I have a small ergonomic problem at home. The kitchen has a round kitchen table with chairs, that stays about 5 feet from the corner. In one of those corner walls there is a door that causes no problem at all. On the other wall we have a big cabinet and another door. I made a simplified drawing of the area. Walls are black, furniture is blue, the door that is ok is green and the problematic one is in red.
As you guys can see on the drawing, when the red door is open it becomes really hard to walk around the table. This almost caused an accident already when my granny was standing on that area and I was bringing a boiling lasagna tray to the dining room. Also, the door handle hits the cabinet door.
Is it possible to invert this door so it would open outside the kitchen? I really can’t move the furniture, so this is not an option.
Possible, yes, it’s not something I’d personally attempt on my own though.
Any carpenter could do it in probably an afternoon including the drywall repair if they pull the whole jamb.
You could probably also reverse the hinges (and latch/strikeplate) move everything around a little and move the stop moulding to the other side as well.
It’s pretty straightforward. I’m not much of a DIYer but I swapped our bathroom door round so it opened outwards rather than inwards.
I did replace the door at the same time, but I probably could have done it while keeping the door (but it would have meant using a fair bit of filler and repainting).
Apart from (obviously) moving the hinges, you will need to change the door jamb (if that’s the name for the protruding bit of the frame that the door closes against). At least in my house, the jamb was just a thin piece of wood nailed to the door frame. I pulled that off and attached new thin pieces of wood in the right place for the door to close against on the other side. Then it was just a case of chiselling out a new hole for the latch etc.
ETA: by “jamb” I mean what Joey P refers to as the “stop moulding”. The sticky-out bit of door frame, anyway.
ETA2: just seen the pic. That looks more tricky as the frame looks to be recessed into the wall. Would it be possible to hinge it on the other side, so it still opens into the kitchen but the other way?
Pull off the existing door stop moldings, and rehang the door so that the hinges are on the opposite door jamb, and it will then open outward. No need to alter the hinges on the door itself.
Once the door is rehung, then refit the stop moldings (and the architrave if there is one) on the other side of the door frame (ie on the kitchen side) The stop moldings will cover the old hinge recesses (if they are in fact recessed …can’t tell from the pic …they may be surface mounted.
All that will remain to be done then is to chisel a recess and fit an escutcheon plate to accommodate the bolt of the latch.
We took the door off our kitchen as it took up too much space when opening into the room (and would have caused just as many problems opening outwards). However, you might want to think about why doors on kitchens are a good idea: they stop cooking smells spreading, and they help stop the noise from dishwashers etc. (We run ours overnight, and it is quite noisy.)
Plus, of course, it could be a fire door. demian, it’s hard to see from your photo, but is the door frame recessed from the wall at the left? If it is, that would likely interfere with the door opening the other way. If not, just swap the hinges and refit the moulding.
A pocket door would have been great in this situation, but I don’t know if it’s feasible, or even possible, to retrofit one.
It seems to me that a bi-fold folding door would do the job. It would only stick into the room half as far, and that would be alongside the cabinet so it shouldn’t make much if any difference in traffic flow around the table. Alternatively an accordion door could work, though it would obscure a bit more of the doorway. Neither of these closes as securely as a regular solid door – is that a concern here?
I like the bi-folding idea! Never thought of that. Safety is not really an issue, because we already have triple locks on the doors that go outside. Thanks!
I would suggest buying a pre-hung interior door that swings the correct way. They aren’t expensive and you’ll save on labor costs. Paying someone to switch the hinges and latch would cost more in labor.
Then it just a matter of pulling out the old door frame and installing the new one. It needs to be properly leveled with shims. A handyman could do it in a couple hours.
Assuming it’s not a hollow core door, it’s possible, but I’m not so sure it would save you much money, though. You can get a set of bifold doors, including all the hardware, for under $50.
Doing it the way I suggested above is by far the most economical route … you can re-use the existing stops and facings ., and you don’t need to be Norm Abrams to do the job.
You do need to remove the facings from both sides of the doorway and reinstall them on the opposite side (likewise with the stops) but that would have to be done anyway with a new door frame.
The one possible downside is that the door although opening outwards, would now be hinged on the opposite side from its present position , but looking at the pic I can’t see that being a huge problem.
I was assuming the OP would be hiring a handyman. I thought his labor would be higher than buying a pre-hung from Home Depot. But go with whatever works out cheaper.
I’m not a fan of bifolds. Even on closets they can be a pain. Always jamming, jumping off the track.
