Where Can I Buy a Discontinued Door at

How to replace a discontinued cabinet door

The cabinet door. (Reader photo)

Question: My 20-year-old kitchen cabinet doors are wood composite with a white plastic coating. I recently got a new gas range, and the heat melted and warped the plastic on an adjacent cabinet door. I can't find a manufacturer's name anywhere on the cabinets, and I am told that the design on the front, with rounded corners, is no longer made. I don't want to have to replace all 16 of my cabinet doors. Is there any way to repair this or reproduce one door to match the others?

— Falls Church

Answer: From the pictures you sent, it's clear that the plastic coating is thermofoil — a colored layer topped by clear vinyl that's applied to the door in a process that uses a vacuum and heat. Unfortunately, if this kind of finish gets too hot, it melts and deforms. You can't just reheat it and press it back into shape.

There are a few things you can try short of replacing all the doors. First, look around the kitchen or even other rooms to see if you have matching doors the same size and swing direction. If so, you might just need to swap the damaged door for one in a less noticeable place.

You can also try trimming away the melted finish with a sharp utility knife. Fill in for the finish layer with wood putty or an auto-body filler, then prime and paint. (Get matching paint by taking the door to a paint store.)

As a third option, buy a new thermofoil door that's as close a match as possible. Matching the color is relatively easy; the hardest part is finding a matching profile, according to Tom Fowler of Tom's Cabinets & Design in Springfield (703-451-2227; www.tomscabinets.com).

As you've learned, many manufacturers of thermofoil cabinets have moved beyond the door style in your kitchen. They're trying to better mimic the traditional panel-and-frame door, which has a crisp-cornered frame of solid wood around a separate panel. A thermofoil door, by contrast, typically consists of a single piece of medium-density fiberboard shaped with a router to resemble a frame and panel. The rounded corners on the "frame" aren't there as a style statement; they're just the shape that routers cut.

Although manufacturers now try to minimize rounded corners, doors similar to yours are still available. The home page on the Tom's Cabinets Web site has a link to a thermofoil door catalogue that includes doors with rounded corners. (See the Advantage Series.)

If you do decide to replace the door but can't find an exact match, consider replacing nearby doors so everything at close range looks the same. If doors across the room are a little different, only those with young eyes will notice.

Question: My wife inherited a corner cupboard from her grandmother. Unfortunately, the carved marble top has cracked in two. Is there anyone in the D.C. area who can repair or remake it?

— Washington

Although it might be possible to glue the pieces back together, the crack would still be visible. For about the same price, you could get a replacement piece cut to match.

Lori Hethmon, owner of Granite Grannies (301-218-7666; www.granitegrannies.com), a company in Upper Marlboro that fabricates and installs granite and marble countertops, suggested removing the countertop and taking it to a shop like hers to use as a template. "Sometimes people wonder if a new stone would decrease the value of an antique," she wrote in an e-mail. "The answer is no. All stone is old."

If the top has so much sentimental value that you'd rather repair it, the Countertop Guru in Sterling (703-430-0007; www.gurutops.com) can do that, owner Winkhel Sahagun said after taking a look at the pictures you sent. He said in an e-mail that he would clean the crack, add color pastes to polyester adhesive to match the marble color as closely as possible and glue the pieces back together. He'd wait for the adhesive to dry, then polish the top to get the patch material flat and shiny, blending in with the marble.

Sahagun estimated the repair would cost $400 to $600. A replacement piece? About the same, he said.

Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com . Put "How To" in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a photo.

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Where Can I Buy a Discontinued Door at

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/how-to-replace-a-discontinued-cabinet-door/2014/09/16/a68dc0da-38ee-11e4-bdfb-de4104544a37_story.html

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