Expert: Jamie Yocono - 4/17/2008

Question
I have 2 questions. We have the 70's plastic coated cabinet doors. The doors are flush and flat. I'm thinking about making my own doors out of birch and staining them with the recommended gel stains. I want these doors to be simple to make yet lovely to look at and last. Before I attempt my project, is there a way to use the existing doors and sand, replace or cover the existing plastic coating? Or, would that just be more work. Thanks for your quick response. Kim

Answer
Hi Kim,

This turned into a long answer, grab a cup of coffee!

Let me try to help you with your door problem by breaking it down a bit. First, it MAY be possible to cover your existing doors with something to make them look new. Plastic laminate comes to mind, but you will only be able to do this if the doors have square corners and flat faces. That means that no profile can be routed into the door edges, or the laminate will not have anything to be adhered to underneath the corners.

If you have flat doors with solid, square edges, then you can use contact cement to bond the laminate to the doors. On thing, however - you may need to completely cover the door - all four skinny edges, and the front and back face, as well. See, wood needs to be treated the same way on both the front and back, or it will warp. So if you put a new "face" on a door, you must do the same thing to the back of the door, or it will warp.  

The good news is - plastic laminate is thin, so it will probably not affect the size of the door very much.

That said, I sort of doubt that your doors are simple slabs of wood, flat with no profile. I've seen doors like that, but they're rare. It's more likely you have some decorative profile routed into the edges of the doors. And that would keep you from being able to simply slap on some laminate; there just isn't enough material under it to keep the edge strips glued in place.

So now we're probably talking about making new doors. You sound like you have some experience, but I'm not sure if you're away of what tools you're going to need.  At the very minimum, you would want a table saw and a router, as well as many clamps and some nice, flat workbench surfaces. Oh, and probably a drill press if you're going to be using cup hinges. Not to mention some other odds and ends power tools like a belt sander and pad sander, and probably a drill to install the hardware.

Can I make another suggestion?

Considering all that you will need to make the doors (solid wood for the edges and plywood for the panels) - plus all the tools, you might consider simply buying some doors. I have been buying doors from door companies for years, and even with all my tools, I still think it's a bargain. There are door companies all over the country, and I think there are two things to take into consideration. First, you want a door company near you, so that shipping the doors to you isn't overly expensive. Second, you want to pick out a door that isn't overly expensive. I recently had a client that chose a door with a carved rope molding on it, and it was outrageously priced! So remember -the fancier the door, the more expensive it is.

Far and away, the biggest and probably most well known west coast door company is California Door.  I would think if you live anywhere from Colorado or west of that, you would want to consider looking at their website.  I recently answered a question about someone trying to locate door companies in Connecticut, and found a ton of them up in that area. In fact, I used to be located in Ohio, and used both an Ohio door company as well as a Pennsylvanian one. So they ARE out there.

How expensive are they? Well, it really depends on the door and the specie of wood.  Doors are priced by the design you pick and then the wood you choose. And then the size, or how much wood it uses. So if yo want to go "budget" you certainly can.

I just did a kitchen here that used Cherry doors that were somewhat plain, but very large. We needed 52 doors, and they averaged about $53 each - and that included a $3 charge per door to drill them for cup hinges. Some of these doors were pantry doors, so they were huge. I would think if you eliminated those oversized doors from this project, the smaller doors probably averaged about $35 or $40 a door. I don't know about you, but I certainly can't make a nice, raised panel door in my shop for $40.

So - here's what I recommend ... check out a couple of door companies, like www.caldoor.com and www.maplecraftusa.com. Look at their styles to see if anything strikes you. If you write back and tell me your location, I will try to give you a door company closer to where you're located.

Next, I would sit and price out your materials. At the minimum, you're going to need solid wood stock, probably 2 1/4" wide. You may have to buy 1 x 3 and rip it down. And then you'll need some sheet stock for the interior panels. Don't forget glues, sandpaper, and of course finishing supplies. Router bits? Cup hinge drill bit?  I usually put it all down on paper, and then weigh out whether I want to build my doors or buy them. If I just need a two or four, I generally make them. But if I need 52, like the last kitchen I did - there's NO WAY I'm making them.

Write back if you're set on making them and I will outline some steps. I think the simplest door I would recommend would be one with half lap joints at the corners. I used to teach my students how to make those and one woman redid her whole kitchen. So it IS possible, but it's a lot of work. Only you know what your time is worth.

I will wait to hear from you again, good luck researching your doors. Oh - and if you do write back fot more information about making doors, please include your personal e-mail address and I will try to send you a copy of the "Doormaking" handout that I used to give my students. You might find it helpful.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com
My woodworking blog: www.wooditis.blogspot.com