Kitchen Cabinet Doors FAQ

Solid wood, while great for furniture, is not ideal for kitchen cabinet doors. Solid wood is prone to warping and can swell and contract with changes in humidity which can cause cracks to form at the joints. To ensure perfectly finished doors without cracks we use 100% Canadian softwood fibre. Our medium density fibreboard (MDF) allows us to produce doors that are super smooth and allow for a high degree of detail – perfect for painted doors. MDF offers a high degree of water resistance which is ideal for kitchens and bathrooms.

By using Sherwin Williams paint on all our kitchen cabinet doors, we’ve partnered with a well-known, global brand with years of experience manufacturing quality products. Even better? You can easily paint face frames to match your Nieu doors by picking up the corresponding paint from your local Sherwin Williams supplier.

Our doors are painted in a satin finish with an 18% gloss meter.

All our doors are available either as a frame or as a frame with mullions so that glass inserts can be installed. We do not supply glass for doors. We suggest you source the glass and installation from a glass installation expert in your local area. Frame or mullions doors will have a groove on the back that allows for glass installation.

Depends on the style of the door you have selected but for the majority the maximum height is 5 ¼” for the drawer front to have the same detail as the doors. For drawer fronts smaller than this size we will produce a flat or “slab” style front. For more information visit the web page of the door style you are interested in and view the PDF spec sheet for more details. Go to main door page and click on your door.

In our opinion, a two-piece door is a better product than the traditional method of pocketing or machining out the center panels. Our method produces doors that allow for easier finishing, are less prone to warping, and provide a more stable finished product.

Hinge boring refers to the 35mm holes that are drilled into the back of a door to accommodate the cup of a concealed hinge. We bore hinge holes at a standard measurement of 3.75” On-Centre. This means that the hinge hole will be drilled 3.75” from the top of the door to the centre of the top hinge hole and 3.75” from the bottom of the door to the centre of the bottom hinge hole.

Hinges are comprised of two parts. The actual hinge is the piece that looks like an arm and gets attached to your door by inserting it in the hinge hole and screwing it into place. The second piece is the hinge plate, it kind of looks like a wing, it’s this piece that gets attached to the inside of your cabinet by two screws. We don’t want your new hinge plates to screw into the same holes as your old hinge plates. Most cabinet boxes are made from melamine panels that have a chipboard centre and these panels really don’t do well if the same hole is used for multiple screws. So when you install your new hinge plates it is important that they screw into an untouched section of your cabinet interior – this will ensure they hold strong.

Hinges can be complicated. To simplify we’ve given you the hinges most common in kitchens on the order form. The 110 degree soft close hinge is the one you will need for the majority of your doors. We supply a refacing plate which is good for both framed and frameless cabinets. If you need a hinge that we don’t offer let us know and we’ll do our best to find a solution. Please see our downloadable Nieu Door Guide for information on corner cabinet hinges.

No, this is definitely better done onsite. This way you can make sure you place them exactly where you want once you see the door hanging in your kitchen. Remember to drill these holes from the front of the door, use a pencil to mark each hole location and use a jig if possible to ensure consistent placement.

Panels or paint, the choice is yours. We prefer Panels naturally. Panels are simply that, 3/4” thick panels that are painted to match your doors. They screw on to the side (or gables as they are known) of your cabinets from the inside and are a great way to change the color of the exterior. For best results when measuring for panels simply match the height of the cabinet side and then measure the width. Add an extra 7/8” of an inch to create a framed or boxed look for your cabinets.

Tip: if you want a truly custom look, order doors (without hinge boring) instead of flat panels for the sides of your cabinets. The measuring process is the same.

We sell toe kicks, fillers and light valance trim in standard lengths of 95” and a standard height of 5”. These can be cut to size and installed on top of your existing toe kicks either using an adhesive or a pin nailer in an inconspicuous spot. Light valance can be cut to size and installed under your cabinets for a finished look and/or to hide under cabinet lighting. Or they can be installed at the top of your cabinet as a filler. So handy!

