You can catch up on the previous steps on these posts frame, countertops, and trim.
This is the final stretch! My DIY Outdoor kitchen is looking better by the day and it’s time to finish it by building some doors and painting the whole unit.
This was my first time building doors so I was a little nervous, but research helped a lot and gave me the confidence I needed.
I wanted something unique but at the same time fairly simple to built. So I started by building simple shaker style frames.
I started out by measuring the cabinet opening and using that as a reference for the door size. You also need to pick your hardware since that will also determine your door size.
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I picked these concealed hinges. They have are made for 1.5 inch overlay doors, that means my doors need to be 1.5 inch bigger than the opening on each side.
Shaker style doors are made using stiles (vertical pieces) and rails (aka horizontal pieces). The length of my pieces would be as follows:
Stiles:
the size of my cabinet opening’s height + 3 inches,
Rails:
The size of my cabinet opening’s width + 3 inches - (the width of my runners x 2)
Once I had all my pieces ready, I assembled the door frames using my Kreg Jig to make pocket holes.
Tip: don’t make your pocket too close to the inside edge. I did and then regretted it during the next step.
Once my frames were assembled, it was time to make a ledge for the center panel. I used a rabbeting bit and slid the router through the inside edge of the door frame.
I made the mistake of making some of my pocket holes too close to the edge and they nicked my router bit. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake!
The next step was a little (a lot!) tedious, but it was needed for the look I wanted at the budget I had lol
Like I mentioned, I wanted to add a special detail to the doors, so I came up with this idea of making slatted door fronts.
I also wanted the slats to be weather resistant, so that meant using a weather resistant wood like cedar ($$$), or ripping pressure treated boards to get slats as thin as I wanted them (not so $$$ but a lot of work).
If you guessed I went with the cheaper option, then you’re right. We (aka my sweet, awesome, handsome, and very helpful husband) ripped the boards into what felt like a gazillion slats. Because of course I wanted very thin slats and not thicker -and easier to cut- ones.
Once we had all the slats ready, I nailed them using my nail gun and 3/4 in brad nails.
The final step (before paint) and as making the holes for the hinges. I wanted to try one of these cool jugs to make hinge bores, but I honestly don’t see myself building many more doors so I couldn’t justify buying it. I ended up going with this simpler kit that comes with a guide and a forstner bit and it worked pretty good.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take picture of the doors before painting!! So here's a sneak peek of how they turned out once I painted them.
Also, if you’re thinking about how the slats can let unwanted bugs in the cabinets, don’t worry, we’ll fix that on the next step.