How To Build Glass Cabinet Doors

Cut your rails and styles to length.

How to build glass cabinet doors.

Use mdf medium density fiberboard on a painted or a covered surface for a wood grain look 1 x research sourcestep 3 use solid wood for a door when you make a panel. Most production made cabinet doors are assembled with cope and stick joinery. Step 1 choose which door to make. Cut enough retainer strip stock to cover the perimeter of all the glass pieces.

Make sure to allow space for the hinges and some room between the doors if they are stacked on top of each other. Add a bead of silicone along the inside edge on the front side of the cabinet door. Examine the back side of each door. Measure to determine the exterior dimensions of the cabinet doors.

To get started on glass cabinet doors remove the doors from the cabinets and remove all hardware from the doors. Figuring the length of the stiles is easy. There are two basic types of cabinet doors slab and flat panel most often chosen. Who knows what the difference is.

Take the height of the door you want and add 1 8 in. For each one you ll need two stiles the vertical parts two rails the horizontal parts and one panel. Cut your center panel out of 1 2 plywood. This tutorial diagram is for replacing cabinet door panels with lexan glass.

Place a sheet of glass in each door. Rout sturdy door joinery and glass retainers in one operation. Step 1 in installing glass inserts to kitchen cabinets is to remove cabinet doors placing existing hardware in a plastic bag. You can make the same joinery in your shop with a router table and a matched set of router bits a sticking bit forms a decorative profile around the inside edges of the frame and a coping bit creates a mirror image profile on the ends of the rails plus.

Make a list of the parts of your diy shaker cabinet doors before you begin. Cut the retainer strips to fit along each side of the glass. You might find a few tiny nails where the panel meets the frame. Cut the glass pieces or have them cut for you so they are 1 8 shorter than the rabbeted frame opening in each direction.

Cut center panel to the final height of the cabinet door minus the rails width x2 and the width of the cabinet door minus the stiles width x2 step 1. Then label the doors and cabinet openings with painters tape numbering them to make re assembly easier. For glass you will need a silicone for glass as the one i purchased specified plastic. Drop the glass plexi in place on top.

Orbital sander with fine grit sandpaper. If so gouge away wood with a utility knife to expose the nail heads and pull the nails with a pliers. Most slab doors are made of plywood. Figuring the length of the rails is more complicated.

Sand and finish the doors and retainer strips to match the cabinet.