Going from solid cabinet door to windowed glass door

alicat32908

Has anybody had their solid cabinet doors switched out to one with glass windows? Did you use the original cabinet door and just have a panel cut out to make room for the glass panels or did you buy ready made doors? 

lshoes32

My SIL did it in her kitchen she made stained glass panels, and my brother used his router to cut out the centers. They installed them with tiny quarter round inside the doors, as I remember. Looks awesome, and you would never know they weren't custom. 

FoxinFiji

lshoes32:

My SIL did it in her kitchen she made stained glass panels, and my brother used his router to cut out the centers. They installed them with tiny quarter round inside the doors, as I remember. Looks awesome, and you would never know they weren't custom. 

Yes you normally use a router to create a small ledge for the glass to sit against.  On the back you normally try to recess in a frame to be flush or near flush with the back of the doors.  The four pieces of the frame are glued and nailed together independent of the door then it is held into place with some small pieces that turn into place (exactly the same pieces as some picture frames have).  Does that make sense?

alicat32908

FoxinFiji:

lshoes32:

My SIL did it in her kitchen she made stained glass panels, and my brother used his router to cut out the centers. They installed them with tiny quarter round inside the doors, as I remember. Looks awesome, and you would never know they weren't custom. 

Yes you normally use a router to create a small ledge for the glass to sit against.  On the back you normally try to recess in a frame to be flush or near flush with the back of the doors.  The four pieces of the frame are glued and nailed together independent of the door then it is held into place with some small pieces that turn into place (exactly the same pieces as some picture frames have).  Does that make sense?

  I see what you mean.  That makes sense.  We don't have the necessary tools (like a router) so we would probably pay a friend to do it, but it's nice to know that it isn't hard to do.  I only want to do a couple cabinet doors, not the whole kitchen. 

lanyac

Do you know if you can do this with fake wood cabinets?

Pamela05

DH and I just did it on 3 doors.  He, like the others, use a router to carefully cut out the center panel leaving the quarter round as a ledge for the glass to sit on from the back.  Then I followed the directions for replacing a window pane in a wood sashed window (glazing putty, glass points - tiny metal tabs).  They were a bit messy from the backside, but with practice I'm sure I could get it looking nicer.  I chose to use the glazing that comes in a tube for the caulk gun instead of the tub that you have to roll out like clay.

~NB~

Just keep in mind that when you ORDER glass front cabinets, they stain the interior to match the exterior, because the interior will be visible. Otherwise, the interior is unstained. It may be a very different color, especially if your cabinets are dark.