# Do you build or buy your cabinet doors? What are some recommended door sellers?



## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

Do you build or buy your cabinet doors? If you buy, what are some recommended door sellers?


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

That depends…

1) How big is the job?
I don't have much room in my small garage space for a lot of door parts AND the rest of the cases, so, if it is a big job (e.g. full kitchen) I am more likely to buy out the doors.

2) What is my time frame for the build?
Buy out doors take about 10 days to 2 weeks to get in. If I need them sooner, I can pump them out day and night. OTOH, if I have a long time frame I can build the boxes AND still have time to build doors.

3) How complicated are the doors?
This is sort of related to #2… but different. I've found I can order basic doors and embelish them to "upgrade" them. This takes a lot of time, but less time than building from scratch. Also, a radiused door can be costly, but, there are shops set up to make them more efficiently than I can. I've built enough of them that my pride isn't injured (much) to have the specialists make them for me.

4) What is my work load like?
If I have a lot of jobs running simultaneaously, I will use buy out doors to increase my capacity, even if it is a door I could easily make. There are only so many hours in a day.

I have a good relationship with my door shop and they have more specialized tools than I could ever have. This allows them to build faster, better quality and lower cost than I can do in house. A lot of times it makes sense to outsource. Your mileage may vary, but, that depends mostly on who you buy your doors from.

I've bought from out of state and also locally. I always use local, when I can, as there are generally fewer issues with moisture changes, and shipping damage. Your local rep can also make "house calls" to address any problems that may arise.


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## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

I build mine as well as for others, Send me a pm if your serious and I ll give you a price and delivery date.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

I'm a new woodworker and I need 4 shaker style doors, about 19" x 24" for my built ins. I am in Jacksonville, FL.

I like the idea of buying basic shaker doors and then dressing them up.

I would like my doors to look like this:









Any ideas on what molding I can apply to dress some standard shaker doors? Looks like some sort of screen bead, but of course, I don't know where to buy it. I know you can't get it at Home Depot or Lowes… 

Here is the millwork that I have access to:
http://www.mouldingandmillwork.com/pdf/IND6808_Orlando_Profile_Guide.pdf


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## Builder_Bob (Jan 9, 2010)

I could probably build them, but for a little guy like me the cost of material nearly equals that of a fabricated door or drawer front. I'm doing the carcass, face frame, and drawer boxes for a new project I'm doing now and I'll order the rest.

I went to Ameridoor last time (see my entertainment center project) and the parts were fine but the shipping was very expensive. Now, the place seems to have vaporized since I did that project. The stuff I bought last time just isn't on their website now.

So now I found a Massachusetts outfit, SpragueWoodworking.com, that has nice products and is set up for the little guy like me. My plan is to order them and pick them up myself.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

noone: That door is an applied molding door and not so much Shaker per se'. (Shaker's religious beleifs forbade "extravagant" embellishments to avoid the sin of Vanity.)
A quick and cheap way to get this door is to buy a standard cope and stick door with an ogee or bead inside edge. Then add a 3/8" roundover profile to the face.

EDIT: You can see close ups of a raised panel door that I added the half round molding in my projects here. (Scroll down to the comments to see more photos)


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

"A quick and cheap way to get this door is to buy a standard cope and stick door with an ogee or bead inside edge. Then add a 3/8" roundover profile to the face."

Thanks for the clarification. As you can tell, i'm a complete newb on all of this.

Do you have an example of this type of door on a website? I am really struggling with trying to locate moulding in general here in Jacksonville FL. I don't even think Home Depot has a 3/8" roundover profile, at least when I looked.


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## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

Go to www.rawdoors.net
Quality is flawless as well as price and delivery.
You can't buy the wood alone for what they charge for a finished cabinet door.
Great people to deal with also.
DO NOT go to the cabinetdoorstore.com as they took my order, charged my c.c. did not deliver and would not return e-mails or phone calls. Total crooks.
My credit card company refunded my money, so there was no damage.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

I had my molding supplier make the roundover when he ran my crown molding order.

