Expert: Jamie Yocono - 9/4/2006

Question
Our home was built with a built in area for electronics or whatever , at first I thought it was great but now I have come to relize it takes away from the focal point (the fire place)of our room and I would love to  add doors or shutters, anything that can close this wall unit up.  What would your suggestion be as to the best solution to this problem.  Any ideas on the easiest how-to-myself way would be greatly appreciated.  
Thank You for all your time and help.

Answer
Hi Tia,

Funny you would write a question about this subject; I've been househunting and seeing a lot of built in entertainment centers that (in my opinion) need doors. So it's been on my mind. This is going to turn into a long answer, I can tell!

It's actually fairly easy to add doors, but I am assuming that your entertainment center is wood, and that you want wooden doors.

There are a few decisions to be made, and it depends on the way in which your entertainment center was built. It could be made with "face frame" construction, or it could be a Euro-style construction. A unit with a face frame will have a 1 x 2 frame of solid wood on it, not unlike kitchen cabinets made in the same manner. The doors actually mount to the face frame, and this determines the style of the doors and the type of hinges used. Euro style is somewhat different, in that the unit has no face frame, but consists of a series of cabinet "boxes," all mounted together, forming the entertainment center. The type of hinges used on Euro cabinetry is different.

Either way, you need to determine the style of the door you want. And the type of hinge you will need. I can guide you to a couple of door sites that will give you styles and species of wood to choose from, as well as a hardware site that will show you the hardware. It's somewhat complicated and there are a lot of options and choices, so the answer is somewhat complicated.

Here are two doors sites, I have purchased doors from both places and they are of excellent quality. One is on the East coast, and one is on the West coast, so I recommend shopping at the one closest to you, to reduce shipping charges.

www.caldoor.com (a California door company)
www.maplecraftusa.com (a Pennsylvania door company)

The hardware store site I recommend is www.Rockler.com. Now they're not the cheapest, but their website is well organized, with a lot of pictures, and if you live near a big city, there might be a Rockler store near you. You can't beat all the displays in their store for visualizing how the various hinges work. So if you can't visit their store to see it, look at their website.

But there are a few things to consider, also. Here are some thoughts off the top of my head- you electronic equipment won't work through a wooden door, meaning the door will have to be open in order for you to use your remote control. I build a cabinet recently for a family, who wanted the whole unit in Cherry, with wooden doors. Now they complain that the doors have to be open in order for them to operate their DVD player from their couch, and they want me to replace the doors with glass doors. So you might want to consider glass doors (or no doors) in the are where your components are housed.

Another option would be to use flipper door hardware, so that when you open the door, it folds back into the cabinet sides. This hardware is a little tricky to install, but you can't beat the fact that the doors virtually disappear into the cabinet. You get the best of both worlds. As a furniture designer, I don't like the idea of these doors simply hinging open and possibly obscuring something else on that entertainment center wall, so flipper door hardware would be my first suggestion.

This is what I would do - decide which construction style of entertainment center you have- and choose a door to fit it. Then, find a woodworker to hang your doors. You'll probably need to ensure that the woodworker knows how to hang these doors properly, and is familiar with the hardware you're going to purchase.

Where do you find a woodworker?

I belong to an international woodworking group called the Furniture Society. You can go to their website (www.furnituresociety.org) and look in their member directory to find someone in your area. (It's broken up into areas of the country, so you can find your region, then your state, then your city.) Make a few phone calls to find someone willing to take on this door project. You'll probably be better off with perhaps a student, who is studying woodworking, and isn't too picky about the type of job they undertake. What I mean by that is- some people can be snobby and refuse this sort of job. So a student will probably be more willing to do this.

OK- I've given you info on finding the doors, finding the hardware, and finding the woodworker... what more could you want?  I hope this helps, good luck with getting this project completed. And please feel free to write back if you have any other questions.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com