What to use for cabinet doors?

pauls340 · Feb 7, 2012

I loaded the front of my 24' wide garage with floor to ceiling cabinets in the corners, both 4'wide, then waist high bench between the two corner cabinets. I want to build doors to hide all the stuff. On a budget but any suggestions is appreciated.

djjsr · Feb 8, 2012

For your big cabinet doors, you'll need something that's rigid enough to not warp.

Just an idea - I made some doors using foam panels, wood frames and plywood skins. Just glue it all together.

These doors are each 3 ft wide and 8 ft high but the same construction method could be used for any size.

View media item 5473
I used 1 1/2" thick foam so the wood frame is 1 1/2" as well, with 1/4" plywood on both sides so the doors are 2" thick. For smaller doors you probably don't even need the foam and could make the doors using a thinner wood frame with plywood or masonite on each side.

View media item 16454

regguy1 · Feb 8, 2012

Check my storage idea with doors in the video link below

GN4WHLN · Feb 8, 2012

I made these from 4x8x1/2 sheets of cabinet grade plywood with furring strips on the outside. They are glued and brad nailed. Hit the edges with a router and thay are good to go for little money.

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bacarl · Feb 8, 2012

regguy1 said:
Check my storage idea with doors in the video link below

You obviously aren't as tired of posting plugs for your video as I am of reading them.

Zane · Feb 8, 2012

I used 3/4 inch MDF for my cabinets doors with European style pocket cabinet door hinges and have had great luck with them. NOTE: I would never use MDF for the cabinet facing, but wouldn't think twice using MDF for the cabinet doors. For the facing I used a hard wood to support the weight of the doors.

cderalow · Feb 8, 2012

bacarl said:
You obviously aren't as tired of posting plugs for your video as I am of reading them.

hahahahhaha

finally someone else confirming my suspiscion.

dude seriously plugs his video/garage in 90% of his posts.

TommyK · Feb 8, 2012

Zane said:
I used 3/4 inch MDF for my cabinets doors with European style pocket cabinet door hinges and have had great luck with them. NOTE: I would never use MDF for the cabinet facing, but wouldn't think twice using MDF for the cabinet doors. For the facing I used a hard wood to support the weight of the doors.

+1 on MDF. Used to work in a small cabinet shop. Made a bazillion paint grade cabinets with MDF doors. You don't absolutely need a face frame on the carcass but it does make for a sturdier cabinet.

My boss and I made some tall frameless cabinets for his garage years ago and sprayed them snap on red. From 10 feet away you'd think they were made of metal.

plung · Feb 8, 2012

If you're on a budget, go to Target, Walmart or a home store and get some drapes.

pauls340 · Feb 8, 2012

Thanks for all the good ideas and I didn't even know Target had drapes :thumbup:

SmokeyDP · Feb 8, 2012

bacarl said:
You obviously aren't as tired of posting plugs for your video as I am of reading them.

Mmfh · Feb 9, 2012

SmokeyDP said:

You guys aren't very nice, he's got a nice shop and obviously he's proud of it.

I'd like to have it.

Mm

87handmedown · Feb 9, 2012

Mmfh said:
You guys aren't very nice, he's got a nice shop and obviously he's proud of it.

I'd like to have it.

Mm

Nobody is questioning his shop. He does have a very nice garage, nicer than many people on gj. However, rather than taking/saving pictures of it and then typing a short description with a picture relative to the OP's original question, he often defaults to the "watch my video."

bacarl · Feb 9, 2012

Zane said:
I used 3/4 inch MDF for my cabinets doors with European style pocket cabinet door hinges and have had great luck with them. NOTE: I would never use MDF for the cabinet facing, but wouldn't think twice using MDF for the cabinet doors. For the facing I used a hard wood to support the weight of the doors.

Dang Zane, those are awesome. Props.

Macgyver_ga · Feb 9, 2012

TommyK said:
+1 on MDF. Used to work in a small cabinet shop. Made a bazillion paint grade cabinets with MDF doors. You don't absolutely need a face frame on the carcass but it does make for a sturdier cabinet.

My boss and I made some tall frameless cabinets for his garage years ago and sprayed them snap on red. From 10 feet away you'd think they were made of metal.

Yep, you don't NEED a faceframe. I made frameless cabinets in my garage with full overlay doors and euro hinges. MDF is great for stuff that's going to be painted. I just used the same 3/4" ply for the doors that I did for the carcasses. HD had a stack of 3/4" cabinet grade ply on clearance for cheaper than MDF, that's the only reason I used the ply instead of MDF.

Here's some pics

Zane · Feb 9, 2012

Macgyver_ga said:
Yep, you don't NEED a faceframe. I made frameless cabinets in my garage with full overlay doors and euro hinges. MDF is great for stuff that's going to be painted. I just used the same 3/4" ply for the doors that I did for the carcasses. HD had a stack of 3/4" cabinet grade ply on clearance for cheaper than MDF, that's the only reason I used the ply instead of MDF.

Those look great! As many cabinets as i have made lately, I never considered frameless cabinets. In hindsight this might have been a simpler approach. Yet another thing to consider when building my next set of cabinets. What I do like about building cabinets with facing is that it allows you to have greater spacing between sections if needed. If this is not an issue then your approach looks to be the best. Thanks for the alternative design idea!

Macgyver_ga · Feb 9, 2012

Zane said:
Those look great! As many cabinets as i have made lately, I never considered frameless cabinets. In hindsight this might have been a simpler approach. Yet another thing to consider when building my next set of cabinets. What I do like about building cabinets with facing is that it allows you to have greater spacing between sections if needed. If this is not an issue then your approach looks to be the best. Thanks for the alternative design idea!

After a lot of consideration for different door styles, I decided on this because
A: It's going in a garage, it doesn't need to be flashy/fancy.
B: The simpler I make the process, the faster I get to hide all my junk.
C: It's going in a garage, it doesn't need to be flashy/fancy.

I have built a few stile & rail paneled doors with face frames for other cabinets in my house so I was open to doing that, however it just seemed frameless was the simplest for the garage.

I just took my cabinet width, Divided by 2 then subtracted 1/4" from each door width and about 1/4" height to allow for opening/closing clearance. The beauty of the euro hinges is the adjustability to get your clearances just right. Also, since I made my upright cabinets 2' wide x 8' tall. The 8 doors for the tall cabinets were made from 1 4x8 sheet of ply with almost zero waste.

paranoid56 · Feb 9, 2012

87handmedown said:
Nobody is questioning his shop. He does have a very nice garage, nicer than many people on gj. However, rather than taking/saving pictures of it and then typing a short description with a picture relative to the OP's original question, he often defaults to the "watch my video."

yes this. just post a damn picture :lol:

What to use for cabinet doors?

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