How to Replace Kitchen Cabinet Doors
Replacing kitchen cabinet doors is a practical and attractive solution, not only if you have damaged doors, but also if what you want is to simply change the look of the kitchen or give it a more modern touch, even if it is in perfect condition.
Step 1
If your new doors are not machined, that is, with the holes for the hinges already made, you will have to make them yourself. For that, the first thing you will have to do is mark the position and diameter of the cup hinges that you are going to put on the back of the doors.
Step 2
Then, with the drill and a drill bit of the same diameter as the hinge cup, make the holes.
Step 3
Next, you replace the drill bit with another for wood of about 5 mm, and in the central part of the recesses, you make some guide holes for the screws that will hold the hinges.
Step 4
We have bought the doors with the holes already made, so we will start directly by making some through holes for the handles, both in the new fronts of the drawers and in the doors for the cabinets. To do this work, we will use the screwdriver drill provided with a 5 mm wood bit.
Step 5
The next thing we will do is remove the covers of the drawers that we already had, loosening the fixing hardware with the drill and a suitable tip.
Step 6
Now, we remove all the handles by extracting the lag screws with the screwdriver and the appropriate bit. If you do not have this tool, you can perform the task with a screwdriver.
Step 7
With the drawer lids ready, we carefully remove the cabinet doors. For that, we first unscrew the cup hinges.
Step 8
Next, we remove the hinges and, if they are good, we use them to fix the new doors in the cabinets. In the market, you will find a wide variety of doors for kitchen cabinets of different sizes and infinite finishes; so that you can choose the model that you like the most or that best suits your decoration. We have opted for white melamine chipboard.
Step 9
In the same way, we also remove the cornice, the molding, the side panel of the refrigerator, the strip, and some covers.
Step 10
The cup hinges are made up of two parts: the base that is placed inside the cabinets and the cup that we will fix on the inside of the doors. As we have not removed the bases of the furniture hinges, we will only have to put the cups, fixing them with their corresponding lag screws.
Step 11
Next, we put the handles we already had on the new cabinet doors and on the drawer fronts, screwing them properly.
Step 12
When we have fixed all the handles, we present the covers of the drawers in their position, and we fasten them with the fixing hardware. These have two lag screws, one larger than the other; the first allows us to regulate the height of the drawer.
Step 13
We can now place the doors in the cabinets, holding them with the cup hinges. We can adjust the level and height of the doors using the adjusting screws and a screwdriver. We also place the drawers in their position.
Step 14
The next step is to measure and cut to size the new moldings and cornices that we are going to place, with the joining ends at a 45º angle. To perform this task, we are going to use the miter saw. If you don't have this tool, you can cut the pieces using a rib saw and the miter box.
Step 15
Next, we apply mounting adhesive to the back of the pieces and place the moldings on the bottom of the tall units and the cornices on the top.
Step 16
We will temporarily fasten the pieces to the cabinets with some sergeants. When the product has done its job, we remove them.
Step 17
With the help of an applicator gun, we apply the adhesive, and we put the panel that goes on one side of the refrigerator. This adhesive, with a great initial grip, allows us to make fast and resistant fixings.
Step 18
To finish, we put the hood of the extractor in its position, also fixing it with the mounting adhesive.
Step 19
The result is spectacular! Simply by replacing kitchen cabinet doors and changing the drawer fronts, we will give a totally different look to the kitchen. When carrying out the work, you will have to take into account the state of the current kitchen and what you want to improve, as well as the color of the rest of the elements so that everything is perfectly integrated.
