Cabinet door idea?

[John Miliunas]

So the place we're moving to next month has some real hideous doors on the kitchen cabs. The face frames appear to be Oak (not positive, because they're painted *black*, just like the current doors! Ick!!!). At any rate, the doors and drawer fronts gotta' go. I'm hoping to salvage the carcass and frames. I had several ideas for the doors, but LOML wants to add a real artsy-fartsy look to them. (Hey, it's HER kitchen!)

Here's her idea, if you can envision it: Probably a contrasting wood to the Oak frames, such as Walnut or Cherry. Rather than conventional rail/stile w/insets, she wants solid doors, without any framing. Further, where the two doors per cabinet meet, rather than just square them off, she wants a contoured "squiggly" line where they meet. Kind of like in those Ying & Yang jewelry boxes you may have seen. Or, like in mating parts of a puzzle. I think it may indeed look pretty cool, but I'm concerned about the seasonal wood movement. Yes, the house is climate controlled both, Winter & Summer, but humidity levels change, nonetheless. I'm afraid that warping, as well as shrinking/expansion of the panels will mess up the point where they're supposed to meet.

What do the more experienced and wiser craftsmen of the group say? Am I right and she should reconsider a more conventional approach or are we on the road to giving Picasso a run for his money?

[Jim Becker]

Actually, your wife might be on to something. Being creative with the edge shapes of the doors will help mask the fact that your re-using those cabinet boxes. When you are choosing your "contrasting" species, be sure you consider not just color, but grain in your selection. You could also make your solid doors more stable by veneering plywood edged with the species of your choice. (edge first, veneer second). Just make the edging on the "squiggly" sides wide enough to accommodate the curves and consider using your router with a pattern to mate the edges simultaneously for a perfect fit.

[Phil Phelps]

Get a new wife :D I'd make a sample cabinet for starters. You can then see the feasibility of her design and if you should continue in that direction. You say the present cabinets are black? Probably a pastel, black? :p Are you goin to pait them? I'll say this for your sweetie, she has originality!!! You may stumble on to something unique. Then again, you could bruise your toe on the stumble. Keep us informed.

[Todd Burch]

John, is this what you are talking about - conceptually anyway?

The curve could be symmetrical or not. If doing a lot of doors, I would make one "squiggle jig" and route both doors at once - dividing them with a 1/4" or 1/2" straight bit. I would use a good quality ply and overlay them (say, 1/2" as the drawing depicts) with cup hinges. Self closing hinges or free-swing hinges with magnets @ the top and bottom (or one in the middle) should keep everything up close and even.

1/8" solid wood could be used as the edging, and you could clamp both doors together on themselves, if your curves aren't too sharp to hold the water-soaked edging. (And, as a side benefit, you could use a poly glue that is water activated, and, it's gap filling!)

Todd.

[Jim Becker]

John, is this what you are talking about - conceptually anyway?

That's exactly what I was envisioning from his description and you stated the same methodology...but much clearer than I did!! :D

[John Miliunas]

That's exactly what I was envisioning from his description and you stated the same methodology...but much clearer than I did!! :D

It's no wonder I missed this place (SMC) so much the last few days! You guys are nothing short of fantastic! Todd, your drawing pretty much nails it, albeit LOML's idea for the "squiggle" is more random. She desires this to be totally unique and nothing she's ever seen before. (and trust me when I say, she's done a LOT of looking!)

To achieve the design she wants, I thought I'd clamp the two doors on top of each other, but "facing one another", as it were. Then just do a "double cut" with my trusty Festool jigsaw, and route edges afterwards. Mind you, when I say "random", that's precisely what she's looking for! So much so, that some of the "squiggle" from one door side may actually end up covering the *other* half of the cabinet side! That said, it would almost be easier to just glue up panels of solid wood and just do the cutting/routing directly to it. That's why I'm kind of wondering about movement with seasonal changes. Think I could get away with it and not worry too much about dramatic warping or shrinkage?

Oh, and Phil: Thought about "Option 1", but figured after 23+ years, what's the point? The paint appears to be enamel and is going to get sanded off. After cleanup and prep, clear is all I plan on! I hate covering wood with that colored crap! :cool:

[Jim Becker]

Mind you, when I say "random", that's precisely what she's looking for! So much so, that some of the "squiggle" from one door side may actually end up covering the *other* half of the cabinet side!

I hate covering wood with that colored crap!

But then again, the 'Depot does have those nice Disney colors available now... :D

[Todd Burch]

John wrote:
That said, it would almost be easier to just glue up panels of solid wood and just do the cutting/routing directly to it.


John, you might consider lumber core plywood. The lumber is usually poplar, and you could get a nice veneer on top. Have fun!

Todd.

[John Miliunas]

But then again, the 'Depot does have those nice Disney colors available now... :D

Hmmmm...Disney colors, huh? I'll have to pass that by LOML... Yeah, right! Naw, we both like the natural beauty of the wood way too much to cover it up like that. She might overlay a stencil or something like that (where appropriate), but that'd be about it! :cool:

[Richard McComas]

So the place we're moving to next month has some real hideous doors on the kitchen cabs. The face frames appear to be Oak (not positive, because they're painted *black*, just like the current doors! Ick!!!). At any rate, the doors and drawer fronts gotta' go. I'm hoping to salvage the carcass and frames. I had several ideas for the doors, but LOML wants to add a real artsy-fartsy look to them. (Hey, it's HER kitchen!)

Here's her idea, if you can envision it: Probably a contrasting wood to the Oak frames, such as Walnut or Cherry. Rather than conventional rail/stile w/insets, she wants solid doors, without any framing. Further, where the two doors per cabinet meet, rather than just square them off, she wants a contoured "squiggly" line where they meet. Kind of like in those Ying & Yang jewelry boxes you may have seen. Or, like in mating parts of a puzzle. I think it may indeed look pretty cool, but I'm concerned about the seasonal wood movement. Yes, the house is climate controlled both, Winter & Summer, but humidity levels change, nonetheless. I'm afraid that warping, as well as shrinking/expansion of the panels will mess up the point where they're supposed to meet.

What do the more experienced and wiser craftsmen of the group say? Am I right and she should reconsider a more conventional approach or are we on the road to giving Picasso a run for his money?

IF you were to go with the design pictured in Todd’s great drawing and do decide you want to use solid wood you could go with euro cup hinges to accommodate seasonal changes in the width if you don’t mind adjusting the doors occasionally.

Just a thought, Rich