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Advise needed! Missing cabinet doors, what to do!

7K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  sishutters 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
A good friend of mine is suffering from Dementia and has been declining in mental faculty for the past several years. He gets easily confused and thus becomes frustrated. Case in point, he accidentally? broke off a couple cabinet doors from their downstairs mother in law suite kitchen. Instead of admitting what he did, he tried to hide it from his wife by throwing away the evidence. By the time his wife finally noticed they were missing, they were long gone to the county dump. Anyway, fast forward to this weekend. They are selling their house as it is too much to keep up with. My friends' wife asked me how I would go about fixing the doors. As you can see from the photo they are from the '80s and it would be almost impossible to make an accurate reproduction.

Anyway, I thought about taking the other bottom door off the cabinet for symmetry purposes and then having her install a curtain rod and curtains cut to fit in both openings. For the upper cabinet, Id again take the other opposing door off and this time Id build a couple door frames with pocket screws and place a piece of glass or plexiglass inside the door frame. I really don't want to invest much time in the project so it would have to be really easy. I'm still not convinced its worth fixing. Would love to hear your ideas. Ps, I don't think the bottom door is tall enough to cut down to size to use for the top cabinet.. at least judging from the photo it isn't.!

Another option I just thought of for the bottom cabinet is to have custom shutter doors built. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but I just priced out an 18" x 28" size door at about $77 each. which isn't half bad https://www.theshutterstore.com/shop?width=18&height=28.

Kitchen sink Tap Cabinetry Sink Countertop


Thanks

Scott
 

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#2 ·
A little more detail about the doors would help. They look like they are some sort of smooth panel with a piece of wood on one edge? Is the piece of wood shaped to be used to open and close the door/drawer? Your options are replace all the doors, make a replacement or just let them deal with it.
 
#3 ·
It will be hard to match the color on the door panels.
So I would consider making glass paneled doors (clear glass or maybe opaque (frosted), colored, or patterned glass) using a frame that matches the cabinet bases. If necessary or if it is possible switch some of the existing doors around so you can locate the replacement in a visibly better spot. Or even replace some of the other doors to create what would look like a designed pattern of glass panel doors.
 
#5 ·
I haven't seen them in person in years as I never go down to their basement. So I'm in the same boat as you guys trying to figure things out from a photo! However, inferencing from the pictures, they are most definitely covered in Formica, an ugly tan color at that. They appear to have a solid strip of wood (dark oak stained) at the top/bottom that also doubles as hand pulls that runs the width of the door tops/bottom depending on which door you are looking at.

Hope this helps
 
#11 ·
Simplest thing, if you do not want to give buyers credit or go the open shelf route, would be to replace all the doors. Let the buyers decide.

Since this is the mother-in-law suite, it doesn't need to be fancy. Make slab doors out of MDF and edge and cover the faces with laminate. You can match the two false drawer fronts, or even replace them as well.

Rather than trying to replicate the wooden pulls, you could add simple pulls.

Good luck! Cheers!
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
IMHO - Want to replace the missing doors, or at least make it look uniform and remove complimentary doors to what is already missing and call it a feature. It is never a good idea to allow a required major repair like this to be part of price negotiations. ALLOWS have repairs done before showing/selling house.

One option is replace all cabinet doors with new ones. Ikea sells full overlay cabinet doors separately in standard sizes. Find new complimentary color, double check dimensions, buy doors and drawer fronts, and install. Cost ~$30-$50 per door panel.

If time is more important than money due impending sale, and you want max sale price; just hire a cabinet make over company to make all new doors. Might spend $100 cabinet, but if done right - remodeled cabinet fronts can add sell price .vs ugly cabinet doors.

If if were me and I was making passable replacement doors on budget:
1) I would take an existing door to home depot and look for spray can enamel that matched. If none can be found, have them mix a quart of outdoor gloss front door enamel paint with matching color. Laminate is expensive, and matching aged laminate is impossible.
2) Use some 3/4 MDF and cut new doors to size, minus the finger molding. fill imperfections with dry wall repair compound, sand smooth, then spray 2 coats of paint. Made many a garage cabinet door this way.
3) Find a stain/varnish combo that is close original wood trim color, cut some similar molding, finish, and attach to door.
4) Hang new doors and sell house as is with no discussion about door repairs needed.

Best Luck.
 
#16 ·
I would talk to him some and explain whoever buys the house will most likely rip it all out anyway and fixing won't add any value.

If it were me, I would replace the cabs, the flooring and consider the appliances. Its one of the best returns you can get on selling a house.
 
#17 ·
I would remove the lower door & then cut it to fit the upper missing cabinet door so the upper set is complete. Then you will have two side-by-side cabinets below without doors & you could string a curtain rod with some matching material across them (split in the center like a window). It's a quick fix, but some people think it's quaint
 
#18 ·
I would remove the lower door & then cut it to fit the upper missing cabinet door so the upper set is complete. Then you will have two side-by-side cabinets below without doors & you could string a curtain rod with some matching material across them (split in the center like a window). It's a quick fix, but some people think it's quaint

- Stormborne
Um, two-year-old post!

[What struck me was "by the time she noticed they were missing…"] :)
 
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