When my best friends found out I took up woodworking as a serious hobby a few months ago they said “Hey, you can make us new cabinet doors!” I said, “Of course!” So knowing they have a smaller kitchen and not too many cabinets I figured what the heck. Their cabinets are now painted white along with their current “slab” doors (which were covered in fo-wood shelf paper when they purchased the home):
BTW, we plan to replace the 3 multi sized drawers with 4 equally sized drawers.
So the plan now is to make some simple “mission” style doors that they can finish with some kind of glazed or distressed paint to the doors and cases. This is where I come in. Here are the prototype doors (one large cabinet door and one drawer face):
The rail / stiles are poplar 1x2s and the panels are ¼” birch ply. The ply panels were primed on all 6 sides before assembly. The panels are floating with about 1/8” wiggle room all around. I stuffed some foam weather stripping in the groves to keep the panel from moving after glue up. I also pegged the tenons from behind with ¼” dowels. I know this is not necessary but I figured it’s good insurance. Also we are making the switch to European type hinges. I put a slight chamfer on the face edge as a final touch.
The home owners will be taking care of priming / finishing the doors and cases. Any suggestions for an easy finish that will look great would be appreciated. I know they were considering some kind of glaze two toned finish. Also any suggestions / criticisms are welcome on the door design / construction. I suggested they look into General Finish’s Glaze finishes:
http://www.generalfinishes.com/tips/...nt-samples.htm