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Measuring for Replacement Doors

Measure three times, because the door is made once

A replacement door is cut to the dimensions on the order form, and a sixteenth of an inch of error is usually the difference between a door that hangs well and one that binds. Unlike a paint color, a wrong door cannot be adjusted by the supplier, so the entire burden sits on the measurements you give. A tape, a pencil, a notepad and an hour of patience are all that is required.

Gather the right tools

A steel tape measure with clear sixteenth-inch marks, or a rigid ruler for small openings.
A pencil and a pad, or a spreadsheet printed with a row for each door.
A small square, to check whether openings are square.
Painter's tape and a marker, for labeling.
A flashlight, for looking at hinges and the interior of the frame.

Step one: map the kitchen

Draw a simple sketch of each wall of cabinets, as seen from the front. Number every door and drawer from left to right and top to bottom. Add a note of whether each door is hinged on the left or right, and whether it is part of a pair. Without a map, the data become a confusing list in an hour.

Then place a small label of tape inside each cabinet with the same number. When new doors arrive, the numbers keep every piece in its proper opening.

Step two: measure the existing doors

Take the old door off, or measure it in place. Record width and height at the widest and narrowest points. Doors warp, and a door that measures five-eighths wider at the top than at the bottom has changed shape. The largest figure is the one that was designed, and the smallest shows the damage.

Check the thickness, usually three quarters of an inch, and note the style: flat, raised or recessed panel. This is also the time to note whether the door is inset, partial overlay or full overlay, by looking at how it sits against the frame.

Step three: measure the opening

Measure the opening itself, the clear space between the inside edges of the frame, at the top, middle and bottom for width, and at left, center and right for height. Record all three of each. A frame that has twisted or shrunk will show up in the differences, and the smallest dimension controls the fit.

For frameless cabinets, which have no face frame, the opening is the edge of the box. The door covers the edge by a fixed amount, and the measurement is from outside edge to outside edge of the cabinet.

Step four: determine overlay

Overlay is how much of the frame the door covers. Measure it by closing the old door and checking the distance from the edge of the door to the edge of the opening on each side. The usual values are three-eighths, half or five-eighths of an inch for older face-frame cabinets, and nearly the full frame width on modern ones.

The overlay is a choice you can change, but your hinges must be compatible. If the new overlay is larger than the old, doors will cover more of the frame, and neighboring doors will have smaller gaps between them. Check that neighboring doors will not collide at the corners.

Step five: calculate the door size

For a single door on a standard overlay, the formula is simple.

Width of door equals opening width plus the overlay on the hinge side plus the overlay on the latch side.
Height of door equals opening height plus the overlay at the top plus the overlay at the bottom.

For a pair of doors in a single opening, each door's width is the opening width plus twice the overlay, minus a small gap between the doors, and the total divided by two. A gap of one eighth of an inch is typical.

When doors share a frame member with a neighbor, as when two cabinets sit side by side with a single stile between them, the overlay on that side must be split so the two doors do not overlap. Divide the width of the stile by two to find the maximum overlay each door can have, and then leave an eighth-inch reveal.

Step six: hinge boring

If the doors are to come pre-bored for concealed hinges, the supplier needs three details. The first is the diameter of the hole, usually thirty-five millimeters. The second is the distance from the edge of the door to the center of the hole, often called the cup distance, usually between three and a half and five millimeters from the edge of the hole to the edge of the door. The third is the position of the hinges along the height: a common arrangement is a hinge about three inches from the top and bottom of the door, with a third in the center on tall doors.

Taller doors need more hinges. Doors under about forty inches typically use two, doors between forty and sixty use three, and taller pantry doors use four or more. Heavy solid wood doors may need an extra hinge.

If the existing hinges are being reused, record their position. The new door's bore must line up with the existing mounting plates on the frame, or the plates must be moved.

Drawer fronts

A drawer front covers the drawer box and a margin of the frame around it. Measure the drawer opening in the frame, add the overlay on each side, and subtract a small gap between adjacent drawers. For a stack of drawers, consider the vertical gap between them, often an eighth of an inch, and keep it consistent for all.

The old drawer fronts may be attached from inside with screws, and the screw positions help locate the new front. A thin sheet of cardboard cut to the size of the old front gives a trial fit before the order is placed.

Checking for square

Measure the two diagonals of each opening, from corner to opposite corner. If they differ by more than a sixteenth of an inch, the opening is out of square. Order the door to the smallest opening dimension, and plan to adjust at the hinge. A parallelogram-shaped opening with a rectangular door will show uneven gaps on one side, but a small amount can be hidden by a careful hinge adjustment.

Appliance and special cases

Dishwasher and refrigerator panels: measure the appliance front, not the cabinet frame, and follow the manufacturer's panel instructions.
Corner cabinets: a bifold or diagonal door needs the angle of the corner and the width of each leaf.
False drawer fronts: measure the frame opening and add overlay, since there is no drawer box behind it.
Arched tops: provide a template of the arch as well as the maximum width and height.

Tolerances to keep in mind

Most door makers work to a tolerance of about one sixteenth of an inch. Aim for the opening plus overlay, then reduce the width by a sixteenth if the frame is irregular. Gaps between doors should be around an eighth of an inch. Too tight and the doors rub after a humid season. Too loose and the kitchen looks sloppy.

Verify before sending

Re-measure every dimension on the sheet, preferably on another day.
Check that the sum of the door widths in a row, plus the gaps, matches the total cabinet run.
Confirm the hinge side of each door.
Read the order back to the supplier, and ask for a written confirmation with the dimensions.

When the doors arrive, measure a few of them with the same tape before opening the rest. A small check at the start can save a long delay, and catching a mismatch early gives the supplier time to fix it.