sliding door medicine cabinet

[Cooler]

I want to build a new medicine cabinet with a sliding door.  The purpose is to make a much larger mirror than the cabinet itself (which is limited by the location of the studs which I don't want to cut).

My plan is to make a mirror with a wood frame in the Shaker style.  The frame will be about 2" wide.  

I  was thinking of using sliding drawer hardware.  Has anyone seen this done?  Any tips?

Would self-closing hardware be wise?  Would I need two sets of hardware to make this work?

Is this even a good idea?

I could make a larger face frame and a swinging door.  But to accomplish what I want the left side of the face frame would be 3" wide and the right side would have to be 6" wide.  It would look fine when the door was closed, but distinctly odd when the door was open.  But that would be an easy build for me.  

If I make the sliding version the lack of symetry would not be obvious, but visitors would not know how to open the door.  

So I am on the fence on this.  

The old cabinet had no frame was all mirror.  That is an option too, and that would resolve the problem of the too small mirror.  I just didn't like the look of that cabinet.

[jteneyck]

I've seen drawer slides used for sliding doors.   They look a little strange to me but maybe you could recess them enough, or add a piece of trim on one side, so they wouldn't be too noticeable from the side.  

I don't know if this idea will work for you but I made a mirror door like this to cover my recessed cabinet:





You have to use a 165° Blum hinge with a 0 mm base, and maybe a restrictor clip, too, to get the large (about 37 mm, I think) of overlay required, but it worked for me.  Salice has a similar solution.  

John

[Cooler]

It's over a sink, so that would not work.  

I may have to simply use unframed mirror instead.  It would give me  the mirror width I need.

Right now you would have to lean your shoulder against one wall to see yourself shaving.

[jteneyck]

It's over a sink, so that would not work.  

I may have to simply use unframed mirror instead.  It would give me  the mirror width I need.

Right now you would have to lean your shoulder against one wall to see yourself shaving.

I don't understand.  Mine's over a sink.  What's the issue?

John

[Cooler]

I don't understand.  Mine's over a sink.  What's the issue?

John

OK.  Now I see how it would work.  I might do that exact same thing.  It gives more square inches of mirror.

[Stwood_]

Well apparently I didn't hit post yesterday.




Mount a FE ball brg slide, top and bottom on the cab surround (on the face), then attach a framed mirror to the slides.

Sliding mirror.

[Cooler]

Well apparently I didn't hit post yesterday.




Mount a FE ball brg slide, top and bottom on the cab surround (on the face), then attach a framed mirror to the slides.

Sliding mirror.

That was my initial thought.  But one set for top and bottom, or two sets and throw out two of the tracks.

Also, will a self close work?  

I put two self close hinges on the current door and it takes about a half hour for the door to close.  (That might be a hyperbole, but it does take a very long time to close.  I should have used just one self-close and one plain hinge.)

[jteneyck]

That was my initial thought.  But one set for top and bottom, or two sets and throw out two of the tracks.

Also, will a self close work?  

I put two self close hinges on the current door and it takes about a half hour for the door to close.  (That might be a hyperbole, but it does take a very long time to close.  I should have used just one self-close and one plain hinge.)

You mean soft close.  Self close close instantly.  Anyway, you can turn off the soft close feature.  There's a little toggle on it; flip one of them the other way. Sometimes you have open and close the door again before it deactivates.  On lighter doors you often need only one soft close to be active.  

John

[Cooler]

You mean soft close.  Self close close instantly.  Anyway, you can turn off the soft close feature.  There's a little toggle on it; flip one of them the other way. Sometimes you have open and close the door again before it deactivates.  On lighter doors you often need only one soft close to be active.  

John

Yes.  Soft close.  

I updated my kitchen cabinets with one soft-close per cabinet.  And I left one slam close on each one.  A pretty easy upgrade.

[Stwood_]

That was my initial thought.  But one set for top and bottom, or two sets and throw out two of the tracks.

That hasn't sunk in yet.......? (EDIT) I meant me, in that I haven't figured out what you mean by throwing 2 of the tracks out. What tracks?