Entertainment Center door help

[Gordy Anderson]

I'm building an entertainment center similar to the one pictured below. The bottom cabinets are built with face frames, and I'm planning shaker style doors with overlay. In the center, I'd like to install slide doors using Accuride door slides.

I'm concerned about the look of the center doors compared to the side doors. The doors on the side cabinets will overlap the face frame top, bottom and sides. The doors in the center will overlap on the sides only, and be shorter than the opening on the top and bottom so they can slide into the cabinet. Will that look bad? Would it work, and look OK, if I add a trim piece to the face frame above and below the center doors so that the front is flush and more symmetrical to the doors on the sides?

TIA, Gordy

[David DeCristoforo]

The "best" way to set up retractable (or "flipper") doors is to design the unit so that the doors are fitted to the inside of the opening on all sides. In other words, do not "lip" or overlay the doors on the sides at all. The fact that the other doors on the unit are "lipped" or overlaid on the other openings should not cause a problem.