We know that color is important in achieving your dream kitchen, which is why our designers selected colors from the industry leader, Sherwin Williams. Each of our colors has been selected to be on-trend, decor friendly, and stylish for your kitchen cabinet doors.  Order a sample kit today or pick up paint swatches at your local Sherwin Williams.

We do! We make custom panels that match your door style for panel-ready appliances. These are custom sized per your manufacturer’s specifications. Panel ready appliances can be: fridge, freezer, dishwasher, wine fridge, ice maker, beverage fridge and more! 

Framed kitchens can have a variety of different door overlays. Overlay refers to the amount by which a door is larger than the opening or overlays the framed cabinet opening.

We are going to discuss how to measure for new doors assuming your kitchen has the industry standard ½” door overlay. A ½” overlay simply means that your door will be ½” larger on all 4 sides than the opening it covers.

Say your single door cabinet opening is 15”w x 30” tall. If we add ½” to all four sides we get a door size of 16” x 31”, so the size of the door you need to order is 16” wide x 31” high.

For a cabinet opening that is 28” x 30”, you will require 2 doors to cover the opening. In this case we will simply divide 28” by 2 doors and then add the ½’ overlay to three sides only. So our measurement looks like this. Divide the 28” opening by 2 doors to get 14”. Add 1/2“ to the 14” width for the hinge side overlay only. For the height add the standard ½” to the top and bottom for the overlay and you end up with a door size of 14 ½ ” wide x 31” tall. The concealed hinges we supply will allow you to adjust the doors so that they don’t touch in the middle when closed.

Other overlay sizes are available and may require a special hinge in order to work. If you have any questions please contact us and we will assist you with the measuring process.

Most Framed kitchens have overlay doors. Overlay doors are larger than the cabinet opening and sit on the cabinet frame rather than inside the frame like an inset door. The most popular overlay is called a Half overlay which means the doors are ½” larger on each side than the cabinet opening they cover. Full overlay cabinets typically have doors that are 1-1/4” larger on all four sides than the cabinet opening. Click here to see how to measure your existing overlay.

Reveal refers to the amount of cabinet frame exposed after doors are mounted. Traditional cabinets typically have more reveal, exposing more of the cabinet frame behind the doors. Frameless or Euro-Style cabinets don’t have a face frame and are known for their minimal reveal or gaps between doors giving a sleeker more modern look. Reveal is also often used to describe the gap between two doors covering a single cabinet opening – the reveal being the gap where the two doors meet in the middle.

Overlay and Reveal are important when ordering new doors for your refacing project. Measuring both correctly will ensure the best result possible for your cabinet refacing project. Increasing the overlay and reducing the reveal can give your kitchen a sleeker more contemporary look.

You can reduce the amount of reveal by ordering larger doors for your face framed kitchen. This blog will get you started with terms and the How To of reducing your reveal!

Care should be taken to ensure that the larger doors will fit on all four sides. The first measurement you need to determine is the width of the frame around your cabinet opening. This frame width will help determine the size of door that can be hung on the cabinet. A standard frame width of 1-1/2” means you can use a 1-1/4” overlay on your doors allowing for a ¼” reveal. Measure your cabinet opening (not the existing door) and add 1-1/4” to all four sides. You should end up with a door that is 2-1/2” wide than the cabinet opening and 2-1/2” larger in height than the cabinet opening.

The door overlay and the hinge overlay need to match. Hinges come in standard overlays of ½”, ¾”, and 1-1/4” and it is important that the hinge overlay and door overlay match, otherwise the door will not be positioned correctly on your cabinet.

For more information on measuring for overlay, book a technical help call.

We offer a 3 year warranty on MDF Fronts, Floating Shelves, TFL Fronts and Dovetail Drawer boxes.

For warranty details, please refer to our policy here.

Click on this link to download our Nieu Door Guide for a description of common corner cabinet types.

