Cabinet doors wider than tall

[Maxo1998]

I'm planning some alcove cabinets, and due to the opening width and height restrictions I'm facing making doors that are slightly wider than they are tall. The finished dimensions would be 715mm wide by 672mm tall.


I've heard the advice never to make doors wider than tall, but would doors this close to square be acceptable?


Due to a height restriction of a windowsill, I unfortunately can't make them taller. Does anyone have any experience of this?


The doors will be made from MR MDF using Peter Millard’s “loose tenon” method (22mm for rails and styles, 6mm centre panel). I’ll be using inset Blum concealed hinges as well, if anyone could advise on a suitable number as Blum documentation doesn’t offer much support for wide doors as far as I can see!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Cabinetman]

Not really sure why anyone would say you can’t do doors like this, certainly not when they are almost square as yours are. They won’t look particularly attractive of course but you can’t help that.
Ian
Edit, welcome btw.

 

[Wilson joinery]

Hi there

The hinges you’ll be after are 71B3750 - also recommended by Peter Millard in his concealed hinge video!!

I’ve recently made some doors with 22mm rails and stiles but used a 9mm panel which made them much more rigid and less likely to warping (mine were over 2m tall though!).

Is there any way you could make the cabinet narrower by having wider scribe panels at each side?

Cheers
Pete

 

[TheUnicorn]

I agree, I can't see any reason it would be an issue so close to square, obviously the wider you go the more strain on the hinges but can't see any reason it should be an issue.

Is there a weight guidance in the documentation?

 

[JSW]

Without seeing the location it's hard to comment, but would splitting the opening into two doors be worth considering?

 

[TheUnicorn]

thinking about it a bit more, the extra width (in general rather than specifically the door in question) could put extra strain on the joints and lead to it mis-shaping over time.

 

[Doug71]

If you want to err on the side of caution the way to deal with wide/short doors is use three hinges but instead of putting the third hinge in the middle put it just below the top hinge.

 

[Woodworker Ireland]

I'm planning some alcove cabinets, and due to the opening width and height restrictions I'm facing making doors that are slightly wider than they are tall. The finished dimensions would be 715mm wide by 672mm tall.


I've heard the advice never to make doors wider than tall, but would doors this close to square be acceptable?


Due to a height restriction of a windowsill, I unfortunately can't make them taller. Does anyone have any experience of this?


The doors will be made from MR MDF using Peter Millard’s “loose tenon” method (22mm for rails and styles, 6mm centre panel). I’ll be using inset Blum concealed hinges as well, if anyone could advise on a suitable number as Blum documentation doesn’t offer much support for wide doors as far as I can see!

Thanks in advance!

Hi first i would think about adding an extra door but if not an option it will still work. Keep hi ges as close to top and bottom of door as possible and use at least 4x30 screws into solid frame if possible

 

[Maxo1998]

Thanks everyone for your feedback, I’ll post some photos from my sketch up model later to help visualise things. It does feel like the doors would be quite wide at 715mm, Blum don’t seem to rate their hinges for anything past 650mm wide!

For reference, this is the Blum article I’m referring to:
https://ea.blum.com/en/number-of-hinges/

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I've heard the advice never to make doors wider than tall, but would doors this close to square be acceptable?

Ignore the advice, it's nonsense. By the same token, if the advice was good, no-one would make stable doors, the top door quite often being of similar proportions to your cabinet doors or some types of gate, many of which are wider than tall, e.g., field gates. The key to retaining structural integrity is sound construction rather than, within reason, height to width considerations. Slainte.

 

[recipio]

It's possible in theory but not often done. The 715mm door describes a wide arc when used will feel a bit awkward. Can you split the doors into 2 x 357.5 . ? Generally pairs of doors look better than a single wide span.

 

[niall Y]

If the concern over proportions is from an aesthetic point of view, then the alcove framing. could be widened to alter the proportions of the doors. Failing that a central muntin might help with the look of the panels.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Aesthetically wider than tall is not very pleasing IMHO.

One option would be to create the illusion of two separate when closed by running two additional stiles down the middle separated by a small (2mm?) gap. Rails would need to be modified as appropriate.

 

[Doug71]

I was making some cabinet fronts today and thought of this thread.

This door is about 300 high X 600 wide, I'm confident it will be okay, guess only time will tell.

 

[Wilson joinery]

Lovely neat job that Doug, looks great

 

[sammy.se]

That is a very tidy job, well done!!
I really like the bead on the horizontals (stiles?)

 

[Doug71]

That is a very tidy job, well done!!
I really like the bead on the horizontals (stiles?)

The bead was the customers idea (seen it in a brochure), I think it looks quite nice, makes the doors look a bit different to the normal shaker style.

The best thing about the bead is it doesn't add any complication to the joint, they are still just butt joints with dominos in

The horizontal parts of a door are normally referred to as rails, the vertical parts are the stiles

 

[Spectric]

You could use a central mullion / stile that would deceive the eye and make it look less wide.

 

[TRITON]

I was making some cabinet fronts today and thought of this thread.

This door is about 300 high X 600 wide, I'm confident it will be okay, guess only time will tell.

View attachment 183523

Not unusual in the slightest. wider than high is something seen on many a tv cabinet.