Specialty Doors - Cabinet Door Styles (May 19, 2009)

Cabinet doors do not have to have a solid center panel. Options inlcude radius (curved doors), mullioned and and glass doors.

Radius Doors
A radius door is a curved door, and can be concave (curved inward) or convex (curved outward). Radius doors are much more costly that standard doors, but present a fluid line elegance unmatched by any other door style.

Mullion Doors
A mullion is a thin strip of wood that is used to separate the panes of glass in a door or window.

Mullion doors have glass inserts in place of the typical solid center panel and look similar to windowpanes.

The glass can be individual pieces sandwiched between two mullions (front and back). Or, a full sheet of glass can be used, which is mounted behind the mullions. Usually this type of installation of the glass allows for it to be removed for easy and complete cleaning - although it increases the risk of breaking the glass.

Standard mullions (figures 1, 4) can be used on most styles of cabinet doors. Specialty mullions, like the ones shown here from Merillat Cabinets (figures 2, 3), are available from many cabinet manufacturers.

Since the mullions create a pattern of their own, the glass choices for mullioned doors are usually limited to clear Annealed (not a safety glass), or Tempered, or Laminated glass.

Glass Insert Doors

Frames only (doors without panels) are generally available in all styles. Most doors (12" or wider and up to 42" high) can be routed out on the back of the frame to hold the glass panel. Generally molding is not furnished for the back of the frame.


Standard Glass Options

Annealed Glass
Glass that has been cooled with precise control to relieve stress introduced by the manufacturing process. This annealing process makes the glass workable, i.e. easier to cut, machine, etc. Common household glass is annealed glass. It is NOT a safety glass.

Tempered Glass
Tempering uses either a thermal or chemical process to quickly harden the glass, which compresses its surface. Compressing the surface increases the amount of tensile stress that can be endured before breakage occurs.

It is important to note that the treatment must be applied only after all cutting and processing has been completed, as once 'toughened', any attempt to cut the glass will cause it to shatter.

The process of making tempered glass increases the surface tension of the glass which can cause it to 'explode' if broken; this is more a dramatic effect than hazardous.

When it does break, tempered glass generally breaks in very small pieces. Fully-tempered glass may show more visual distortion of reflected images, but it is about four times stronger than annealed glass of the same thickness.

Laminated Safety Glass
Laminated safety glass is made by bonding two or more layers of glass with one or more layers of other material (such as resin, or PVB or other suitable materials). The most important characteristic is the ability of the interlayer(s) to support and hold the glass when broken.

Laminated glass is 50 percent to 90 percent as strong as annealed glass of the same thickness depending on exposed temperatures, aspect ratio, plate size, stiffness and load duration. However, the edges of laminated glass are less resistant than annealed glass to handling and installation damage.
When broken, laminated safety glass is held together by the adhesives that are used in the manufacturing process. This generally helps keep large pieces of glass from falling from the opening. Nevertheless, small pieces and or chips may still fall, and the precise size of pieces of glass that will break is difficult to identify and describe.

Laminated glass, however, can be made with both heat-strengthened and fully-tempered glass for additional safety benefits.

Other Glass Options

Beveled Glass
Glass that has been angled edge ground and polished, creating a prismatic effect. When sunlight passes through the beveled edge, it is split into rainbow spectrums.

Camed Glass
'Cames' are strips of lead, copper, or brass placed between pieces of cut glass to form a pattern.

Sand Carved Glass
Sand is sprayed at high velocities over the surface of the glass, giving the glass a rough, translucent surface. During sandblasting, only the areas that are to remain transparent are masked for protection. The depth and degree of the translucency of the sand-blasted finishing vary with the force and type of sand used.

Pattern Glass
Patterned glass has a textured surface with a patterns impressed on it. Patterned glass is made with a rolled glass process. The semi-molten glass is squeezed between two metal rollers. The bottom roller is engraved with the negative of the image. The resulting glass usually transmits only slightly less light than clear glass.

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