RAW doors are unfinished doors hot off the CNC machines. They are the ultimate DIY project as they require a fair amount of Doing it Yourself effort in order to get them ready for your kitchen. RAW doors need to be sanded, primed, sanded, primed and painted. Our general advice is 2 coats of a solvent based primer and one or two top coats of paint with fine surface sanding in between each coat of primer and paint.

If you are really into getting your hands covered in paint but want to avoid the extra work involved with RAW doors we suggest the PRIMED version of our doors. These doors have a factory applied prime coat and require minimal prep work prior to painting.

Measuring for Lazy Susan corner cabinet doors is pretty easy and the method is the same whether you have frameless or framed cabinets. You will need to order two doors for a Lazy Susan corner cabinet and a set of Lazy Susan hinges. Starting in the 90 degree corner, measure the distance from the corner to the inside edge of the side of the cabinet that you will attach the hinges to. Add ½” to this measurement for a standard ½” overlay and then deduct ¾”. For this example, let’s assume the measurement was 12”. By adding ½” for overlay and then deducting ¾” for your door measurement will be 11.75”w. Label this door as your LS HINGE DOOR. Do the same for the other door measuring from the corner to the opposite side of the cabinet, adding ½” to the measurement and deducting ¾”. Let’s assume a measurement of 11” + ½” – ¾ = 10.75” wide. Label this door as LS NO HINGE DOOR. For the height measure the opening and add the same overlay you did for your other doors. On the order form be sure include LS HINGE DOOR and LS NO HINGE DOOR in the notes field for each door. When selecting hinges from the drop down menu make sure you select Lazy Susan Hinges for the LS HINGE DOOR and No Hinges for the LS NO HINGE DOOR. This information will allow us to hinge bore the door correctly. If the information is not on the form we will not hinge bore any of the holes and you will have to do it onsite.

Our Wood Grain doors are TFL, or Thermally Fused Laminate on ¾” particle board core.  They have a deep, textured finish to replicate the look and feel of real wood but are not made from a real wood veneer. Our TFL Wood Grain doors are very durable, fade-resistant, easy to clean and permanently fused which means no peeling.

It REALLY does! The grain direction runs by default in the longest direction of your product. For example, a door that is 15” x 30” wide by default will have the grain travelling vertically along the 30” dimension. A drawer front that is 30” wide x 5” tall would have grain travelling horizontally (along the 30” dimension).

To achieve your desired grain look you can have one of three grain options. 1) Standard Grain Layout, 2) Vertical Match Layout or 3) Horizontal Match Layout.

Read more on our Product PDF.

We do! These items can be ordered on our online order form. You can select grain direction on cover panels so be sure to double check your desired look. Toekicks are a standard size and have a horizontal grain only.

We cannot supply pieces that are grain matched to one another.  When ordering wood grain doors please expect a random grain pattern from piece to piece.

While you can select the grain direction so that both your doors and drawer faces have the same grain direction, the grain may not appear as a continual between the two pieces.

Yes! For help with quoting your IKEA project, please email us at service@nieucabinetdoors.com to book your consultation.

Maybe! If your cabinets are frameless, you can remove your existing doors, drawer faces and cover panels, and replace them with new ones from us. If you have framed cabinets, your existing wood color may not match your new wood grain doors. We suggest ordering a sample to practice any staining prior to ordering doors for framed cabinets.

All wood grain doors have a lead time of 6-7 weeks.

Yes! You can order and pay for a combination order at the same time.

Awesome, sounds like you are ready to order! Ordering can be done in 3 steps. If you are familiar with using a tape measure you might even call them simple steps! Click here to access our Order Form which will walk you through measuring and ordering your Nieu Cabinet Doors.

Remain calm, we’ve got your back. We offer a Design Quiz and even a Design Consultation to help you visualize the ideal door style and colour for your kitchen.

Absolutely. If they can supply us with accurate door measurements for your existing cabinets we are happy to assist in building an order. Email us the plans and we will contact you to get started.

Nope, we are all about the doors.

