Need garage cabinet door ideas

[540i6]

The attached picture shows the problem: the installed MaxJax post prevents the two cabinet doors from opening. As a quick fix I removed one of the doors and now thinking about a permanent solution. Ideas I had so far:

1. Leave the doors permanently off (don't like the idea very much because of the settling dust and the contents of the cabinet showing, I'm a bit of a neat freak);
2. Move the door hinges to the other sides of the doors (there is a divider wall in the middle of the cabinet that with some modifications could hold the hinges). The doors would still not open all the way, but would provide much better clearance then now. I'm not to fond of the idea, but it's an idea.
3. Use a special kind of hinges that would make the doors open sort of like in a minivan - first a bit forward and then to the side. Not sure if anything like this even exists.
4. Lambo doors? Just kidding

Any other ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks for looking!
Alex.

 

[V-10 Killer]

I have no idea how I'd be able to draw it, but how about a parallelogram type of hinge.
One that doesn't necessarily swing, but allows the whole door to open and pivot/slide over to one side?
You'd have to mount it to the top and bottom of the frame, and the door, as opposed to at the right/left.

 

[walleyed]

Maybe run the door through a table saw right down the center, paint the edges, add 3 hinges and make it in to a bi-fold door. Much like a closet door.

 

[PassnThru]

I would probably move the cabinet and any others that were in the way. Seriously - do you have another place you could put them? From the picture it looks like they would always be an issue being that close to your lift - doors or not.

 

[540i6]

I have no idea how I'd be able to draw it, but how about a parallelogram type of hinge.
One that doesn't necessarily swing, but allows the whole door to open and pivot/slide over to one side?
You'd have to mount it to the top and bottom of the frame, and the door, as opposed to at the right/left.

This cold work, the doors though are pretty heavy, it would require some thick steel for the hinges.

Maybe run the door through a table saw right down the center, paint the edges, add 3 hinges and make it in to a bi-fold door. Much like a closet door.

I like this! I just took the measurements and I think this would work. Just add an extra door knob to pull on.

 

[540i6]

I would probably move the cabinet and any others that were in the way. Seriously - do you have another place you could put them? From the picture it looks like they would always be an issue being that close to your lift - doors or not.

Unfortunately there is nowhere I could move them to. Every corner of the garage serves it's purpose and I'm at a point where I have to get really creative if I want to bring in something new. Besides, this is a deep cabinet and that's the only wall that could accommodate it.

 

[BillGalbraith]

Just shooting from the hip, but could you put a couple steel rods sticking out from the top of the cabinet and just hang the door there? Use a few magnetic catches to keep it in place. If the door is light enough to be able to be held with the magnetic catches, you might not need the metal rods.

How about a completely different door painted to compliment the lift colors?

 

[JCQuick]

sliding door type of setup might work. something with a popout hinge to get it past the post

 

[540i6]

Just shooting from the hip, but could you put a couple steel rods sticking out from the top of the cabinet and just hang the door there? Use a few magnetic catches to keep it in place. If the door is light enough to be able to be held with the magnetic catches, you might not need the metal rods.

How about a completely different door painted to compliment the lift colors?

Do you mean to have the rods (or hooks) on both sides of the door opening and basically hang the door on them like a picture frame so to speak? Hmm, I like your idea because the look of the cabinets would not be altered, and it might be OK for me, but would be too much to handle for the wife (the door is rather heavy).

I thought it was nice having the cabinets in white, looks clean to my taste and the black/yellow lift post actually looks good to me on white. What colors did you have in mind?

 

[540i6]

sliding door type of setup might work. something with a popout hinge to get it past the post

Maybe something like this would work (I hope the crude drawing makes sense, the door is pictured on the bottom left of the drawing), it's a combination of the parallelogram hinge per V-10 Killer's suggestion with a sliding motion provided by a drawer hinge attached to the parallelogram's side that's on the move. The other side of the sliding hinge would be attached to the door by a long aluminum angle. One concern I have is that the parallelogram hinge would have to be made out of steel and I have no idea where to source it from other then a retail store where it wouldn't be cheap. Where do you guys get scrap metal from?

 

[Jayincali]

Maybe something like sliding closet doors.

 

[bazzateer]

Go for the bi-fold idea. Simplest, cheapest and IMHO the best.

 

[what have i done]

i like the bi-fold idea... would be pretty easy to do. good idea!

 

[michael Mccoy]

Maybe something like sliding closet doors.

Yes I was thinking of patio type doors, tracks on top and bottom and just slide them to the side when you want to open the cabinet, you would have to change the whole setup but make the sliding door look like the other doors.

 

[shoot summ]

I think your two solutions are split the door, or hang the door.

If it is too heavy for the wife don't put anything in there she needs to get to.

Splitting would work nicely as it still maintains some consistency with the other cabinets although a typical arrangement would have 2 separate doors, not 1 split down the middle. It looks like those doors are routed MDF not traditional cope/stick/raised panel construction so it wont compromise the integrity of the door.

 

[walleyed]

Another thing I thought about...

Are these cabinets from a place like home depot? Might you be able to order doors at 1/2 width. I can't tell the width in the picture but that might look better if that is a concern.

I still would cut them as long as they are a solid door which I think they are but that is because I'm a cheap SOB. If done right you would hardly even see it.

 

[josall]

Yep bifold, No new knobs just a couple magnetic catch in the center of each door to keep it pulled in.

 

[540i6]

Thank a lot, guys! I like the bifold idea as well, the doors are definitely MDF, so they should survive the cut just fine. The only thing is, I think the cut will be visible going across the groves in the door. The whole set came from Lowe's, if I remember correctly. I'll try to see if indeed they can make the doors in half the width, if not, I'll probably still go for it anyway. I can use the iron-on white melamine strips to cover the cuts.

 

[steven083008]

(if you're not already thinking like this)
Use the bi-fold idea, but instead of thinking about laundry room doors, think of a Lazy Susan. This would let you fold the doors completely back out of the way instead of just folding them in half.

Doors will be folded, but still limit access:

Doors fold completely out of the way (can use European or piano hinge):

 

[540i6]

Doors fold completely out of the way (can use European or piano hinge):

I think I might be able to use the inner hinge from this setup and use a piano hinge to connect the doors. So that they would still fold like the closet doors do, but then the inner hinge would allow to swing them both out of the way past 90 degree.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I had a similar situation. I cut a vertical line on the door, added a second set of hinges. Easy.

My clearance issue was with a table:

 

[540i6]

Ta-da!

Again, thanks to everyone for the ideas! Finished the doors today. As it turned out, the same factory (RSI) has the same doors made in exactly half the width and I could order four doors separately instead of cutting these, but the cost is $60 per door delivered as I was told, so clearly I wasn't going to pay $240 for the replacement doors.