You can see the door I did in my projects. It was a basic cope and stick raised panel door that I added the molding in house.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

jim C - thanks for the reco. I'll check them out.

Nice work DS251. So I will have to pay for a run of custom moulding to get this?

A little off topic, but what kind of primer and paint did you use and how did you apply it? I have read use an oil based primer and then water based enamel on top of it…...


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

When I made the door sample for my client I thicknessed a plank of maple to 3/8" and ran it on my router table with a 3/16"R roundover bit top and bottom. After sanding the profile I ripped the edges on my bandsaw, jointed the edges of the plank and routed another batch.

For that particular job, I already had a molding order going in so it made sense to order it at the same time. For four doors, you can make it yourself as I described.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

So is this door here just a plain inside edge beaded recessed panel door with the round over moulding off set from the edge the width of the inside bead to make it look like 3 ridges?


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

As for primer and paint, I use a high performance pre-catalized lacquer in my project. ML Campbell makes a line that has a White Primer and a Top Coat. My supplier custom mixed the colors for me.

I had to spray a second coat of primer to conceal the woodgrain before the topcoat for the best effect. As always, I had to sand between coats.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

To answer your question about your door: It could be. You can take my shortcut mostly because this is a painted door. There is no cost difference to make the ogee inside edge instead of a square inside edge, but the applied molding is about half the cost using my "shortcut" method.

If this were taking a light colored stain, you would see the joinery might look a bit off using that method. A shaker style door with a full profile molding would be applied in that case. (The molding would have a rabbit outside edge to lap over the frame)


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

Yeah, that website pic of the door ordering is price out at about 30 bucks a door. That sounds very attractive to me.

Do you use an HVLP sprayer? Wondering if a $500 or less is enough cash to buy one.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

When I get bigger projects like that one, I rented a spray booth at a shop and used thier airless sytem.
For small stuff I get by with a HF cup gun (about $20). The overspray can make a real mess though, so be prepared.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

If you're going to apply a molding to the face of the door, be sure to figure wider rails and stiles into the cost. The ones in your photo appear to be at least 3" wide, (maybe 3-1/2"w). Your pic from a website showed 2 1/4"w R&S. Some shops add extra for that, some don't.


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

You may have seen my other threads, but i'm doing a couple of 42" wide built ins with lower cabs and upper bookcases with a 30" wide window seat in between them. Floor to ceiling, 8ft ceiling.

I don't know if this is considered small, but I'd sure like to see a link to some Harbor Freight HVLP sprayers that work decent!


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

Good point on the rail and stile width. I would have missed that!

My stiles are going to be 2" wide on the cabinets and uppers, so maybe I should go with the 3" rails and stiles on the doors….. Or do I go 4" No option for 3.25".


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

You'l find that any size between 3" and 4" will cost for 4". (Poor yield per plank above 3")

I've seen HF HVLP on sale around $59


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

DS251 - Do you think a HF HVLP would be good enough for me to paint these cabinets, or will it be one of those, "I should have put that money towards a good HVLP"?

I bought a 10" tile saw from them years ago and have used it on all kinds of tile work across two houses and have loaned it to my father on several tile jobs around his house and loaned it to a friend and she still runs strong…


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

I usually make my own doors and drawer fronts, but if I do buy them (I've done that twice), I get my face frames made before I place the order. If you blow a dimension, it's on you. - lol


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## ClintSearl (Dec 8, 2011)

Try these folks:
http://www.evanscabinetanddoor.com/
I've ordered from them twice, eight doors both times. Turnaround is less than a week; the doors are first class; great prices; and service is excellent.


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

Heck build them. If I can do it you can do it. In less than a week I had sanded down 30 years of paint on the face frames and built the 17 doors and four drawer fronts.
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/51282


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

they turned out pretty good.


