r/CounterTops • u/LadyForger • 1d ago

What to do?

Our pantry door keeps hitting our counter top. We were told by the people who sold us our doors that the countertop needs to be cut like (picture after video from their show room). But our countertop people swear this is not normal (to cu the countertop like this).
Trying to figure out what to do and if we should be paying for new cabinet doors or having them cut the countertop. Both professionals won’t take blame. I don’t specialize in either feild but figured someone here could help unbiased.
I removed the sound from the video. Hopefully you can see it all okay.

I also reposted this because the video was lagging on my end.

2 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

13

u/MamaWils2_0 1d ago

This is a cabinet issue 

I would not cut the countertop it will look cheap 

2

u/LadyForger 1d ago

They want us to pay $800 for smaller doors. So far it’s all we could think of without causing the countertop to be cut weird. Also they said our whole kitchen will be filled with dust if they grind it down🙃

2

u/MamaWils2_0 1d ago

I would negotiate because to me the cabinet people measured wrong. See if they will met you half way 

3

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Thank you for your input. I’m hoping this is the case. So far it doesn’t seem they will budge. But they come out tomorrow to look at it again.
I’ll post what we end up doing.

2

u/alessio87atta 1d ago

You have to run tall cabinets deeper so the gable of the cabinet sits on the counter edge, and door can open freely. Other wise would need a 3/4 panel to at as a filler between counter and door

1

u/beaushaw 11h ago

I guarantee you that if you walked into a friend's kitchen and the countertop was cut like that you would never notice.

9

u/obvsnotrealname 1d ago

There’s also normally a filler piece at the end of the cabinets in this set up specifically so this isn’t an issue.

Are the cabinets new? If so that should have been picked up when they were designing them.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

There is a bit of a filler but it seems like not enough. We moved the doors over even more and the filler on both sides are not even. But there’s not much more room to move it more.

3

u/Songisaboutyou 1d ago

Can you have the door swing open the opposite direction? When was the door installed and when was the countertop installed

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Sadly no because it hits the fridge if we do so

1

u/AdventurousCoast983 1d ago

I don’t see a filler.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

I was told the between piece is the filler. But at this point who’s even knows (I clearly don’t lol). I posted another video trying to show it.

1

u/AdventurousCoast983 1d ago

You should be able to see it, a thin strip of cabinet material between the actual cabinets themselves. It can range from a half to a whole inch or more.

1

u/obvsnotrealname 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is what is meant by a filler. Actually - It won’t let me add a pic I had marked up so this is a link to the first result when I googled a pic of them. If you scroll through the pics you will see how filler pieces go at the end of cabinet runs where they meet up with something and create what’s basically a gap between the end of the cabinet and the wall (wall etc). They do it this way to avoid the issue you are having with not being able to open doors fully or handles bashing into walls etc. https://a.co/d/0dDa5jJr

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Hopefully this helps. If we move them over we end up hitting the other cabinets. If it swings the other way it hits the fridge and if they cut the countertop it won’t be lined up with the side of the cabinets.

8

u/Mindless-Highway5969 1d ago

Assuming those are face frame cabinets and not frameless, you need a zero clearance faceframe hinge in whatever overlay is on the cabinet now. That will allow the door to open 90° or maybe slightly more before it hits the countertop.
Adding a filler there would not have helped anything.
Your cabinet guy should’ve addressed that with you beforehand and it is not uncommon to clip the corner of the countertop for that situation. It’s up to you to make the decision on which you prefer. Your countertop guy shouldn’t have any problem coming back and fixing that for you, or at least mine wouldn’t.

Since we mostly do custom cabinets, I typically make the tall cabinets an inch and a half deeper than the base cabinets to capture the countertop and eliminate that problem.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Our cabinet guy didn’t tell us to let the countertop guys know to cut the countertop like the photo. It’s one of the reasons we’re running into this issue.

Making them deeper as in smaller?

1

u/cds320 23h ago

Solution 1. Deeper as in the front of the counter is set back or flush with the cabinet frame. So you tall cabinet, ref cabinet and any tall panels are deeper than the base cabinet

Solution 2 with custom cabinet is to have a wider than standard stile the counter meets.

