These cabinet plans simply add doors to the open wall cabinet. The beauty of building cabinets using the 32mm system is that the box (or cabinet carcass) is the same whether the cabinet is open, has drawers, doors, or any combination thereof. And just like the open wall cabinet, the size can be adjusted to fit your room perfectly.
Doors As usual, I dont stray from my general affinity to melamine. In this free kitchen cabinet plan, the box and doors are listed as white melamine with PVC edge banding. This is a durable combination, but doesnt contribute much character to your finished cabinets.
Heres where your basic cabinet can take on its own personality and really show off your creativity. There are nearly an infinite number of ways to customize your cabinet doors.
They can utilize simple plywood slabs, raised or recessed panels, carved solid wood, super durable thermofoil, inlaid veneers, varied grain directions, and paints or different colored stains. Cabinet doors styles are only limited by your imagination, so experiment and make them truly your own creation.
There are a few things to watch out for if you choose something other than a slab door with 0.5mm thick edge banding for your cabinet plans. First, the cutlist shows dimensions for the door before edge banding is applied. If you arent using 0.5mm thick edge banding, then you need to use the dimensions from the door layout elevation.
Basically, allow a 3/8" (10mm) gap (called a reveal) at the top, 1/16" (1.5mm) reveal at the outside edges of the cabinet box, and 1/8" (3mm) reveal between the two doors. The doors fit flush to the bottom of the cabinet. This will keep the door at the correct size for proper hinge clearance.
Next, try to stick with a door that is pretty close to 3/4" (19mm) thick. Most concealed euro-style hinges are designed to fit a 3/4" thick door panel. If you go much thinner or thicker than that, you may have trouble with the hinges fitting and problems with the door opening and closing properly.
Finally, when using five-piece (raised or recessed panel) doors, the stiles (vertical pieces of solid wood) need to be wide enough for the hinge to fit. Its okay to make the stiles narrow, but then you will need to use a smaller hinge like the Blum Mini Hinge.
Hinges I cant say enough good things about using three-way adjustable, concealed, euro-style hinges. They make door hanging and adjustment very easy. Because of their opening geometry, they also allow two cabinets to butt directly together without the doors binding. The gap between the hinge edge of two doors on adjacent cabinets really does only need to be 1/8" (3mm).
When buying hinges, be sure to get both the hinge and the mounting plate, since they are often sold separately. If youre using full system holes, then an Expando dowel mounting plate is a great way to go.
The Expando dowels are very strong, fit into 5mm system holes, and dont damage the system holes like euro screws do...just in case you make a mistake. If you arent using full system holes, then a screw-on mounting plate is your best bet.
For the hinge itself, the cabinet plans show a pair of 5/16" (8mm) holes in addition to the 1 3/8" (35mm) hinge cup hole. This design is for a press-in hinge arm. The press-in style uses a dowel that is similar to the Expando dowel, but is actually designed to be pressed in by machine.
It can also be easily tapped in with a hammer and small block of wood. The hinge can then be removed and reinstalled several times without damaging the door. This is a nice feature if you want to fit the hinges first, then remove them to finish the door with paint or lacquer.
Another good way to mount the hinge is to use a screw-on hinge arm. In this case, omit the extra 5/16" (8mm) holes on the door and just drill pilot holes for #6 wood screws. I actually prefer the press-in style for the ability to remove and reattach the hinge several times.
Repeatedly removing and reinstalling wood screws tends to weaken the wood fibers in the door. If you only plan to do it once or twice (say for finishing), then its okay. Otherwise you might be better off sticking with the press-in hinges.
Buying Hardware Online Some of the links on this site take you to product pages on Amazon.com, so just a quick note about buying cabinet hardware from Amazon. There are two or three major internet cabinet hardware suppliers that sell their products on Amazon. They all have similar offerings, good reputations, reasonable prices, and decent shipping rates.
If you want to save a bit of money, try to find one supplier that has everything youre shopping for, and place your entire order with them.
The listed shipping rates are often not just for a single piece of hardware. It might cover everything in an entire order, up to a certain dollar amount. So you may be able to get a great deal on shipping by combining your whole order under one supplier.
Drawing File For a more in-depth discussion of euro-style hinges, take a look at the notes on the 2 door base cabinet plans. Otherwise, just click on the link below. If youd like to download a copy to your computer, right click then "save-as". Either way, youll need the Adobe reader to view the file.
View or Download "2 Door Wall Cabinet 30W x 12D x 30.5T"
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