Door width on small cabinet

As a rule of thumb I usually use two doors on cabinets wider than 24”. But that’s just a general guideline I use, not a hard and fast rule.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

Personal choice: I’d go with two.

-- Maplewood, MN

Check out my projects and you’ll find I did the same thing. I built a corner cabinet for mine and I can tell ya, one little door just don’t cut it! You need access to the entire cabinet, whether it be one big door or two small doors. Also I find that large doors have more “leverage” when leaned on, which is bound to happen, and results in ripped out hinges, etc. Plus, water weighs like 8lbs per gallon…So my 45 gallon aquarium holds 360lbs of water! Consider this and build your stand strong enough to hold whatever weight the aquarium will hold. 3/4” ply is pretty much the norm here. Reinforcement blocking is a must.

Hope this helps. And let us see it when you’re done!

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

It seems to me that two doors definitely give a visual symmetry and at that height, long and narrow doesn’t look bad. Like Dadoo said, a single door swings out wider and provides a certain amount of undesirable leverage.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

i also would use two doors . if they are overlay doors w/ euro style hinges they will overlap the faceframe 1/2 in. leaving you 1/2 in . of faceframe showing i usually make my frames wider than 1 in. and the bottom rail at least 4 in. so the doors arent too close to the floor and will clear your toes ! just my 2 cents (plus tax ) lol

It seems that two doors win. Thanks for the advice guys.

Dadoo – this particular aquarium is only going to hold hermit crabs so I’m not to concerned about weight – but the leverage on the door I think is a good point—I know this family and the leverage issue I think is something to consider. So two door.

I’m planning to blog this project when it gets started. Hopefully you guys will follow the blog and tell me where I’m messing up!

Thanks again.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Betsy, it may only be planned for hermit crabs, but one day when the kids are grown and married, their spouse might want fish, and since they already have this aquarium …

You might consider building it to handle the weight, just in case.

-- Coffee is best with a fine layer of sawdust on top. -- http://www.north40custom.com

That’s probably not a bad idea Peter.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

I echo Peter’s comment.

Our 65 gallon aquarium that used to hold fish, now holds some kinds freaky lizard that bites.

I might consider a wider face frame with top rails, bottom rails, and stiles being wide, like 4” plus minus. I might even consider the top rail going from side to side, sitting atop the side stiles…....better wieght displacement. The put a single door in it. The wieght of an aquarium can be cause for a lifetime of door adjustments.

Cheers

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/