Large cupboard door design

[Karsten Sperling]

I've got a framed wall opening of about 1.45m x 0.80m (60" x 32") that leads into a cupboard / storage space under some stairs.

I want to make up a door to be inset into this opening via euro-style concealed hinges. I intend to use a push latch and paint the door to match the wall paint so that apart from the 2-3mm or so gap the door will sit flush with the wall and be "invisible". What would be the best material to use for the door?

I would like the door to be relatively thin (< 30mm) so that it doesn't take up much space in the opening when fully open (just over 90 deg, the opening is quite close to a wall on the hinge side). I'm not sure if there are euro hinges that would have the door in an inset position when closed but move it "forward" and "aside" when open -- wide angle euro hinges seem to do this on the >90 deg part of their travel but I don't know if that helps when I'm only opening the door to around 90.

I've been considering 18mm MDF but I'm concerned it might not be stiff enough or warp or sag over time. Thicker would of course be stiffer but will get quit heavy.

Another thought I had was to make a hollow core door with 4.8mm hardboard (or 3mm MDF) as the faces on a 10 or 18mm thick solid wood frame / "grid", probably pine since that's what's most readily available here in NZ. One advantage of this approach could be that I might be able to correct for the opening itself being slightly out of planar by hanging the door with only the frame and inner face assembled, install / adjust the stop so that it will sit flush, and then glue on the outer face in situ. Not sure if all this extra complexity is actually worth it though, and if a very thin box construction like this would actually end up stiffer than the 18mm MDF option.

Any comments on my two ideas or advice on alternative approaches would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Karsten

[Wayne Lomman]

18mm mdf will work well for this. It won't warp as it will be painted all sides. Mdf is just as easy to plane to fit the opening as your frame door and a lot less work. Cheers

[Karsten Sperling]

18mm mdf will work well for this. It won't warp as it will be painted all sides. Mdf is just as easy to plane to fit the opening as your frame door and a lot less work. Cheers

Thanks for the advice Wayne, I'll go with the MDF.