Installing cabinet doors in recess that is not square - help!

[Neilmk]

Hi

I’m installing doors in a recess in my home. The doors will be inset. The recess sides are off by 10mm bottom right and top left - it’s an old property and everything is squint. Top shelf is flat. Recess is panelled so shimming seems like a big job. I was thinking about cutting a diagonal on outer edges of doors, as well as shimming hinges where there is a gap so they align vertically.

Does this make sense?

My query is will this cause a rub a point where there is a gap and acute angle of the door edge?

Or is there another option?

I searched the forum but couldn’t see anything specific to this problem.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Cabinetman]

How about putting a frame around the inside of the opening which would be planed to fit the odd shape but have 90 degree corners inside, or just make the doors to fit the opening. At least you shouldn’t have co-planar problems!

 

[Neilmk]

How about putting a frame around the inside of the opening which would be planed to fit the odd shape but have 90 degree corners inside, or just make the doors to fit the opening. At least you shouldn’t have co-planar problems!

Thanks. I didn’t think of framing. Not first choice as the recess continues above with shelves I’ll keep open and I’d like to retain those lines but maybe not as much as I’d like to avoid the pain of trying to match doors with off angles.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

My inclination would be to plane the doors to fit by removing material from the hinge sides. From a visual appearance perspective this should ensure that when the doors are closed:

• the gaps around the doors and frame are constant
• centred where the doors meet
• the centre gap is at 90 degrees to the top and bottom frame

The only evidence of a "wonky" recess will be that the doors are not square - whether 10mm shows depends on the size of the doors. A frame making the opening square may draw attention as the distance between door gap and wall which would taper and likely be more evident.

 

[Neilmk]

My inclination would be to plane the doors to fit by removing material from the hinge sides. From a visual appearance perspective this should ensure that when the doors are closed:

• the gaps around the doors and frame are constant
• centred where the doors meet
• the centre gap is at 90 degrees to the top and bottom frame

The only evidence of a "wonky" recess will be that the doors are not square - whether 10mm shows depends on the size of the doors. A frame making the opening square may draw attention as the distance between door gap and wall which would taper and likely be more evident.

Thanks. This is my feeling. Do you think the planed angled edges would rub the recess edge when opening? I’d use 110 degree inset hinges with some adjustment and a shim on the hinges at corners with gaps. This is what I can’t figure in my head and my experience is pretty limited on the subject.

 

[niall Y]

If you plane it to fit the irregular opening, as it stands the outermost bottom corner of the left hand door will catch on the floor as you open it, Admittedly you can overcome this by leaving a slightly bigger gap under the door.But it is probably best having a frame to keep everything square as suggested.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Thanks. This is my feeling. Do you think the planed angled edges would rub the recess edge when opening? I’d use 110 degree inset hinges with some adjustment and a shim on the hinges at corners with gaps. This is what I can’t figure in my head and my experience is pretty limited on the subject.

With a standard cabinet hinge, the door would open slightly up or downwards. When closed this would not be visible. If door gaps are (say) 2-3mm I would not expect any rubbing.

Assuming each door is (say) 800mm x 400mm and the top is out of vertical by 10mm, the handle side (centre) of the door when fully open would be 5mm high or low.

As the door is closed the 5mm reduces to zero. If the doors are (say) 25mm thick I estimate the door will be 0.2mm out of horizontal as they close into the recess. Not an issue.

Personally, I would not try shimming hinges etc - easy to get wrong and I'm not sure what the benefit would be.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

If you plane it to fit the irregular opening, as it stands the outermost bottom corner of the left hand door will catch on the floor as you open it, Admittedly you can overcome this by leaving a slightly bigger gap under the door.But it is probably best having a frame to keep everything square as suggested.

Having looked again at the pictures you are absolutely right - I was assuming there was bottom to the opening (possibly mirroring the skirting) rather than having the bottom of the door at floor level.

 

[Doug71]

If you are using Blum style hinges get a couple of scraps of MDF to use as temporary doors and have a bit of a play around. The hinges have loads of adjustment on them, you can even experiment with setting one hinge further in from the edge of the door than the other so the actual pivot point is almost plumb.

Alternatively a piece of something like 2"x1" on the floor would lift the doors more than enough so that they don't hit the floor and not look out of place if you don't need the floor to be totally flat.

 

[Chubber]

To get a pattern to fit accurately into the recess is not difficult, cut a piece of 1/4" ply 2-3" smaller than the opening (it doesn't have to be square or posh as long as it has one straight side to rest on the floor) and, using a hot glue gun and four pointed pieces of softwood glue them on the ply so that the 'points' press into the four corners of the opening.

Lay this four-legged starfish on a chosen piece of material and mark the points. They will accurately define the shape of the opening.

A couple of panel pins driven into the underside of the ply and nipped off with pincers will stop it sliding about whilst you are playing.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Lots of reasonable suggestions above but the one thing that would bug me would be that if the hinges are not plumb one door will always swing shut while the other will never stay open. Personally I'd go for framing.
Martin

 

[Lons]

+1 for framing which will be far less obvious than the other suggestions IMO.
Fiddling about with packing or adjusting hinges is a botch, you just need to look at badly fitted kitchen cupboard doors to see that and personally it drives me nuts. Whether a frame or otherwise you would likely need a timber across the floor as already said to give clearance and a full frame doesn't need to be very thick in any case so do it properly.
All that said, once it's done it's very likely you're the only person who might be critical of it, in my experience most people just see a basic overall effect and don't notice or care.