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## dannelson (Nov 28, 2011)

Getting back to the subject, I have bought my doors for the last 10 years, with my cabinet program once I design, it generates a door list and off to the manufacturer it go's. I used to build all my doors, drawers, and fronts. that was then this is now. If you compare the price for doors you would be hard pressed to beat the big guys, example I can get a raised panel door the with choice of 80 door styles, wood species from afromosia to walnut ,60 style and rail profiles , 75 plus panel profiles 160 outside edge profiles not to mention applied mouldings. One year against warpage and sanded to 180. I can get a 12×12 red oak unfinished door for $15 and change, I would have to be able to produce that door in 15 minutes or less, I used to produce a kitchen a month complete when I built my own doors. now I can offer alot more styles and get more jobs by outsourcing the doors and fronts. I build all my boxes,face frames, pull outs and drawers . with the help of my cnc to cut the boxes and drawers I can now do three kitchens a month in a 1 man shop, HOWEVER you really have to be carefull when ordering , freight charges are on the rise and its hard to figure how much a kitchen full of doors weigh. luckly I have a door manufacter in the next town over so I can pick the doors up when there ready. It works out to about five days, which gives me time to build. I use Walz Craft from La Crosse WI and Innovation Custom Doors from Eagle WI


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

Dannelson, would you mind sharing your door vendor?

And yes, I am definitely building my face frames and installing them before I order!

I am trying to do flush inset doors. Building my face frame right now in fact!


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

If you're doing inset doors and drawers, make sure that your face frames are dead-on square or you'll be tweaking things to get a good fit.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

As far as HVLP from HF, I can't give you a recommendation.

Only thing I can say is sometimes you get cheap tools that get you by until you can afford tools that are better suited. A good craftsman can usually produce good results with inferior tools, just not as efficiently as with superior tools.

It has to be your call on what to buy based on your own goals and expectations. If you expect to be doing regular spraying work, the investment in a high quality sprayer may well be worth it to you. If I've got this one project and have no idea when I will need a sprayer again, I think I go with the budget sprayer. (Or even hire out the spray job to someone with the good sprayer.)


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## noone (Mar 6, 2012)

I think someone here said that the HVLP Turbine from Harbor Freight, http://www.harborfreight.com/high-volume-low-pressure-spray-gun-kit-44677.html , was pretty decent. You can apply a 20% off coupon in-store, bringing this thing to $80 + tax. Seems like it's worth a shot to me. Better than spending $500 on one and not being able to return it, vs the ability to be able to return this to Harbor Freight if it totally blows.

Now on to the subject of hinges-

Where do you buy your hinges from? I saw Blum hinges recommended, but there are so many different kinds at Lowes. I need ones that will work for my flush inset doors.

Should I get my doors pre-drilled for a 35mm hinge cup or do it myself?


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Most cabinet shops will have a Blum Press for drilling holes and pressing hinges. I use a 35mm bit in my drill press - works just fine with a jigged fence.

When I have the door guy drill doors, I alway seem to forget the trash can pullout door needs no hinge holes, or the lower pullouts on a tall pantry need the hinges raised up or something special like that.

When I drill doors after cabinet assembly, such issues seem to disappear.

Hinges at a big box store will cost you double or triple what a wholesale supplier will sell to you. Find a wholesaler that also sells to the public. The price difference is amazing.


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## dannelson (Nov 28, 2011)

noone, suppliers are listed on the last liine of my first post, as far as hinges go, SALICE (sa leech chee) has a great product and are not as pricey as blum . I use 3/4 overlay -110 deg for most everything. I also drill my own with a 35mm bit. this way you can chose the grain pattern on the doors to see what looks best. Slides, always ball bearing full extension. side or undermount. more side soft close lately. along with hinges. one other thing that looks great and is a good seller is gromits for the shelf pins, they fit into a 5mm shelf pin hole and they eliminate tearout of the hole and on glass front doors they give a finished look to the inside of the cabinet.


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