Doors for Do It Yourself Cabinets
If you like to make your own cabinets, the sliding door system is probably the easiest way to fit those cabinets with doors.
The doors are a bit barebones, probably not nice enough for really formal applications. But for kids’ rooms, rec rooms or shop and laundry storage, they’ll serve you well.
Start with the cabinet. You can make this yourself out of plain old pine or from plywood. Use ordinary butt joints throughout, secured with yellow glue and screws. Use 2-inch flat head screws, predrill and counterbore for them, then cover over their heads with auto body filler or wood dough. Nothing fancy or tricky so far.
Now for the door system. This consists of upper and lower tracks made from 3/4-inch stock. Pine will work. A hardwood like oak will be stronger and dressier. You’ll need a table saw or radial arm to make these tracks.
Cut out two tracks, each 1 1/2 inches wide and as long as your cabinet. Next, using a dado blade, cut two dadoes in each track. Make these 5/16 inches wide, and set each one in about 1/4-inch or so from the edge of the track stock.
For the bottom track, make these dadoes about 1/4-inch deep. And for the top track, make them 1/2-inch deep. These different depths will help you install the doors, as you’ll see in a few minutes. Cut two side frame pieces, each 1 1/2 inches wide by the height of the cabinet. Glue and clamp these to the front edges of the cabinet sides. While this glue is drying, cut your tracks to a length that will fit snugly between the side frames. Then glue and clamp the tracks in place along the frontedges of the cabinet top and bottom.
Now for the doors. Cut these from 1/4-inch plywood or hardboard; you can also use acrylic plastic, if you like. Make each door half as wide as the cabinet, with a height equal to the distance between the tracks plus 7/16 inches.
For door handles, simply drill 1-inch holes through the doors to serve as finger holes. I put one hole at each end of each door.
To install the doors, start with the one for the rear track. Set it in position, slip its upper edge up into the rear groove in the top track, then drop the bottom edge into the rear bottom groove. Repeat this operation with the front door in the front grooves.
I like to paint the cabinet and doors with semi-gloss enamel and use oiled oak for the track and side frame. This adds a nice design touch. If you use this motif, paint the cabinet first but leave its front edge bare, so the glue can stick. Add the track and side frame; then finish them with oil. Let dry, then install the doors.
If the doors are sticky, rub their top and bottom edges with wax. They’ll slide with ease from then on.
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