Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Mar 27, 2009 12:46am | #1

   Brian.

   I think you are making more work for yourself than is needed. With the proper screws, correctly pilot drilled and installed, the plywood edge should be more than good enough for attaching the hinges.

   I'm not sure what you mean when you say the inside edges aren't square.

   John White
   Shop Manager for FWW, 1999-2007

1. 
   bmyyou | Mar 27, 2009 01:07am | #2

   I may be, but I'm suspicious of the strength of the older cabinet frames when I try to drive at least 1" screws into the edges.   The cabinets are in a 30-year old house that were custom so they are 3/4" oak? plywood and the face frame is cut from a sheet of plywood with holes that were saw-cut from what looks like a jigsaw.  The doors are lip molding that is mitered around the plywood, so they look like overlay doors from the outside but the ply back insets into the saw-cut openings slightly when they are closed. 

   I'm concerned that the screws from the new cup hinges and new overlay doors would not hold up well in the edges of the plywood so I'm looking for a way to strengthen the edge.  I would miter the hardwood and attach it all around the inside of the frame and make inset doors, but the existing cutouts are not square so that would require a lot of trimming and fitting to make them square. 

   Other than the plywood edges on the inside and the outdated doors and hardware the cabinet "bones" are in good shape and the existing layout is good, so I'm looking for a simple way to strengthen the edge in order to use the cup hinges and the overlay doors.

    

2. 
   bmyyou | Mar 27, 2009 01:11am | #3

   I'm attaching a couple of pics that hopefully better describe the cabinet construction.  I'm an amateur woodworker but would like to build new doors, drawers, and drawer fronts (paint grade), and I would also like to install the undermount drawer slides and the cup hinges.

    

    

    

   
1. 
   Eef | Mar 27, 2009 09:55pm | #4

   b,

   looks as though someone took out a little aggression on that drawer, by way of a hammer.

   if the f/f  are indeed made of plywood, as you say, cut with a saber saw, or the like, and were i looking to pay the rent with the money to be made from doing this job, i would completely remove the existing face frames and make new ones.  i have done this using shop-made hardwood wedges and many hammer blows.

   remove all doors and drawers and hardware.  insinuate the wedges (lots of wedges) between the f/f and the carcass, tap the wedges with a hammer and SLOWLY pry that nasty face frame off.  if you're lucky, the frames will have been nailed on only without glue.  even if they are glued on, and you are careful, the frames will come off.

   good luck,

   eef

   Edited 3/27/2009 3:02 pm ET by Eef

1. 
   bmyyou | Mar 28, 2009 01:24am | #5

   I was actually considering doing that but many posters on this and Breaktime suggested it would be ok to leave them on and screw the new cup hinges onto the edge of the plywood.  The frame edges would be painted as well.

   I was warned that since the ends of some of the frames (like on the kitchen island shown in the pic) were mitered that if I tried to replace it I might not match the miter.  We have a couple of wall cabinets that are this way as well. 

   Have you replaced face frames like this before?

1. 
   Eef | Mar 28, 2009 05:51pm | #6

   b,
   good morning. your cabinets are paint grade, right? the mitered ends don't have to be perfect.
   eef