Sliding doors in Galley Cabinets -Tinkering with

[Geron]

I'm playing with the galley cabinets at this point - Got tired of rebuilding the doors over and over again and put them on the back burner Actually I'm waiting on my ss hinge due in today at Fastnall.

I'm sure this is not original but I've overlooked it on the forum if its there.
Why Not:

put the slot for the sliding door in the counter top and omit the bottom rail??

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=287462&c=500&z=1"][/url]

In the photo the bottom rail is installed. Why not just remove it and put the slot in the counter top??

In the process of working I realized the bottom rail is going to get in the way of loading and unloading the cabinets. Sure, It'll keep things from sliding out during transit but seems like a pain to store and retreive over the rail. Another caveat is that the slot in the cabinet top would have a tendency to fill up with "gunk".

Anyone done this??

Geron

[IraRat]

It was killing me that no one replied to this post before, so I felt compelled to do so. I guess sliding doors aren't as exciting as they used to be.

The only thing I DO know about this subject is as it relates to home furniture kits. Those doors just never seem to slide well when it's just sitting in a groove.

But again, those are made by prisoners in China, and I'm sure YOU would do a better job!

[Brad Lustig]

This month's issue of Wood has a build article for a cupboard with sliding doors. It uses slides up top and rollers at the bottom . You may want to pick up a copy to see exactly how they did it. I'd scan it for you, but I just trashed my flatbed scanner.

[Geron]

It was killing me that no one replied to this post before, so I felt compelled to do so. I guess sliding doors aren't as exciting as they used to be.

The only thing I DO know about this subject is as it relates to home furniture kits. Those doors just never seem to slide well when it's just sitting in a groove.

But again, those are made by prisoners in China, and I'm sure YOU would do a better job!

Hey, I'm used to being ignored. I have 4 boys and a wife.

My idea was to omit the bottom rail and put the slot directly in the plywood counter top. I could try it and if I didn't like it I could cover the slot witha a rail. Don't know. Just thinking

Geron

[IraRat]

You're right. What could it hurt, as long as you can easily go the other way if you don't like it?

[fornesto]

Another advantage of sliding doors....you don't have to clear off the counter to get stuff out.

[Dee Bee]

My GRandma had a cupboard with slidding doors in the front. She used to take hard hand and rub in on the part of the door that slid in the groove when ever it got stick. The hard bar soap was a kind of lubricant. It worked, even though it was wood on wood construction.

DEE BEE

[angib]

My GRandma
snip

Or use a candle stub - the wax provides the lubrication.

Andrew

[Ross Wade]

Geron,

I have sliding doors in our galley. Putting a groove in the plywood counter top or into a bottom rail sitting on top , you still run the risk of gunk getting into the track. We have had our tear for about a year and no gunk build up in the tracks. I used 1/4" ply for the doors and dadoed a 5/16" groove in the cabinets before assembly.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dovetail2 ... pg&.src=ph

Ross

[IraRat]

Ross, in photo #6, what's the long white rectangular unit that's strapped down, behind the battery? Is that a water tank?

[Ross Wade]

That's right Ira. It is a 20 gallon tank, recessed into the floor and trailer frame. It has an on-demand water pump. Some of the State and Federal Parks that we go to sometimes don't have good drinking water. Also, I picked the tank up for a very good price.

I wanted the teardrop to be self contained for at least a week, if need be.

Ross

[Chris C]

Geron, I build custon furniture for a living, and the slickest sliding door hardware I've ever used came from Lee Valley Hardware. It was mentioned in a previous thread about a WOOD magazine article. The rollers mentioned are Lee Valley's part number OOB10/26. $11.50 per set. LV's phone number is 1-800-871-8158. Hope this helps you with your project.

[Geron]

Geron, I build custon furniture for a living, and the slickest sliding door hardware I've ever used came from Lee Valley Hardware. It was mentioned in a previous thread about a WOOD magazine article. The rollers mentioned are Lee Valley's part number OOB10.26. $11.50 per set. LV's phone number is 1-800-871-8158. Hope this helps you with your project.

Thanks Chris,

g

[IraRat]

That's right Ira. It is a 20 gallon tank, recessed into the floor and trailer frame

Wow! That's a lot of water!

Where did you get the tank? My plan is to install the Coleman Hot Water On Demand unit, which has a small submersible "pump" attached to the end of a hose that sits in the source water. The unit comes with a 5-gallon collapsible jug (folds flat) that feeds it as the source, but I think for practicality and preliminary galley design (which is where I'm at now), I'd like at least 10 gallons.

By the way, in keeping with the subject of this post, I'm considering using these as access to my upper cabinets, as opposed to sliding or other doors. I ordered two which arrive tomorrow, and if my wife doesn't kill me when the box arrives, I'll see whether they're suitable for this.

Same item I was considering for windows, but don't know if they're up to this demanding job or whether I'm up to the skill level needed to install them in the doors.
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What the heck am I doing wrong? Can't get image to upload!



[img]http://tnttt.com/album_page.php?pic_id=1389[/img]

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I give it up. It has to be a problem with the site.

Ed. note: change the word page to the word pic, and it'll work... thanks Kevin A.

[Brad Lustig]

Thanks for the part numbers and brand, Chris. I didn't have the article in front of me at the time.