# Kitchen doors with "muntin bars"



## RichO (Apr 29, 2009)

Hey all,

This is one kind of door I have never made:










How would you go about making the muntin bars? I would use half laps for the joints in the middle but when it comes to affixing the assembly to the actual door, how would you do it? All I can come up with is using silicone to hold it to the glass after the door is finished and glass is installed.

Any suggestions? Thanks.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

It would be easier just to glue the bars to the glass. The bars are so small it's difficult to make a joint with it. The first time I made doors like that I made it for individual panes of glass and the glass company charged a lot for all the little panes. I've also seen antiques that used a piece of 1/8" plywood the size of the glass and just cut out the holes. It fit in front of the glass and didn't have to be glued in.


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## RichO (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks for the reply. Kind of what I figured and that will work. Just wondered if there was a better way I wasn't thinking of.


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

I made some similar to that on a built in for my basement. I routed the muntins (?) and a matching 1/2 profile for the inside edge of the door.

I made double miters on the door, and a mitered half lap where they cross. It was pretty fussy, but I think it turned out well.


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## Oneal-Woodworking (Apr 14, 2013)

RichO said:


> How would you go about making the muntin bars? I would use half laps for the joints in the middle but when it comes to affixing the assembly to the actual door, how would you do it? All I can come up with is using silicone to hold it to the glass after the door is finished and glass is installed.
> 
> Any suggestions? Thanks.


Silicone is a really bad idea. What happens if the glass breaks and you need to replace it for one thing? You want some of the glass retainer strip that fits into a groove you cut in the backside of the doors...

If your doors are really like the ones in your picture then you are lucky as it really does not get any easier than that. Everything is square and you don't really 'need' any sort of special half lap joints or funny miters to hold the mulls in place. Glue will work absolutely fine if your pieces 'fit' first. :yes:

To copy a door with mulls like in your picture - Everything can be cut on a table saw with relative ease. (I generally use a router with a slot cutter to cut the grove for the retainer strips but that is NOT really required - A Table Saw can do the same cuts just as well)

Seriously...










If you want some detailed pictures of the retainer strip that I am talking about for the glass and some pictures of the cuts that it requires - I can get you some tomorrow. Might help you better understand what I am talking about here... I aint at the shop right now and could not find any relevant pics on my phone...

3 or 4 pictures and I bet you stop thinking about silicone to hold it all together... 

The picture you posted is about as 'easy' as glass doors get in my opinion. :yes:


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## Oneal-Woodworking (Apr 14, 2013)

sanchez said:


> I made some similar to that on a built in for my basement. I routed the muntins (?) and a matching 1/2 profile for the inside edge of the door.
> 
> I made double miters on the door, and a mitered half lap where they cross. It was pretty fussy, but I think it turned out well.


For a complicated inside edge profile of a door that I was trying to match on the mulls - I would have done it (and do so) exactly as you have done in your picture. 

Very nicely done work Sir. :yes:


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