ratio of door size to case size

[John S]

I am building an arts and crafts style small end table/chest for SWMBO. Approx. 22" high; 24" long; 14" deep (approx as in illustration below). It will have a small 3-4" drawer at top, then enclosed storage space below. Debate is that SWMBO prefers one single door (18" wide); I am convinced that this could be a aethestic and practical problem, given the narrow case depth (14"). I propose 2 doors (each about 9" wide). Anyone want to take my side?

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[Doug Goulden]

Not in a public forum where MY SWMBO might see :/

[Robert Bonomi]

First thought: how much space will there be in front of where-ever this table/chest will end up? An 18" door calls for probably 3-1/2 to 4 feet of free space, to allow someone to (a) be in front of the cabinet _and_ (b) swing the door fully open.

Unless you put a 'dvider' down the middle of the opening, and leave a 'gap' between the two doors, there is _not_ going to be a _major_ esthetic difference between the two approaches.

Essentially the difference will be where the hardware is -- symmetric, or asymmetric.

That all said, _I_ would go for the double doors (latching to themselves), simply on grounds of 'efficiency' -- less space required to get into the cabinet, and can get into _either_ half with equal ease.

On the other hand, consider _who_ the "customer" is. And what the customer wants. There's an old saying: 'the customer is always ....'.

Related words of wisdom, from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long: "In a domestic argument, if it turns out you are right... apologize *immediately*."

[loutent]

I would definitely go with the two door configuration for both aesthetic & practical reasons.

On the other hand, you & I are both wrong on this.

;->

Lou

[Larry Jaques]

On 18 Nov 2004 17:04:09 -0800, [e-mail] (John S) calmly ranted:

Agreed, double doors would look better. How about asking her if you can make the single door -look- like doubles? Put a stile in the middle with a deep kerf in it (maybe even at 45°) and do the edge treatment as if it were double doors. That would render both the aesthetics you like and give it her single-door functionality.

[patriarch]

loutent wrote in news:191120040842436557% [e-mail]:

Make a mockup in cardboard. Show it to her. Do what she decides. Fix it later.

Lou's right. So's the customer. There's a reason for the acronym SWMBO.

Patriarch

[Bill Wallace]

You "can" do this as the wiffey has requested although it is somewhat unorthodox. However I think the two door method might look just a little bit like every boring bathroom cabinet ever made and maybe she is on to something here.

I would accentuate the asymmetry to create a balanced esthetic. One way to do this would be to use a barn door or strap type hinge setup and a strap type door pull to add some weight to the edges. You can use some nice craftsman style wrought iron and keep true to the style.

I've added some items to the graphic below to show you what I mean. BW