Cabinet Door Glass

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See the Factors That Influence Price and Lead Time for Cabinet Door Glass & Mirror

Contents

Planning Your Cabinet Glass or Mirror Upgrade

Understanding Your Timeline for Ordering Glass

Try to coordinate your glass installation so that it happens really late in the process of your renovation. The best way to do this is just to wait until the time actually comes for the glass to arrive instead of planning months ahead. It’s not a bad idea to pick out the glass far in advance, but to actually have it installed should be something that’s done right at the end when all other considerations have already happened. Since construction projects are often delayed, it’s more the norm that it is not.

If you do order your glass too soon, you’ll have the issue of storing it. Because of glass’s fragile nature, the more it’s moved around, the more likely it is to break or have other issues. So, when in doubt, try to get the glass into its final location as soon as possible.

Choosing Glass or Mirror That Enhances Your Decor

Start by considering your overall interior design. This is the place to start when you’re thinking about the style of glass or mirror that you want for your cabinets.

Remember that glass or mirror can be an effective way to highlight or hide whatever items you have inside the cabinets themselves. So if necessary, it’s a good way to create the illusion of tidiness, even when it may not actually be there.

Assessing the Impact on Your Kitchen’s Aesthetics

Another consideration is how the lighting that’s already in the space will be reflected by glass or mirror in your cabinets.

Think about how the sight lines will be affected by using especially mirror in your cabinet doors. It’s a classic scenario where once mirror is installed in a kitchen, you realize that whenever you’re doing anything, like at a certain spot in that kitchen, you will be staring right at yourself because the mirrors reflect at eye level.

Budgeting for Your Glass or Mirror Cabinet Doors

Understanding Pricing Factors

Glass and mirror, especially decorative glass and mirror, can vary when it comes to cost quite a bit. So, it’s important to keep in mind that something simple and basic may be much less expensive than something more decorative.

The best way to understand pricing is to just talk to a local professional, send them or bring in the actual cabinet doors themselves and discuss options.

• Glass and mirror prices vary quite a bit depending on your location because much glass and mirror is imported.
• So, depending on how far you are from that product and when it is imported, the price itself may change quite a bit.

Installation of Cabinet Glass or Mirror

DIY vs. Professional Installation

In general, I think it’s a good idea to work with a professional. Buying glass and mirror is something that requires a specialized shop. So, if you’re already procuring the material that way, usually they offer those services as an add-on.

Though DIY installation, depending on the type of door, may be very easy. The big variable is whether or not your cabinet doors come with clips that allow for installation.

There are a few gotchas including:

• Thickness of the glass
• How the edge of the glass is treated

that may complicate things slightly. When in doubt, talk to a professional. They can help you out.

Fitting Glass into Cabinet Doors

It really depends how the door is made. Like I mentioned, prefab doors, or those that are just bought from the store, usually have something in them like a hook or a channel or a guided track or gasket that you can use to install glass in the doors. They’ll also have instructions about how to install the glass and also how to properly size the glass.

If you’re having your cabinets made for your kitchen, you should definitely talk to your cabinet maker prior to anything to understand their vision for how this is done.

The other consideration to make is weight. Glass can be quite heavy, so you need to make sure that the hinges of the doors can support the weight of the glass in any case.

Another consideration is if you have a safe workspace to handle and install the glass. Glass should always be sanded on its edge to prevent sharpness and sized correctly when you get it. But these aren’t always the case. So, you will have to handle, layout, and then manipulate the glass in your space if you go the DIY route. So, if you don’t have all those things set up in a user-friendly way, I wouldn’t recommend handling or working with glass at all.

Reinstalling Cabinet Doors After Glass Installation

The other consideration that may or may not be DIY friendly is re-hanging the doors. Again, prefab doors are typically made with these considerations in mind. So, they may have clips that are built into the hinges that allow the door hinges to attach to the cabinet hinges. Other doors, if they’re older or for whatever reason haven’t had this made simple, can be difficult.

So, you need to make sure that you’re comfortable working with and installing cabinet doors. It’s an easy project to hire a handyman for, though. So, if you are having trouble, or the doors are a little bit big, or for whatever reason you need a hand, it’s a good project to talk to a handyman about coming and helping out with, which shouldn’t be too expensive.

Ensure proper alignment and secure attachment to prevent sagging or damage.