I have a piece of wood trim in a kitchen cabinet that needs to be replaced. The hinges for a cabinet door attach to it. I need a piece 3/4" x 1-1/8" x 30". The length is easy but my local Home Depot didn’t have anything close to the other two dimensions.
Where can you get a piece of trim like that? Do I have to have it custom made? I have a piece that is 11/16 x 1-1/2 but I don’t have tools that would plane off 3/8" lengthwise really cleanly (I think we did that with a jointer in jr. high wood shop).
It’s possible the Depot may cut it for you. They usually have a saw for cutting plywood sheets that they could clamp a board to and rip to 1 1/8. I don’t know if they will do it though.
Anyone with a table saw, joiner, router, bandsaw, or even a handsaw and plane should be able to do this. If there is a backside to this piece that won’t be seen, a handsaw and sandpaper should do the job.
I have to do this a lot to fit molding and trim in my log cabin. Even though I have a bench jointer, my favorite tool for this is ahand held power planer.
This is standard 1x material. Get a 1x4 and have it ripped to 1 1/8". As noted, anyone with a table saw can do this. Is your cabinet paint of stain grade? If the latter, you’ll need to match the wood and may have to go to a specialty lumber yard. If paint grade, just use maple.
But if the hinges of a cabinet attach to this, it’s probably part of the face frame, not the “trim”.
Trim might not be the right word, although I think “piece of wood” would be accurate. Our cabinet doors are finished in white vinyl; I think there is a vinyl coating rather than paint on the other cabinet woodwork as well.
Cabinet with current piece. Old hinges still attached, to be discarded. The wood is chiseled out for the hinges which I need a new piece (plus there is a big splinter taken out of it.) It is 3/4" depthwise and 1-1/8 across the front. I have a circular saw but I don’t think I can get a straight enough cut. I can ask around to see if someone has a table saw.
The ‘wood’ is probably some kind of laminate. It may not be solid wood in the middle, but real wood painted would be a good replacement. You can cut a piece with a circular saw if you have someplace to clamp it down and clamp down a guide board (any sturdy straight edge will do).
But I should have mentioned before that any kitchen cabinet installer could make a piece like yours using similar material. You could ask at Home Depot, I think they do cabinet installations. If you’re not finding anything else, let me know and I’ll cut you a piece of wood.
When you replace it, get a countersink bit and/or hide the screws behind the hinges if possible so you don’t have big shiny roundhead screws greeting you when you open the door.
It’s probably melamine on particle board. Are those two screws securing it to the body of the cabinet?
It might be easier to work with real wood and then just try to match the paint as closely as possible. But you might be able to buy a piece of 1x melamine and cut it.
I still think your best bet is to find some cabinet installers. They have to cut odd pieces all the time to fit cabinets in varying kitchen dimensions.
I wouldn’t try to replace the entire piece. It’s part of the face frame and it’s not going to separate from the cabinet or the other parts of the face frame easily. You will do more damage trying to remove the piece than there already is.
If you just want to fix the backside where it’s splintered, I would remove the hinge plates and use a trim router with a straight bit to plow out a recess (what carpenters call a rabbet). Then I would glue a thin strip of wood in the rabbet and rout it flush using a flush bit in the trim router. Paint it and replace the hinge plates and it will be good as new. If that is beyond your abilities you should be able to hire someone to do it for not much money. It’s only a couple hours of work at the most.
The reason I was going to replace it was that it was chiseled out for the hinges and I want to replace the hinges. (They’re the hidden type with two pieces, one piece on the door side and one on the cabinet side. The cabinet side is shown still attached in the photo. They allow adjustments on the cabinet piece by turning two different screws that attach it to the door piece, which means they *never *stay adjusted correctly. Also, with kids around, they tend to swing open the door pretty hard which pulls on where they are attached to the cabinet and occasionally the hinges just come apart.)
I am also having a deck built and the carpenter said exactly what **John Mace **said about the 1x4, and offered to rip it for me. Before I go that route I’ll see what can be done without replacing it completely.
Gus Gusterson, I don’t have a router and have no idea what you’re talking about so I guess I’ll get some help on this. (Although it looks like it just screws into the cabinet with 2-3 wood screws. Might be problematic if it’s also glued.)
Side note on asking Home Depot or Lowes to make the cut for you:
This is what I’ve been told at a few different stores (both in the city and out). In theory, their saws are set up to rough cut large sheets to smaller–but relatively larger sizes. The saws are protected by constantly get wacked/knocked by customers and uncaring employees, so the cut line isn’t necessarily straight (degrees-wise). Plus, the nature of the saws (at least at the few I’ve been to, YMMV) limits the width of any particular cut; you won’t be able to ask someone to make a strip less than a few inches.
Again, YMMV, particularly if you get a friendly, competent salesperson (yes, they exist) who is willing to go a bit beyond the guidelines.
I would get a single piece of “filler” from a cabinet shop of even Ikea. White thermofoil finish is what you want. You would have to get it ripped down to the 1 1/8" either with a table saw or circular saw with saw guide.
The alternative is to find a proper lumber store (home depot is pretty poor in all honesty) with a real selection.
Those screws attach the cabinet to the one beside it. The piece in question will not come off after you remove those screws. It is glued to the case (the cabinet “box”) and is probably also screwed to the other face frame pieces with screws you can’t see or access. You will not get that piece out without a lot of work, and you would probably have to replace the entire face frame, not just that piece.
The carpenter building your deck should understand what I wrote, but it sounds to me like the hinges are cheap and you could replace them with quality hinges to solve some of the problems. If the kids swing the door open too far, I would attach a device to limit the door’s travel. I don’t think replacing that piece of wood will solve any of the problems you’re having.
For what it’s worth, this video gives the general idea. The only big difference is that the video shows a six inch wide door jamb, so they have to make up the guide and bushing setup. You’re working with a 3/4" thick piece, so a rabbeting bit would work…
(Although it looks like it just screws into the cabinet with 2-3 wood screws. Might be problematic if it’s also glued.)