Customizing Cabinets

Not to be pessimistic, but that would not work. You are trying to get a glue quality joint on a variety of profiles.

You really need to make a new door and finish it to match. You might be able to salvage some of the parts to make a simpler flat panel door, but it is probably more trouble than it is worth.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Gizmo – there is always hope. :)

Mark – I don’t think you want to cut the middle out and try to re-glue. That would not be natural. You’ll want to pull the cabinet door apart, and remove the panel. At that point you’ll want to cut the appropriate amount off one end of the panel and side pieces. At that point you’ll need to re-route the panel and side pieces on the ends that were cut off. To complete the process, you then put everything together and re-finish the areas that need it. Of course, everything will fit perfectly and the finish will be an exact match. :) All this assumes you can locate the corresponding router bits for this cabinet design. I don’t see another way around it. Others may have some good ideas for you. As Gizmo states, you might be better off starting from scratch as it may be more trouble than it is worth. Certainly worth a shot.

-- Tim from Iowa City, IA

if you go with what timber4fun suggested, I’d add that working on the top portion of the door might be best. Since it would be above eye level, any minor differences in fit/finish would hopefully be negligible.

Order new doors. Cutting down a Frame and panel doo will
be difficult to do well, you’ll probably break something, you
won’t have the right router bit to raise the end of the cut-off
panel, and the finish will get cracked.

You can get a couple of small doors for under $50 from a
door manufacturer and even if they don’t have the same
profiles chances are they’ll have something close and you
will be the only person who notices.

Another solution is to get some textured stained glass… opaque
glass even, and mount it is a couple of simple square door
frames. A little variety like this looks nice.

-- http://amherstcabinets.com - also a marketing consultant with expertise in direct response marketing for woodworking and online business building

Since I’m assuming that you are trying this on a door you have anyway and won’t be out anything if it doesn’t work, you could even modify timber4funs idea. you could pull apart the frame and take out the panel. Then cut off the top edge of the panel. Cut the rest of the panel to size, and clu the top edge back on so the “seem” is right along the routed edge. The only part of the seem that would be noticable would be about 1 inch on either sied where the routed edge is. the fram could be cut to length and reassembled using biscuits or dowels or whatever. Just some ideas assuming that a failed project won’t really cost you much. If you’ve only got one shot at this, I’d go with the more experienced members advice. LOL

Can you turn any of the doors sideways and get a top lift hinge? This is assuming you have more cabinets than you need.

-- http://www.efcabineture.com/ "ANYONE WHO HAS NEVER MADE A MISTAKE, HAS NEVER TRIED ANYTHING NEW"

I build cabinets for people. I don’t make my own doors, because I found a cabinet shop that can make them cheaper than I can buy just the wood.

You can probably get a custom-made unfinished door for $20-$30. I just bought a pair of raised-panel paint-grade doors for $20 each. You might pay a little more for finish grade. Sherwin Williams will help you match the finish if you ask the cabinet shop for some scraps for testing.

-- Steve B - New Life Home Improvement

Can you tip the door on its side?