[gjones]

Need help with custom medicine cabinet door

I don't know if this is the right forum, but I thought it might be the best. Anyhow, I am looking for some help with a mini project I am doing in my bathroom during my renovation. I do not like any of the medicine cabinets I can afford for a few reasons, and I am building one in the wall behind a mirror that has been chosen.

The mirror is framed with molding on the top and bottom that is screwed to the frame. My intentions are to take the molding off and attach it to the wall and use the framed mirror itself as the door to the medicine cabinet. A friend of mine told me that it would not work, which inspires me even more to make it work.

My question(s) to all of you are in regards to the type of hinges I should use, attachment points, etc. I am relatively new to this type of carpentry, but in no means afraid or in lack of skill. I was thinking 3 hinges to support the weight, one of which I would like to be a soft close.

The wall the mirror will be attached to has a full 2x4 box built for the rough opening of the medicine cabinet, and there are double 2x4s for the mirror to be anchored to. The outside of the medicine cabinet I was planning to border with 1x3 so that the mirror would have room away from the wall to open.

I have provided a picture of the mirror and will provide pictures of the wall itself tomorrow.

I do realize that this will not be easy, and I do realize that I will probably fail at some point in this and have to redo something, but its something that I want to do. I appreciate any help anyone can give. Thanks!

Graham

 

[gcan]

sorry I don't have your answer but have been wanting to do the same, actually looks like we have the same mirror.

I removed a standard medicine cabinet so I have the whole but the wooden mirror looks so much better to me now if I can only figure to hinge it to swing open.

I'm watching :thumbsup:

 

[kaschmid3]

Can u leave the 1x3 trim around the mirror now (either paint or stain to match room) an then just hinge off the wood that is already attached to the mirror

 

[Blondesense]

The mirror is framed with molding on the top and bottom that is screwed to the frame. My intentions are to take the molding off and attach it to the wall and use the framed mirror itself as the door to the medicine cabinet. A friend of mine told me that it would not work, which inspires me even more to make it work.

Do you have the mirror already? Is it solid wood? One concern is will it hold up to daily use/abuse. After all, it's made to just hang on a wall.
As you mentioned, I don't see it working with the top and bottom trims in place. And if you can remove the trim, what will you do with the exposed, unfinished edges?
So if you are going to go to all this trouble, why not just start with a mirror that will work?

Hinging this can be a challenge. You might consider a piano hinge just for ease of installation.

 

[chitownken]

If the top and bottom molding will be attached to the wall, you could drill through the molding and into the frame from the top and bottom and insert steel pins and bushings to server as the hinge. The pins would need to be glued into the frame and the bushings would need to be glued into the moldings. you would need to pay attention to placement so that there would be clearance to swing open the mirror.

 

[gjones]

Kaschmid3 - the 1x3 would remain intact, only the crown-type trim would be removed from the mirror frame itself and attached to the wall.

Blondesense - That is one thing that has been in the back of my head, if it will hold up. I am probably better off starting with some nice oak and building it myself as if it were a cabinet door, then having a mirror cut to fit. If I were to stay with this mirror, I would stain the unfinished edges to match. Being that they are not readily visible, I could get away with a mismatch in the color. A piano hinge was one of my first thoughts.

Chitownken - That is actually a pretty trick idea. That would definitely take the load off of the frame as with hinges. Hmm...


After further inspection of the mirror, it definitely would not hold up to daily use as it is just stapled together...

Time to get the woodworking equipment setup...