Glass-Front Cabinet Doors
Beautiful china should be displayed for everyone to see. But how do you do this if you have solid-panel cabinet doors? If your cabinet doors have a solid wood frame or edge and a panel in the middle, you can remove the center panel and replace it with glass. This will this allow the pretty contents of your cabinets to be seen.
Materials: screwdriver
glass panels
clear-drying silicone caulk
router (can be rented by the day)
mirror clips with screws
safety gloves
safety goggles Steps: - To remove your kitchen cabinet doors, use a screwdriver to remove the screws from the doors themselves, leaving the hardware on the cabinets (figure A). This will make replacing your cabinet doors easy.
- The frame of your cabinet door will have a lip on the back where the center wood panel rests (figure B).
- Measure the inside of the panel around the lip and have glass cut at a hardware store or glass shop to replace the wood panels.
- Using a router will allow you to cut through the center wood panel but not the lip on which it rests. Then you can just replace the center wood panel with the new glass panels.
- Wearing safety glasses, cut all the way around the lip of the door frame (figure C) and pop out the center panel.
- You might have to make two passes with the router to cut all the way through; it's better to not cut deep enough than to cut too deep the first time and ruin your cabinet door frame.
- Run a bead of clear-drying silicone caulk all the way around the lip to hold the glass in place and prevent rattling (figure D). Be sure to wear gloves when working with the glass panels (figure E).
- Put the glass in place and secure it further with mirror clips of your choice. Be sure to wear safety glasses and pre-drill holes for the mirror clips into the cabinet door frame (figure F).
- Secure the mirror clips with screws by hand (figure G), and replace the doors on the cabinets.
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