Different cabinet door question

[Patrick Varley]

Just hoping others might have some insight and critique my plan.

We have a home built in the 50s, and we're getting ready to redo the bathrooms. The cabinets have 3/8" lipped partial overlay doors, that look like they were made with some form of plywood. Pretty simple, and they are essentially just slab doors with roundovers at the edge. I assume that this was a fairly cheap/easy way to make doors at the time...but we really like the look and are hoping to keep the style (as part of a broader plan to keep the renovations true to the original style of the house).

Question is: What's the best way to reproduce these style doors? I'd like to be able to maintain a fairly unbroken grain pattern on the faces, and hide the edges of the ply. My thought was to take BB ply (or equivalent) and add enough hardwood edging to allow the rabbet around the edge as well as the roundover. Then veneer as one piece all the way to the edge (I have a vacuum press). This way the hardwood border will be minimally visible except for the sides.

Any other easier way to accomplish this? Thanks for any input.

[Rich Engelhardt]

You nailed it.
3/4" plywood, 3/8" rabbet all around & 3 coats of Orange Shellac.

The cases had birch plywood & pine face frames - 3 coats of Orange Shellac.

I've redone a ton and made new to go with existing. 50/60 year old Orange Shellac matches perfectly BTW.

[Cameron Wood]

That style of door was often made with lumber core plywood, which looks pretty good on the edges.

I would either use that or glue solid edging to the plywood blanks (don't miter), sand flush, round over and rabbet as usual.

I like Youngdale hinges- simple, self latching, barely visible, & go with the vintage of the house.

You're plan sounds like way too much work to me, the originals were likely made on-site by carpenters.

[Rob Sack]

As a side note, should you consider using European style concealed hinges, it's doable. I did a job years ago retrofitting some 3/8" lipped doors with concealed hinges. If memory serves me correctly, the drilling distance from the edge of the door (called the tab) was around 12 mm in order to clear the rabbet. We had to use the 165 degree hinges and I don't remember which plates. I also can't remember whether we used Blum or Grass hinges. Whichever manufacturer we used, I remember they made a plastic clip (red if I am not mistaken) that limited the hinge opening to around 120 degrees or less. The geometry of the 165 degree hinge was such that it pulled the door away from the face frame allowing the rabbet to clear, and the clip prevented the door from opening too far and crashing into the face frame.

[Bradley Gray]

AC fir plywood at that time was very high quality and used for that kind of door. Or birch for clear finishing. A table saw moulding head cuts the edge.

[Patrick Varley]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Rich: Good tip on the shellac. I have made some other stuff and been successful in matching to the woodwork in the house with a similar process. I'll give Sherwin Williams credit, as they got a pretty close stain match and then I toned it with a few coats of Shellac Shack Ruby.

Cameron: The veneering would be the only extra step, but agree that sounded like a lot of work (and adds substantially to the cost). I think if I get the hardwood edging sized correctly, it may blend after creating the round over. Thanks for the advice on the hinges. Had not seen those before. To Rob's point, I'm also looking into the concealed Euro hinges. The Youngdale's seem like they give a comparable look, but may be easier to install...and substantially cheaper.

[johnny means]

I'm usually not opposed to modern materials, but solid wood makes this task so much easier. Just a simple panel with a rabbet and battens to maintain flatness. Euro hinges won't work with the rabbeted in door style.

[Rob Sack]

I'm usually not opposed to modern materials, but solid wood makes this task so much easier. Just a simple panel with a rabbet and battens to maintain flatness. Euro hinges won't work with the rabbeted in door style.

Euro hinges will work with rabbeted doors. I've done it. I just can't remember if I used Grass or Blum hinges. See my previous post. A quick Google search reveals that Rockler currently sells Salice concealed hinges for this exact application. From the diagram for the Salice hinges, the installation looks just like how I did it. While the price for the Salices at Rockler are quite high, the hardware prices at Rockler are generally quite high compared to what I pay at a wholesale cabinet hardware supplier. In my case, the supplier I use will sell to the general public. A further search indicates HardwareSource sells Blum hinges also for this application.

[Patrick Varley]

I'm usually not opposed to modern materials, but solid wood makes this task so much easier. Just a simple panel with a rabbet and battens to maintain flatness. Euro hinges won't work with the rabbeted in door style.

Don't get me wrong, I like solid wood too. But glued up panels in bathrooms seems like a recipe for problems. And as Rob mentions, there are Euro hinges for this application. Haven't used them...but I've at least seen them advertised.

[Mel Fulks]

Properly glued up panels are no problem. Even out-side. I glued up hundreds of panels for outside use, and guaranteed their endurance
with a cash bounty for any panel with an open end. Never had a claim. If you you use “ sprung joints” and water resistant glue there are
no problems. Nutty claims pop up occasionally that , “With todays glues spring joints are not needed”. They ARE needed. Too many
shops have have poorly set jointers.

[Warren Lake]

salice also makes a hinge that works for partial overlay. Think its a 170 degree one.

[Glenn Leite]

The Youngdale hinges are really nice. You need to cut a slot for the hinges to sit in. Their #4 hinge is what you need for the 3/8" rabbit.
I'm currently making a new vanity, and doors for a built-in linen closet, for my brother-in-law. They wanted something with a little more style. The original doors are plywood, but everything is painted. The new vanity and linen cab doors are a simple shaker with a 22 1/2* angle.

I used one of the rail cutters to cut the 3/8 rabbits. The slots for the hinges were cut with a Freud 6" Super Dado set. I have a simple jig I made for cutting the hinge slots.

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