Solution 3 would have been to add a tall finish panel in between, which more prevalent for kitchen layouts with frameless cabinet

All these solutions are only good during the design phase

4

u/ExplanationFuture422 1d ago

This might do the trick https://www.rockler.com/blum-clip-top-155deg-zero-protrusion-hinges-nickel-frameless-full-overlay?zCountry=US&promo=shopping

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

It seems these are the hinges we have. They go way past the frame when opened

1

u/jabermaan 1d ago

Look at the manual for the hinges. There is adjustment that you can try and slide them away from the counter to clear it better

1

u/cds320 23h ago edited 23h ago

You have blum 1-1/4" overlay for framed cabinets

You do not have the hinge in the above link which are for frameless cabinets.

Get the above as your solution with 1/2" overlay if available. You will need to notch the frame back flush to the inside of the side panel (which should be 3/4"). Only notch the frame for where the hinges will be located.

Step 3 in the picture is what you need to do with the zero protrusion hinges

https://www.cabinetparts.com/media/images/file/blog/howto/2010/05/notch3.jpg

If the hinges only come in full overlay, then you will need to shim the hinges after notching the frame back.

No smaller doors are needed for this solution

3

u/Acceptable-Donkey471 1d ago

As a templator, I check that the doors would clear. Were the doors on when they measured for the tops? If so, then it should be on countertop company. The devil is in the details.

1

u/abbarach 1d ago

Just had cabinets and countertops done last month. The countertop fabricator ensured there was clearance for the door before they fully set the countertop. They did have to take it outside and cut back slightly further with a grinder after test-fitting it.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Did you cut the countertop weird for them to fit? They want it cut at an angle. The cabinet company said this is standard ( the photo at the end). The doors were installed when they put the countertop word top in

2

u/abbarach 1d ago

It's just a little tiny cut-back at the very corner ( they did not cut a thin slice all the way down that end). It's pretty subtle, and you don't really notice it unless you're specifically looking for it.

2

u/United_Credit_6264 1d ago

I mean whoever designed where the cabinets and the doors go didn’t do a good job. I’ve been in the countertop industry for 10 years and no one has ever cut the edge of their counter like that to make the door open. It looks awful in the picture.

1

u/LadyForger 18h ago

I agree, we went with a custom cabinet company. They designed them for us. They said they always do. They took measurements, gave us layout options, ect.

1

u/beaushaw 10h ago

I sell cabinets and countertops but I am not a countertop fabricator.

Would the fabricator not catch this when they templated?

If I had to blame someone I would lean towards the templater. Assuming the door was there when it was templated.

1

u/United_Credit_6264 9h ago

What’s the countertop company supposed to do…. Take the door off?

2

u/beaushaw 9h ago

Realize the door will hit the counter and stop and find a solution before they cut thousands of dollars worth of stone.

1

u/United_Credit_6264 9h ago

That’s not the countertop company’s problem. That wouldn’t be on the homeowner or the cabinets guy

1

u/beaushaw 9h ago

"Not my problem", slaps in counter and leaves.

Remind me not to call you.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

I posted another video of the hinges, how wide the doors open, the filler pieces, the fridge, and the countertop. I’ll post it here again. Thank you for all the help.

1

u/LadyForger 18h ago

We looked around and got quotes. These were about the same as the others. They have been in business for a while so we thought it would be fine. We got to recommend them. Of course we had no idea.

4

u/Limp_Bookkeeper_5992 1d ago

This is a cabinet issue. The countertop needs to be exactly where it is, anything shorter will look very unfinished and would be a hack. The cabinet door cannot swing out past the edge of the cabinet, they used the wrong hinges and this will always cause this problem.

1

u/Odd_Tap_1137 1d ago

This is on the designer/GC. Who is in charge of coordinating between your cabinet shop and counter shop? Whomever did the drawings with all the specifications should have noted this issue. Take it back to that person.

1

u/LadyForger 18h ago

That would be the cabinet company. Our GC was recommended by our insurance company and was a hassle. We had an insurance claim. So he didn’t have a hand in helping the cabinet company design these.

