look at the back, you see only wood plus the small screws heads. There's no plastic or silicone involved.

Glue up the rails and stiles. With a router and a bearing-guided rabbet bit, cut two rabbets on the back of the door. The first one is shallow, but wider than the second one. The second one is deeper. The front of it is where the glass seats. The L-shaped glass-stop molding touches the back of the glass, and the other arm of the L wraps around into the first rabbit.

Either before or after you cut the glass rabbets, bore the holes for the hinges. The hinges go where the rails come in, so they are mostly out of sight when the door is closed.

[Martin Wasner]

What is the best way to make the inset in the wood to accept the glass?
What is the recommended thickness of glass?
What is the best method to secure the glass in place?


Also, If I use glass shelves (36" long) what thickness of the glass is recommended?


Make a regular door, just with no panel. Cut the bit that holds the panel in from the back out.

I use 1/8" glass typically. I haven't found a reason to go thicker.

I like silicone. It doesn't rattle.

1/4" glass should be adequate for that span.

[Geoff Crimmins]

If you decide to go with tempered glass, keep in mind that it's something your local glass shop will have to order from their supplier. Once glass has been tempered it can't be cut, so it has to be ordered to size. That's not a problem, but you want to be sure to order the glass a couple of weeks before you will need it.

[Ole Anderson]

Laying the doors flat, run a thin bead of CLEAR silicone along the rabbit and lay the glass in place. Allow it to cure. That simple. No need for retaining strips.

[Rob Warburton]

Thank you to everyone for all the advice. It was exactly the information I was looking for and gives me several options to consider.

Thank you,
Rob

[Gary Ragatz]

If your doors are overlay, 2" stiles may not be wide enough for euro hinges, particularly when you subtract the width of the rabbet which you'll cut to accept the glass. A related issue is that you'll be looking through the glass at the big mass of chrome which is the hinges. But I understand your interest in narrow stiles to maximize viewing area. Perhaps you can make the stiles narrow, but the make rails taller than 2". Then you put the hinges in line with the rails. That solves both issues. You get narrow stiles -- even less than 2" if you want -- and it hides the hinges pretty well.

I was thinking about this last night, and was wondering whether putting the hinges in line with the rails would compromise the joinery in any way. I've never installed European hinges, so I don't know how much you would be cutting into the joint.

[Jamie Buxton]

I was thinking about this last night, and was wondering whether putting the hinges in line with the rails would compromise the joinery in any way. I've never installed European hinges, so I don't know how much you would be cutting into the joint.

So, for instance, you could make the rails 4" tall. The cup hinge needs a 35mm (1 3/8") diameter hole in the middle of it. You'd have, in essence, two tenons which are an inch or so tall. That's plenty.

[Gary Ragatz]

So, for instance, you could make the rails 4" tall. The cup hinge needs a 35mm (1 3/8") diameter hole in the middle of it. You'd have, in essence, two tenons which are an inch or so tall. That's plenty.

That makes sense. Guess I was picturing rails that would be just wide enough to accommodate the hinges.

[liam c murphy]

I’ve made several sets of the doors featured below. Each time I made the same mistake. I can’t recall if I used a 1/2” or 3/8” rabbet. Regardless, the retaining strips interfered with the holes for the cup hinges. I had to redrill for the cup hinges after installing the wooden retaining strips. Using 2.25” door stiles might avoid the problem.
399899 399900

[Rob Warburton]

Thanks again for all the advice.

I had a couple of follow up questions.

1. I have a 3/8” rabbet router bit. Is that enough width to set the glass in for the doors?

2. How deep should that rabbet be? I am planning to go with the 1/8” tempered glass for the doors. If the solid oak is ¾” thick, is a ½” deep rabbet too much? I may use some silicone but plan to use wood strips to retain the glass.

3. The frame for the doors will use solid oak. When measuring for the glass inserts, how much space should be allowed for expansion of the wood?

4. Similar question for the shelves: Looking at the calculator (Thanks Gary, great resource!) 3/8” tempered will easily hold the maximum weight. So how much space, both width and length, should be allowed for the glass shelves to allow for easy installation and any potential wood movement (the carcass is plywood).

Alex, I did consider whether shelf pin supports would be needed halfway across for the shelf. I have a center stile that I could add pins to, along to the back, if needed.
Jamie, thanks for pointing out the stile’s width issue. These are obvious consideration I have not taken into account. I have 1x3 oak which are 2.5” wide, so rather than ripping those to 2” I will leave them as is. I had to purchase surfaced on 4 sides oak, as my jointer needs new bearings and my new in the box planer is not set up, after 2 years :mad:. Also, don’t tell anyone but I am using pocket holes/screws, so I was not sure if I could place the hinges along the rail/stile junction.

Thanks again for all the great advice.
Have a Happy New Year,
Rob