I am planning to build cabinets creating my own face frames and buying the doors. As such I plan to buy the doors unfinished so I can finish them to match the face frames.
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Two questions:
- I’ve never used wood in the same piece from two suppliers, if I do as I plan should the face frames (made from wood from a local lumber distributor) match the doors after they are both finished?
- Can anyone recommend a good quality, reasonably price supplier that sells unfinished doors to DYIers (I’m not a professional). I’m particularly attracted to more simple shaker-style doors.
Thanks, M
Replies
There are numerous suppliers of cabinet doors, drawers, drawer fronts, moldings, etc and a stroll thru www land should provide you with several options.
As long as you buy the same wood species, your store-bought doors should match your face frames just fine. I would suggest that you make your face frames before you order any doors so that you order exactly what you need for sizes. I make my own doors and I never start on them until I have the face frames built. (You may not ask why I do it that way!!) - lol
I'd try to stick with one supplier for the wood but if the grain and coloring are same dont see why not if ur doing final thickness planing and edging. Most my stuff comes 13/16".
I usually make my carks and buy my doors. I cant offer all the profiles and styles and species door places have.Nor can i invest in all proper equipment to make consistenly nice doors,
Ive dealt with Keystone Wood Specialties( Lancaster Pa.) for over 15 years and theve never let me down . Nice work; nice folks and never had a callback for warpage or anything else.
M
http://www.Walzcraft.com and www.scherrs.com are a couple that do good quality work. Both can give you what you need.
I often buy out my doors for cabinet jobs, sometimes because I don't want to make them other times I don't have time to make them. It's never been a problem for me to build faceframes at my place and then get door/drawer fronts elsewhere and matching them up.
You've been asking a lot of questions about cabinets lately, can you be a little more specific as to what your trying to do, what look your after? I thought in another thread you mentioned something about Euro boxes, now your asking about faceframes, there isn't a problem with asking but I'm wondering if your just having a problem trying to decide.
Give us a little bit more info.
Doug
I'm still very much in the planning stages. I come from a furniture making background so cabinets are new to me so I'm still feeling my way around; thinking I'll do it this way then giving it more thought, talking to the wife and changing my mind.
I havn't even really decided on an aesthetic style yet. I just ordered a few idea books and catalogs so hopefully we can nail that down.
I was originally going euro but my wife really wants surface-mounted door catches which I think would be both silly and possible non-functional (the force of the hinge may not be sufficient to close the latch) with the euro-style hinges. Thus the move to face frames.
M
I'm still very much in the planning stages.
Good idea! Makes the building process go much smother.
my wife really wants surface-mounted door catches which I think would be both silly and possible non-functional (the force of the hinge may not be sufficient to close the latch) with the Euro-style hinges.
You can get Euro hinges that don't self close and then use your latch like the old fashioned way, push them shut to engage the latch. Not real sure about the latch mechanism, not sure if I've seen what your talking about unless you really do mean like the ones on cabinets from way back when my grandma was young.
I come from a furniture making background so cabinets are new to me
If you've built furniture then you'll have no problem making the switch!
Doug
What species of wood are you leaning toward? Do you want a dark finish or a more natural finish?
If you're looking for a natural finish, you might want to be concerned with the different suppliers of wood. But if you're going medium to dark, don't worry about it.
I just bought from Scherr's for the first time and so far the process has gone very well - the doors arrive next week. I'll let you know how they look.
- Make the cark's first and then buy the doors. Half-overlay or full-overlay doors are easy to size after you have the frames built.
- Buy good Euro hinges - it makes the installation process much more forgiving.
- If you're going to bore the holes for the hinges yourself, make sure you have a drill press with a good bit and make a reliable jig, otherwise have the door supplier drill the holes for you.
- Layout it totally out first on paper, then make the cabs, trying to keep standard dimensions as much as you can. Repetition will make this go much faster.
Doug: “not sure if I've seen what your talking about unless you really do mean like the ones on cabinets from way back when my grandma was young.”<!----><!----><!---->
Yup, like http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=141C20A&Category_Code=cupcth&Product_Count=1<!----><!---->
But I hope to find it much cheaper!<!----><!---->
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J: What species of wood are you leaning toward? Do you want a dark finish or a more natural finish?
Probobly cherry with a hand rubbed oil finish, at least for the island. May go for white pained base and wall cabs.<!----><!---->
If you're looking for a natural finish, you might want to be concerned with the different suppliers of wood. But if you're going medium to dark, don't worry about it.
So yes, it will be natural. Hmmm, now I’m feeling worried! Maybe I’ll order the face frames as well…<!----><!---->
I just bought from Scherr's for the first time and so far the process has gone very well - the doors arrive next week. I'll let you know how they look.
Please do! Are you a professional? If not, did you have any trouble ordering with them?<!----><!---->
M
You can order from Scherr's, don't think you have to be a business but call yourself one and you are!
I'm pretty sure you can order from http://www.Walzcraft.com without being a business. They sell face frames as well.
I see the hardware and that's what I was thinking about. I don't know that the Euro hinges would force that shut without a lot of noise? If I was going to use that hardware I'd opt for the euros that don't have the spring load to them.
Doug
Please do! Are you a professional? If not, did you have any trouble ordering with them?
<!----><!---->I'm a part-time pro with a company, but that wouldn't have made a difference to them. I could have just as easily been a do-it-yourselfer. They were great to work with.
So yes, it will be natural. Hmmm, now I’m feeling worried! Maybe I’ll order the face frames as well…
Cherry should be Ok. Can you plan the layout well enough to buy the doors first so you can see what they look like?
Hey,
I've just finished my kitchen. I built the cabinets and had the doors made. Cherry frame and Cherry doors, natural. Wood is a natural material and will have a wide range of shades and figure. I noticed my frames were much darker than the doors just through the wood variation. It wasn't too much of a big deal. The doors cover most of the frame. I would, however, recommend having the doors finished unless you have a dedicated finishing room. Good luck. Keep us up to date.
Mikey
The folks at http://www.scherrs.com are good to deal with and so are their products. They have quick turnaround on drawer boxes, doors, and drawer fronts, but the turnaround on cabinets is longer. If you have serious concerns about the wood matching, ask them to send you a sample of the species you're interested in and try to match to that. You could buy the face frame material from them but it might be pricey to ship separately from the doors.
Billy
I've got a few questions about the purchased doors many of you use. I've never bought any for a few reasons, I wanted to know if they are valid concerns or if (as usual) , I have my head in the sand. First, if you're buying a clear door is the grain matching close enough to be ok? Seems like they would have a harder time matching boards then I would as I am really slow. I guess if the customer doesn't mind its ok, but what if you are the customer? The next question is about the panel shrinking during the winter and the unfinished edges showing. Even if it were a painted door this would drive me crazy. I make my own, and I prefinish the edges of panels before assembly so there is no chance of that natural edge showing during the winter heating season. Am I out to lunch about this? I want to buy, but I just can't make myself do it. Help me please!
now drawers.......I will buy them, great products available, cheaper and as good or better then I can do.