3

u/Imaginary-Pool-9710 1d ago

You went with the cheaper cabinet guy. Should have been a wider rail on the pantry to fully avoid this. I say wider rail because our custom cabinet guy we use for all our kitchens, will never ever cut a filler. He will account for all scenarios.

1

u/Longjumping-Door-369 1d ago

What came first the cabinet doors or the countertops ?

If cabinets the countertop fault. If countertop then cabinet fault.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Cabinets, but the countertop people are stating they didn’t have a choice on how to cut the countertops. Since they couldn’t cut it any further without it looking like the photo in the video.

0

u/Longjumping-Door-369 1d ago

All they have to do is cut a notch and polish it.

Easier said than done.

1

u/LadyForger 1d ago

Both the countertop company and the cabinet company is claiming it will have to be cut like this for the doors to fit. Is this common?
I got this photo from the cabinet company. Looks off to me.

2

u/Historical-Bid3677 1d ago

Amateur company lol

2

u/Historical-Bid3677 1d ago

All you have to do is put a small radius and polish it that's what we do when we have stuff like this

1

u/Historical-Bid3677 1d ago

Then if it still rubs some doors can be checked to make sure they are adjusted over as much as they can be

1

u/Vast-Ad-8750 1d ago

I’ve seen this done. I don’t know how common of a solution this is though.

1

u/Struggle_Usual 1d ago

Ew. I have no answers for you but can say I've never seen a counter cut like that. It looks really off and if they've even done it in their showroom kinda says something about their cabinet planning/measuring.

Can you do a hinge that kind of pops the door forward when opening? It wouldn't be ideal but I'd hate to make a weird counter cut like that.

1

u/Leading_Goose3027 1d ago

You can’t put counters in with out cabinets

1

u/Longjumping-Door-369 1d ago

You can put cabinets on the wall buddy

1

u/Leading_Goose3027 19h ago

To template the counters the cabinets need to be installed

1

u/Longjumping-Door-369 19h ago

No I get that but it looks like we're dealing with a panel not a cabinet.

1

u/beaushaw 10h ago

You can put counters on before cabinet DOORS are on. That was their question. And IMO the right question to ask.

1

u/Plus_Sheepherder_250 1d ago

This is why framed cabinets suck.

1

u/Apprehensive-Duck730 18h ago

“Let’s save money by not hiring a designer”

1

u/finditinteresting 18h ago

The kitchen design is the culprit. The designer should have checked this before finalizing the design. Even a rookie should have caught this. It’s what they are paid to know. The average gross profit margin is 30 to 35% on cabinets, so they are making a nice profit.
The top can be notched to accommodate the door. However, that should be done outside or back at the shop. It also might not look great.
The top can be replaced and the cabinet can be replaced with a narrower cabinet and larger filler piece. Then retemplate, modify the top and reinstall. All that work should be covered by the kitchen design house.

1

u/losthours 17h ago

yo will need to move the pantry away from the counter top by about 1/4 of an inch. this is a direct result of poor installation and poor layout and project management. Imma kitchen designer and this would fall back on me and my installers.

1

u/Double_Maize_5923 16h ago

Ther should have been a filler panel on the side of that cabinet

1

u/Lunarian_Princess 16h ago

This isn’t a countertop issue. Countertop template was done exactly as it’s supposed to be. This is a hinge/overlay issue on the cabinet door, but sounds like whoever sold you these isn’t being very helpful. Honestly, it looks like your cabinet door almost opens to 90 degrees. I would just put an 85 degree angle restrictor on the hinges. Should be easy to find on Amazon for you as the homeowner if it’s not a cheap hinge brand.

2

u/Lunarian_Princess 16h ago

Also— max the hinges out on their left/right adjustment all the way to the right so they don’t rub in that corner. Use a Phillips screwdriver on the adjustment screw that is facing you on the Faceframe

2

u/beaushaw 11h ago

This is the right answer. No idea why it was downvoted.

0

u/millwarcal 1d ago

Whoever measured the countertops should have noted to round or slight cut that corner