How To Repair Cabinet Door Panel

A solid or flat door or a panel style door.

How to repair cabinet door panel. Cabinet doors are typically made in one of two styles. So if you swing the door open too fast the force can rip the hinge screw right out of the cabinet wall. While they add character and aesthetic appeal to the door their real benefit comes in the ease of repair. With a panel style wood cabinet door the panel is often a loose insert that is built into the cabinet door frame during the manufacturing process.

Wooden panels were typically fitted into grooves plowed in the door rails and stiles and left to float so they could expand and contract without binding and splitting for a primer on making wooden panels see my last post however varnish wax and dirt can build up over the years and stick the panel in place so it isn t able to expand. Others adjust in two. After some 200 years of hard knocks and spotty maintenance in the harsh climate of coastal maine our federal period home s frame and panel doors exhibited a range of problems from gaps and loose joints to outright rot. Repair a cabinet hinge screw hole with a plug.

When moisture in the bathroom or kitchen causes the laminate facing to come off one of the cabinet doors the first thing to check is the condition of the core. Hinges like this one adjust in three directions. Adjusting cabinet doors with european hinges is as easy as turning a screw or two. Repairing them without compromising their integrity required patience and an understanding of their mortise and tenon joinery.

Many popular interior and exterior doors come in panel styles. It s usually made of medium density fiberboard or particleboard and if you see swelling or blackening from mold you re better off replacing the doors than trying to re glue the laminate. But particleboard has a major weakness it doesn t hold screw threads very well. Cabinets made from particleboard work great in utility and laundry rooms and they re fairly inexpensive.