Redemption

[jteneyck]

You may remember my slice of humble pie posting a few weeks ago, where, because of an error I made creating the drawing, and not making a story stick, I built some doors that were too narrow for the opening.  Well, after digesting that for a few days I proposed a "fix", or to build new doors.  The fix was to add a piece of stock between the doors, attached to one door.  The drawing looked like this, except the new piece would have grooves in it just like the door panels. 




I didn't hear anything from the customer for over a week, so I contacted her to get her reaction.  She said she might be OK with it, but said she wanted to use a piece of rosewood for contrast.  OK, if you can find a piece of rosewood veneer, I'll use that.  Another week passed so I contacted her again.  This time she said she just didn't like the whole idea and would like to have new doors.  OK, I'll do that.  

But I'm pig headed at times, so I decided to build the center pieces and take the reworked doors to her and tell her to live with them for a couple of weeks.  If she still hated them, I'd make new ones.  Today was the day, and here's what they look like. 



The center panels are attached to the right doors.  There is a 3/8" groove on both edges of the panel to match the 3/8" horizontal gap between the two sets of doors.  



There is an astragal let into a rabbett on the back of the left door that fits into a rabbett in the right door to cover the gap between the doors.  






She didn't say much when I was there, but later I got a text apologizing for not paying me (I didn't expect her to today.) and that the doors were growing on her.  I take that as a good sign.  

As a side note, I used:  [font="Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Blum Compact Clip Soft-Close 5/8" Overlay, 2-Piece Screw-On [/font]hinges from WoodWorker's Hardware.  They are the only compact faceframe soft close hinges I've found with the clip-on feature and 3-way adjustability.  The clip-on feature made installation so much easier, especially when I had to take them down and then reinstall them.  Very nice hinges and features.  

John

[stav]

I think your solution looks great.  As a personal preference, I don't care for doors where you have to open one side to open the other so I would have split the added rail down the middle and put half on each door. Otherwise, I like the look of a central rail that is not one.

Good solution.

[jteneyck]

I think your solution looks great.  As a personal preference, I don't care for doors where you have to open one side to open the other so I would have split the added rail down the middle and put half on each door. Otherwise, I like the look of a central rail that is not one.

Good solution.

I agree, but the problem with no astragal is there would be an open gap between the doors.  That's usually not a problem for small gaps, but she wanted a 3/8" gap to match all the others in her kitchen, and that is wide enough that you can look through to the stuff sitting on the pull-out shelves inside the cabinet.  Those pull-out shelves negated any chance to add something inside the cabinet to block the view, so an astragal on one of the doors was the only way to deal with it.    

John

[stav]

I agree, but the problem with no astragal is there would be an open gap between the doors.  That's usually not a problem for small gaps, but she wanted a 3/8" gap to match all the others in her kitchen, and that is wide enough that you can look through to the stuff sitting on the pull-out shelves inside the cabinet.  Those pull-out shelves negated any chance to add something inside the cabinet to block the view, so an astragal on one of the doors was the only way to deal with it.    

John

Ok, I missed that detail. In that case, I say it is great as is.

[iublue]

Great fix John.

No one will ever know except you and her!!

I always say that you have two options for a mistake.
1.  Hide it or
2.  Accentuate it and make it a design feature!

[iclark]

Nice job!

I think that it turned out great.

[Petertaylor]

Great solution, John! It must have been a relief to realize there was a way to do it without starting over. And to have homeowner accept it. —Peter

[jteneyck]

Great solution, John! It must have been a relief to realize there was a way to do it without starting over. And to have homeowner accept it. —Peter

Thanks Peter, but I don't know if the owner is OK with it yet, or not.  She was expecting me to build new doors.  When I finished modifying the undersized doors, I said I wanted to install the doors.  I didn't say the new doors, but I'm sure that's what she was expecting.  So when I showed up yesterday and she saw they were the same doors, she didn't look very happy.  I think with some time she'll be OK with them, but that's not a definite quite yet. 

John

[fredhargis]

That is a nice solution, even nicer if she comes out OK. Well done.

[goredsus]

I agree with others that is a great solution and I hope she approves.

I also appreciate all the time John spends answering other’s questions.