Two steps forward, one step back.
Two steps forward: I got some of my doors and drawers. One step back is that I *hate* the doors.
What follows is mostly a re-hash of what I posted over in the old house remodeling group on CC - so to some of you this will be a repeat.
I'll say upfront that I have e-mailed Angus, and he's responded, and I think this is going to be corrected. I may need to pay for new material and wait a while, but I don't have to live with cabinet doors I don't like.
Here's the story
This is a photo of the original pantry cabinets I saved prior to demolition:
The high-up cabinet doors are going to be re-used as you see them now - the microwave is going to hang below.
They are a raised panel door, which would not have been my first choice, but the raised part of the panel has such a low profile, it's barely raised at all.
This is a photo of the door we're going to use in place of the glass ones (I'm planning to reuse the glass ones in the dining room, but we want solid ones to hide our kitchen mess!) These came off the wall of the pantry that came down during demo.
Note that they are more of a "stacked" design. There is no sharp bevel between the stile (vertical part) of the door and the raised panel.
And finally, here are my new cabinet doors:
The panel is so high, it's creating a really sharp bevel. Not only that, it's so high that it's actually higher than the stile of the door! So I have these flush inset doors (which I love and go with my house) and panels that protrude beyond the flush part!
See?
I realize that to some people the difference is minimal. My disappointment might be better explained if I mentioned that raised panel doors are my least favorite style, and I only picked them because I wanted to match what I had above, which is very low profile, and is nearly flat. Every other raised panel in the house (on all the doors and the other salvaged cabinet doors) is a very low profile, and any other built-in I design in the future (dining room, for example) would have a low profile.
Also, raised panels are not traditionally used with flush inset doors. Normally, you see something like this:
I figured I could get a similar clean look with a minimal raised panel. Instead, the raised panels I have remind me of the kind that became popular by the late 70s/early 80s, because they were easily mass produced, and used as a sort of quick and dirty way to get a "traditional look" cheaply and easily:
Sometimes doors were overlaid instead of inset into a frame; frankly, you can get this look stamped into an MDF door. Not to sound snobby, but my doors were made from solid wood and joined - I'd rather they not look like they could have been stamped out of MDF, which from far away, they start to do:
My current ones:
(never underestimate what a shadow-line can accentuate!)
MDF
So I e-mailed Angus (yes, I chickened out and did not call him) and he was pretty cool about it.
Here was his reponse:
Hi -
I know what you are talking about. It is actually something
that has been a thorn in my side just about every time I have to do
raised panel doors. The makers of just about every cabinet door stile
and rail set offer very few configurations that keep the panels
anywhere near flush. If you look at most premade kitchens the panels
are actually way higher than the frames, which I agree, looks kind of
weird, and you're never going to see it on anything made before the age
of mass production woodworking. I added an extra step to the process on
your doors and backcut the panels to sink them into the fames as much
as possible. With stock cutters and a normal set up it's a real
achievement just to get them flush, getting them below the surface of
the frame requires some extra effort but it's doable. I have to go back
to the shop to finish something up so I can't describe this at much
length now but I just wanted to let you know I'm sure we can work
something out and not to worry about it. Talk to you soon ...
I felt really bad that he "added an extra step" - he really tried! - but I like that he told me "not to worry." I've written him back and suggested that - even though this would probably seem abhorrent to him - maybe even like "cheating" (no sarcasm intended) we might want to consider gluing a panel onto a flat panel to achieve the look of my upper cabinets.
Honestly, this job has been a huge pain in the ass for him. I can't remember if I discussed this or not, but he built the dishwasher cabinet to the specs provided by kitchen aide, and they were wrong! He had to adjust the whole sink wall, and the plumbing was already done. It also meant adjusting the blind corner. It was a huge pain for him, I'm sure. So I really hope that some of the leads I tried to give him work out, even though he's pretty busy right now. One contractor I know liked his work a lot, so hopefully he won't regret working with me too badly!
What follows is mostly a re-hash of what I posted over in the old house remodeling group on CC - so to some of you this will be a repeat.
I'll say upfront that I have e-mailed Angus, and he's responded, and I think this is going to be corrected. I may need to pay for new material and wait a while, but I don't have to live with cabinet doors I don't like.
Here's the story
This is a photo of the original pantry cabinets I saved prior to demolition:
The high-up cabinet doors are going to be re-used as you see them now - the microwave is going to hang below.
They are a raised panel door, which would not have been my first choice, but the raised part of the panel has such a low profile, it's barely raised at all.
This is a photo of the door we're going to use in place of the glass ones (I'm planning to reuse the glass ones in the dining room, but we want solid ones to hide our kitchen mess!) These came off the wall of the pantry that came down during demo.
Note that they are more of a "stacked" design. There is no sharp bevel between the stile (vertical part) of the door and the raised panel.
And finally, here are my new cabinet doors:
The panel is so high, it's creating a really sharp bevel. Not only that, it's so high that it's actually higher than the stile of the door! So I have these flush inset doors (which I love and go with my house) and panels that protrude beyond the flush part!
See?
I realize that to some people the difference is minimal. My disappointment might be better explained if I mentioned that raised panel doors are my least favorite style, and I only picked them because I wanted to match what I had above, which is very low profile, and is nearly flat. Every other raised panel in the house (on all the doors and the other salvaged cabinet doors) is a very low profile, and any other built-in I design in the future (dining room, for example) would have a low profile.
Also, raised panels are not traditionally used with flush inset doors. Normally, you see something like this:
I figured I could get a similar clean look with a minimal raised panel. Instead, the raised panels I have remind me of the kind that became popular by the late 70s/early 80s, because they were easily mass produced, and used as a sort of quick and dirty way to get a "traditional look" cheaply and easily:
Sometimes doors were overlaid instead of inset into a frame; frankly, you can get this look stamped into an MDF door. Not to sound snobby, but my doors were made from solid wood and joined - I'd rather they not look like they could have been stamped out of MDF, which from far away, they start to do:
My current ones:
(never underestimate what a shadow-line can accentuate!)
MDF
So I e-mailed Angus (yes, I chickened out and did not call him) and he was pretty cool about it.
Here was his reponse:
Hi -
I know what you are talking about. It is actually something
that has been a thorn in my side just about every time I have to do
raised panel doors. The makers of just about every cabinet door stile
and rail set offer very few configurations that keep the panels
anywhere near flush. If you look at most premade kitchens the panels
are actually way higher than the frames, which I agree, looks kind of
weird, and you're never going to see it on anything made before the age
of mass production woodworking. I added an extra step to the process on
your doors and backcut the panels to sink them into the fames as much
as possible. With stock cutters and a normal set up it's a real
achievement just to get them flush, getting them below the surface of
the frame requires some extra effort but it's doable. I have to go back
to the shop to finish something up so I can't describe this at much
length now but I just wanted to let you know I'm sure we can work
something out and not to worry about it. Talk to you soon ...
I felt really bad that he "added an extra step" - he really tried! - but I like that he told me "not to worry." I've written him back and suggested that - even though this would probably seem abhorrent to him - maybe even like "cheating" (no sarcasm intended) we might want to consider gluing a panel onto a flat panel to achieve the look of my upper cabinets.
Honestly, this job has been a huge pain in the ass for him. I can't remember if I discussed this or not, but he built the dishwasher cabinet to the specs provided by kitchen aide, and they were wrong! He had to adjust the whole sink wall, and the plumbing was already done. It also meant adjusting the blind corner. It was a huge pain for him, I'm sure. So I really hope that some of the leads I tried to give him work out, even though he's pretty busy right now. One contractor I know liked his work a lot, so hopefully he won't regret working with me too badly!