# Large cabinet out of square how do I deal with doors



## illcrx (May 15, 2011)

I have a large cabinet I have built that is 8' tall by 32" wide. There are 3 sections, top with doors, the middle section has 3 drawers, the bottom section is doors again. I have measured each of the 3 sections and they are around 1/16 and 1/8th out of square per section. 

The cabinet is frameless and I am planning on using Blum soft close euro door hinges and am not sure if they have that much adjustment. If I make the doors square will they make the sides of the cabinet look weird or am I worrying for nothing?


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## danrush (Oct 16, 2017)

Are the 3 sections out of square the same way? If so, maybe the cabinet is racked; try squaring up the cabinet first. As to door overlay, it's probably more important that the two vertical sides are parallel and plumb for final appearance. The top and bottom won't be so noticeable if out of level a bit. Same for any mid cabinet horizontal dividers. 

When I set cabinets, I do whatever is necessary to keep the door and drawer reveals equal and in line with each other. The eye will see a gap that's off as little as a fraction of a millimeter before seeing if an overlay is off just a tad.


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## illcrx (May 15, 2011)

I am not quite sure if it's all the same way. The cabinet is pretty robust, I have 3/4 box and two 3/4 shelves 1/3rd and 2/3rd the way up, glued and screwed in place so I'm not quite sure how to go about squaring that up.


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## danrush (Oct 16, 2017)

Please don't take any questions or ideas as an insult or dig. I don't know what your skill or experience level is, so I'll just ask. 

Is the whole cabinet front square? To check, measure corner to corner both ways. ( left top to right bottom, right top to left bottom) be pretty precise. They should be the same if it's square. 

If not, when the cabinet is standing up, you can place a shim under the front corner that measured long. Keep raising this corner until both measurements are identical. Even as robust as your cabinet is, it should flex a fair bit. I would now check the smaller divisions you first asked about. Are they close to square?

Perfectly square never happens with cabinets, but it should be close. I would now install the doors and drawers and adjust for good reveals. When I install cabinets, I sometimes have to rack the cabinet out of square to get good door and drawer spacing. Maybe more shim, maybe less. It's sometimes just trial and error.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

You would just have to make the doors out of square to match the cabinet. The hinge adjustments won't help you.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*The cabinet's "squareness" is determined by the back*

Is the back:
one piece? how thick? screwed on or nailed? in a rabbet or flush? glued on or in? 

If the back can be "adjusted" easily you can bring it into square. If not, wedging the bottom corner is about the best solution I've seen so far, from danrush above. :vs_cool:


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Steve Neul said:


> You would just have to make the doors out of square to match the cabinet. The hinge adjustments won't help you.



It reads like it would be very difficult/impossible to change the shape (squareness) of your cabinets.


This solution proposed by Steve would be relatively easy and very effective.


George


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

I agree with Danrush's evaluation first, then final correction as Steve Neul suggested.


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## illcrx (May 15, 2011)

Thank you all for the suggestions! Come to find out the cabinet overall is PERFECTLY SQUARE well within 1/16 of an inch. It appears some of the shelves are slightly off, however since the cabinet is square I guess the differences are less than cosmetic since I have no face frames the differences will not matter at all! 

I worry for nothing and thank you for all your advice, next time I'll do more measuring before asking for advice.


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