Note:
if you are replacing existing doors and keeping your same cabinet boxes, and if your hinge mounting method is going to be the "exact" same as you have now, measure the doors you have now. Your task may become much simpler. Keep notes for yourself of which sizes go on which openings.
First shown on this page will be a graphic giving you an idea of how 5-piece doors are assembled. Then some measuring instructions written out. And finally 3 pages from the Quality Doors
catalog showing their various measuring instructions with picture references. 
The single most important thing about measuring for doors is: YOU are ordering EXACT door and drawer front sizes. Do not
order by the size of your opening. Inset applications are rare but do exist. This will be discussed further in a moment.
Below are Quality Doors recommendations for dimension allowances. A different amount may be needed where a special fit is required.
- For edge profiles 101, 121 or 122, add ½" to opening height and width.
- For all other edge profiles, add 1" to opening height and width. This will give you 1/2" overlay on all four sides. What is overlay? click here
Why am I adding 1" in most cases? Euro box (frameless) cabinet construction is generally constructed of 5/8" thick
Melamine board. Older cabinetry may have thicker walls (3/4"). When you add an inch to your opening size, that leaves an overlap (common term is overlay) of
½" on all four faces. You are hiding a half inch lip all the way around the cabinet and allowing 1/8" to show. This is almost a FULL overlay. A true full overlay covers the entire cabinet wall. Again, doors are
custom, and it is up to you to determine your desired overlay.
Select this link for diagrams explaining overlays. For Face Frame cabinets
, your door or drawer front will extend ½" past the opening on all four sides. Then you can use a fame frame concealed hinge or one of the many decorative popular choices in variable overlay semi-concealed hinges. 1/2"
overlay is very popular for face frame cabinetry. European cup hinges are made by many manufacturers and carry several degrees of opening and overlay choices. Consideration
should be given to your planned mounting method before sizing your doors. Quality Doors can provide Blum Compact 38N concealed face frame hinges.
For Decorative hinges, view some choices from Classic Brass on our site. Face frame distance between the top of your door and the bottom of your drawer front:
you have a little play here. Your drawer fronts should still measure 1" wider and higher than your opening. Note where filler strips may be needed to
accommodate dishwasher door swings and protrusions (for tight corner fits). About inset applications (or flush as sometimes called). Many armoires and entertainment centers have inset doors. The doors
are mounted inside the cabinet walls, not in front of them (no overlay). In this case, you may want your door to be 1/8" less in
height and width than your opening, giving you 1/16" clearance on all four sides. Or 1/4" less in height and width giving you 1/8"
clearance on all four sides. If you believe your cabinets might be slightly out of square, opt for having 1/8" clearance on all 4 sides. Again, inset kitchen cabinet doors are not that popular.
Three examples about pairs of doors: 1) a pair of OVERLAY doors closing toward each other with no center stile? Your overall width opening is 32" and the
height opening is 40". Let's make the height of our doors 41", gives 1/2" top and bottom overlay. Now for the width, we want
that 1/8" gap between doors. 32" + 1" divided by 2 would be 16-1/2". If the doors are 16-1/2", they will always bang into
each other. Take 1/16" off each door and you create the 1/8" gap in the middle and keep your 1/2" overlay on the hinge side of the door. So your doors should be 16-7/16" wide.
1) a pair of OVERLAY doors closing toward each other with a center stile? If the stile is wide enough, opt for that 1/2"
overlay on all 4 sides of the door. Treat each door individually and not as a pair. If the stile is extremely narrow, under 1-1/4", consider a 3/8" overlay on that side of the door.
3) a pair of INSET doors closing toward each other with no center stile? Your overall width opening is 32" and the height
opening is 40". Let's make the height of our doors 39-3/4", gives 1/8" top and bottom gap. Now for the width, we want that
1/8" on the left and the right and 1/8" between the doors in the middle so they don't pinch. 32" minus 1/8" three times is 31-5/8". Cut that in 2 because we have two doors, and our door widths are 15-13/16" each.
Eclectic-ware is here to assist you. Yet, we won't be able to see your kitchen. We can only help to the extent of your explanation.
Another common feature of armoires and entertainment centers is pocketing door mechanisms or flipper doors. (Click this link
to view Accuride® Flipper Door products.) Pocketing doors are usually inset applications. They have to be in order to fit inside the opening. Yet some pocket doors are
overlay doors. The overlay will be on the cabinet side walls and the special hinge will swing the door so it can retract inside the
cabinet. The overlay is not on the top and bottom walls of the cabinet box or else the door could not slide inside the cabinet. Overlay pocketing doors require more explanation than what will be given here.
Our only recommendation is to review the flipper door instructions first and follow the directions for them. We have PDF links in the Accuride section
of our web site providing these installation instructions. |
