Thread: Routing Handleless Doors

Originally Posted by sprog1

Hi everyone, I want to make some kitchen doors with no handles, the type with the top front edge rounded, & the top rear bevelled. My question is, can you get one router bit to do both jobs, ie bevel & rounding the front edge, or do I have to buy 2 router bits, one for each job, if so, which bits do I buy? I will be useing MDF, 18 to 20mm.
Thanks

i have done a lot of these, both in a commercial qty such as high rise apartment kitchens, and domestic kitchens, and have found using a router table with a 30° cutter the way to go if you dont have a tablesaw at your disposal.

as someone else has said, round off the face of the door first before doing the chamfer.

the L shape profile that someone esle has posted up is also handy. I have seen a simple white kitchen look awesome bu using aluminium L & U shape chanel behind the doors and those colour LED light strips used. Looks great at night.

Originally Posted by CMB

Just my opinion mate. I've done a lot of work with it. It's a very impressive medium, however I personally fail to see the $ value in it, nor do I regard it as a practical choice.

For starters, there are strict fabrication guidelines that must be adhered to (for very good reason) which ultimately makes it more labour intensive and somewhat less versatile than other benchtop materials. When fabricated and installed, it most often finished/polished to a relatively high gloss level. This regularly leads to disappointment by the client once they start to use it as a benchtop/work surface. Visually, it is not as resilient to light scratching as natural or reconstituted stone, and heavily used areas will eventually appear very dull in contrast to rest of the surface. A matt level of finish will help combat this and can still look very nice, but it tends to lessens the 'wow' factor.

Also, and this may sound a bit corny, but for me the kitchen is or should be the heart of any household. It is a place of nurturing, comfort and warmth. I find that solid surface detracts from the overall character and feel of a kitchen by creating an almost clinical environment.

I'm far from being anti-solid surface, but I personally and most definitely wouldn't have it as an everyday work surface.

Hi Craig, thanks for that information, i've always wondered,if, after a year or so, they would look the same, now I know. The price over here also puts most people off.

Originally Posted by GCP310

i have done a lot of these, both in a commercial qty such as high rise apartment kitchens, and domestic kitchens, and have found using a router table with a 30° cutter the way to go if you dont have a tablesaw at your disposal.

as someone else has said, round off the face of the door first before doing the chamfer.

the L shape profile that someone esle has posted up is also handy. I have seen a simple white kitchen look awesome bu using aluminium L & U shape chanel behind the doors and those colour LED light strips used. Looks great at night.

Thanks GCP i'm going to give it a go

message me if you need further info, i can give you some detail drawings that i do on my personal jobs if you get stuck.