Before you make up your mind that you want to replace your kitchen or bathroom cabinet doors yourself, be sure to think about your skill level. Plumbers do plumbing, electricians handle electrical things and cabinet professionals are experts at what they do. You will find videos on this page to help educate you on how to change out the doors.
Here are three possible bottle necks you may encounter:
- When changing cabinet door hinges, the overlays will not be the same on the new hinges-This will require that you order different sized cabinet doors than what your existing sizes are.
- The doors will need to be adjusted properly-Oftentimes cupboards are not installed plumb, level and square. This is due to the floors, walls and ceiling not being framed correctly. Not all “professional” cabinet installers take the time to fit “everything” to the surrounding crooked areas. This means that when you hang a perfectly square door on an out of square box, things will not align properly. Most door hinges have a three way adjustment system so that you can work out the details. How hard can it be, right? Trust me, it will be a very labor-some task after you get the replacement doors installed to fine tune everything.
- Changing the drawer faces on cabinets is the most challenging-This is going to require doing some serious research in order for the task to go smoothly. There are a few different methods that will help you understand how the procedure is done. Click the link at the beginning of this paragraph to review your options. If you are replacing cabinet doors on European style cupboards, you will be in for a frustrating experience. European style fronts must lay flat to the face and the one eight inch (1/8”) margins must be in perfect alignment.
Here Are The Steps For Replacing Cabinet Doors:
- Shop around and select the door style you want first.
- Decide on what hinges you will be using. This is very important because not all hinges have the same overlay.
- Measure the cupboard openings and perform the proper calculations as explained in the video.
- Make your door list on a scrap pad of paper. It’s a good idea to use a number system so that you know where the new doors should go on the cupboards. Double, triple and quadruple check your cabinet door sizes. It is a good idea to have someone else go over your calculations as well. Transfer the dimensions you have on the pad to the order form. Have your quality control person check what you have done again.
- It may be necessary to pay attention to the hinge locations on the existing doors.
- Order the doors. It can take up to six weeks to get kitchen cabinet door replacements.
- While you are waiting for the replacement cabinet doors and drawer fronts, you can take the old ones off and prepare the cupboards.
- When the new ones arrive, you may have to get them drilled for the hinges you will be using. If so, consider taking them to a cabinet shop and having them drill out for the European concealed hinges. Most companies have a drill press already set up for the task at hand. You can refer to this article on changing cabinet door hinges for tips.
- It’s best to have an extra set of helping hands when you are ready to start hanging the replacements on the cupboards.
- Install all of the doors first and adjust them out perfectly before attaching any of the drawer faces.
- Drill for the cabinet door hardware and install the knobs or handles.
It is vitally important that you check over all of your calculations before ordering anything. You must be one hundred percent confident that what you have figured is going to work without any problems at all. If you have to replace a new door because you did not make the correct calculation, it could cost you upwards of a hundred dollars or more to replace the replacement cabinet door.
