Unequally Sized Doors on a Corner Cabinet

Is it okay for the doors on a corner cabinet to be slightly different widths? Opinions here say yes. November 23, 2012

Question
I'm building a frameless kitchen. I was planning on pie cut corner base cabinet, 36x36. I have a situation with 38" on one side and no problem on the other side, but I would like the other side to stay at 36" because adjoining that is a 3 drawer base, and they plan on using that cabinet for pots, and I hate cutting down on drawer size. This will leave me with one door 2" wider than the other. The main hinge on cabinet and door needs to be the narrower of the two doors. So you would be opening the wider door first and then folding on smaller. Does this work? I use Salice hinges.

Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor D:
I cannot answer your question for sure because I use Blum hinges, but I think it would work with those. Why not make a mockup, even with just 1 hinge and particleboard, to make sure? What is on the 38" side that you cannot make it 36" and the others 2" larger?



From the original questioner:
There's a sink cabinet on the 38" side. If I make the sink cabinet wider, I need to make it 4" wider to keep it centered in the window. This kills the space next to the dishwasher. I'm thinking those corner doors won't look right if they are different sizes.


From contributor J:
The doors do not need to fold together to open. When you pull the doors open, they tend to straighten out, not fold together. You should not have a problem.


From contributor E:
The other guys are correct. You can indeed make the two door sizes different.


From the original questioner:
Does that provide for a gap between the two doors at corner? I usually have a gap at corner. Not sure if it's needed or not.


From contributor E:
No, in this case the doors meet corner to corner. If slight adjustments are necessary, they can be made at installation. Also, a minimum gap of 2mm is needed between the edge of door "B" and an adjoining cabinet door or other structure (dishwasher, etc.).


From contributor E:
The corner doors being unequal will look fine. The sink stays centered and it's all good. Even though it makes more sense to hinge the larger door to the box, in this case your doors are only maybe 12" and 10" or so by 29" - not that large. Pie cut hinges and a 170° hinge system will work fine. Look carefully at the possibility of hinging the larger door even though you think it should go the other way; it may provide plenty of access.

I think in general these easy reach corner doors will not take much abuse or hanging on by kids.



From contributor D:
I agree, doors look fine in different sizes. I laid it out in CV and could hardly notice the difference in 3D, and I generally like things to look symmetrical.


From contributor E:
That makes sense; since the 2 doors are on different planes, your eyes are going to play a little perspective trick on your brain anyway.