All of our products are made custom to order, just for you – including our IKEA cabinet doors and accessories. Our current lead times are:

Raw orders: 3-4 weeks

Primed orders: 4-5 weeks

Painted orders: 6-7 weeks

Wood grain orders: 4-5 weeks if wood grain only (will ship with painted if part of a painted order)

We offer payment via all major Debit and Credit cards, as well as payment through four installments using Splitit. Once you fill in our easy all-in-one order form you will be presented with payment options. 

If you wish to purchase via Splitit, please follow the steps outlined here to pay via this method.

No returns. Sounds harsh we know, but because your doors and panels are custom made for your kitchen we can’t accept returns. We will however fix or replace any product that has a manufacture related imperfection.

Yes, you can within 24 hours after you place your order. We are a well oiled, super efficient manufacturing facility so as soon as we receive your order and payment we are getting ready to build your doors. Full cancellation policy here.

Yes, you can. You have 24 hours from the time you place your order to make changes. We move fast to ensure your doors ship as quickly as possible.

Email: orders@nieucabinetdoors.com

Our Floating Shelves are 1 ½” thick.

We use MDF for the construction of our Floating Shelves. MDF is a very durable wood product that offers an ideal surface for a smooth, blemish free, painted surface.

We supply our Floating Shelves with Triad Max hardware so that they are ready to mount on a wall. The Triad system uses a rail that is mounted to the wall (preferably secure to the studs) and brackets that mount on the rail. The Floating Shelves come pre-drilled to accept the brackets so installation is easy. For more information on how to install click here.

Our floating shelves are rated for 20 lbs of weight per liner foot if installed correctly to the studs in your wall.

Our floating shelves are available either Primed, which means you paint them, or in one of our standard colors that match our cabinet door colors. This allows you to match your floating shelves to your cabinet doors or have them made in a different color for a contrasting look.

Dovetail refers to the way we join the 4 sides of our drawer boxes. Dovetail joinery uses a pin tail joint where pins are cut on one side of the box and tails on the other. The two sides lock together without the need for screws, creating a very durable, aesthetically pleasing joint.

We use solid birch with a UV lacquer for added water resistance. Our drawer boxes are 5/8” thick with a 3/8” thick melamine bottom.

We offer Blum Tandem Blumotion undermount slides. We only offer the Blum slide as experience has shown us that this is the best made, best priced slide available. You can supply your own slides but you will need to order your drawer boxes using Exact Drawer Dimensions.

ICW is a measurement we need to make drawer boxes. Inside Cabinet Width is width of the cabinet opening that you plan on putting drawers in, measured from the inside of the cabinet. We take your ICW and deduct 3/8” in order to determine the required width of the drawer boxes when using our Blum undermount slides.

Take all measurements from the inside of the cabinet. Start by measuring the depth of the cabinet, that is the length from the front of the cabinet box to the back of the box. Next measure the height of the opening. Finally measure the ICW (Inside Cabinet Width). When ordering the ICW measurement is the only measurement you can input. For Height and Depth you will need to select from our standard offering. For depth always select the drawer box depth that is approximately 2 inches less deep than your cabinet. For height, select the standard height that is at least 1” shorter than the height of the opening.

We currently ship to the lower 48 States and all Canadian Provinces.

We take a lot of care in packaging your doors and panels so they arrive in pristine condition. We choose the shipping method based on the best carrier for the job and your physical address. Orders may ship LTL (Less Than Truckload) packed securely on a shipping pallet or via Courier service such as UPS or FedEx.

We spent a lot of time making your doors and panels so it is super-important to us that they arrive damage-free. However, accidents can happen. It is important that you inspect your doors within 24 hours of receiving them and that you document any damage to the packages with photographs. If you see damage when the delivery driver is dropping off your order, please make sure the driver notes it on your delivery slip, and take pictures of the damaged pallet or carton before opening. Send your pictures and shipping documents to shipping@nieucabinetdoors.com within 24 hours of receiving your order. All damage claims are void if not reported to us within 24 hours.