Cabinet Door Project.

While we were stationary in Reedsville John was working on a cabinet door project in the living room of the motor home; we have been debating what to do with these doors since we took delivery of the mothership in 2006. There were glass panels in these doors when we purchased the unit but we did not want to display china or knickknacks in these two cabinets,  we needed storage space; the view that the glass panels allowed was less than desirable.

 

The original glass panels, nice but not practical for us; we wanted storage above the TV and we use the tall cabinet as a food pantry.

 

We made our first attempt to obscure visibility through the glass by attaching a fogged vinyl sheet to the back of each glass panel. This was relatively quick and easy but this still allowed a clouded view of what was in the cabinet; when we started full-timing we quickly decided that we wanted an opaque covering for these panels.

We thought that an imitation wood covering would be best but we were unable to locate a covering that came close to matching the cherry interior of the mothership. Sandy looked for a vinyl covering that matched the colors of the woodwork and walls; when she found something she was happy with she cut pieces that were attached to the outside of the glass panels.

 

This covering was an improvement.

 

 

The opaque covering was a definite improvement over the fogged vinyl as it obscured what was in the cabinets. Sandy was not totally happy with this covering so when it started to peel off we knew it was time to replace it. This time we decided to remove the glass panels and replace them with plywood panels.

Back in Wisconsin we knew we would have enough down time to replace the glass panels and put them in our storage unit. We made several stops at home improvement stores but were unable to find cherry plywood in the quarter-inch thickness that would fit into the doors; we purchased birch plywood and cherry stain to do the job.

John cut the birch plywood to fit the doors using the 6 inch circular-saw that he carries in our motorhome tool chest. The panels were hand sanded and stained, the color match was close enough to proceed with finishing. After three hand rubbed coats of  satin polyurethane, the panels were secured in the doors with a clear adhesive caulk.

 

The panels after being stained; there is one extra long panel due to the size of the sheet they were cut from, we used the two that matched the best.

 

Checking the color.

 

The panels are not an identical match for the raised panels of the factory made doors but they are close enough for us and are a certain improvement over the original glass panels. We hope this fix lasts until we are ready to part with our home-on-wheels at some point in the future.

 

A close match that is practical for our use.