Replacing Kitchen Doors

We’re not talking about the door that you walk through to get in to your kitchen here; we’re talking about your kitchen cabinet doors. Replacing your kitchen cupboard doors is one of the fastest and most cost efficient ways to renew and enhance an old, tired looking kitchen.

I’m sure that your local kitchen centre has told you that this is necessary but let me tell you, if your cabinets are fine and are not rotten or collapsing, and you are not altering the layout of your kitchen why else would you want to replace all of your kitchen units? The only parts of the cupboards you see are an exposed side and the insides when they are open. If you units are made form white chipboard or wood then you do not need to worry about the interior, even if you went for a transparent glass door. An exposed cupboard side is also easily dealt with. All you need to do when ordering new doors is to order a panel the same size as the side of the cupboard.

To give your kitchen a whole new look all you will need are doors, a plinth if you have one fitted and kitchen door handles. If you want to go crazy you can also replace the worktop!

Kitchen doors come in four basic materials laminate chipboard, MDF (medium density fibre) , glass and real wood. In terms of cost to generalise it would be fair to say that the order they are listed is there order of cost where a laminated chipboard door is the cheapest and real wood option the most expensive.

Regardless of materials kitchen doors come in a variety of colours and finishes from a matt looking door to a high gloss finish. You will need to weigh up not only what style is in keeping with the rest of your home but also the practicality of it. High gloss kitchen door in any colour look awesome at first, but when it gets marked they start to look untidy very quickly.

A few suppliers may provide off-the-shelf doors that may fit your particular kitchen units. Usually however a door is usually custom made to suit a particular unit. Doors can be made from a 100 x 100mm (approx 4” x 4“) up to 1200 x 2400mm (4’ x 8’) so the likely hood is that regardless of your cupboard size, a door can be made to fit it. Some suppliers may offer a surveying service where they will come out and measure the sizes of each of your doors. To get the best value for money though, you are better off measuring them your self and then looking online. Using an online provider will give you the widest choice of door styles, finishes and colours available.

If you decide to go down the route of ordering kitchen doors online then you will need to have confidence in the way that you measure your doors. Here’s how I would approach it:

Make sure you have to hand a pad of paper, pencil, tape measure and stick tape or post it notes… all will become clear!

Step 1
Stick a post it not on each door and drawer front and number them. Write the numbers down in the pad.

Step 2
Let’s start with the doors, always measure the cupboard door in its open position, it would be easy to mis measure it when close. Measure the height and width of the door in either inched or millimetre, record the dimensions next to the corresponding number in your pad.

Step 3
A recess will need to be made for the hinges on your door. Mark on your doors using pencil the centres of the current recesses on them. Then measure from the corresponding top and bottom edge to the centre of the hinge. Again make a note of this on your pad against the correct number door.

Step 4
This is the last instruction for the door. When looking at the door, make a note of whether the hinge is on the left or right side.

Step 5
Finally measure the size of the drawer fronts. Similarly to the cupboard doors it is easier to make the measurement when the drawer is open and measure it from behind.
 

At the time of ordering your kitchen unit doors your may well be able to buy accessories such as hinges and handles. If there is the option to buy a soft close mechanism I couldn’t recommend it more. They are usually very cheap to buy and I’m sure that you won’t regret it. The soft close mechanism ensures that no matter how hard you try to slam the door it will never bang shut, it will just softly close…bliss.