Medicine Cabinet Design Question

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 6:06 pm

Today was the day my bride and my surgeon agreed I can begin shop work again. Given the new shower stall we had installed over a month ago I am anxious to begin work on three new cabinets for our tiny bathroom. First will be a custom cabinet for under the new sink top I purchased. That I am finished with the design for. Second will be a new medicine cabinet with mirrored doors. I desire making the new one a few inches larger than the old one and would prefer having sliding glass (Mirrored) doors. Thus my questions, has anyone here done this? Do they work? Can the glass mirrors slide in dadoed tracks or do I need to purchase tracks for them to glide in? The third cabinet will be to replace a rather ugly storage cabinet above the throne. That part and the vanity cabinet I am comfortable with my designs for. I will appreciate any feedback. Once all are completed I will post pictures. The vanity cabinet promises to be different than most others. Jim

greitz · Post by **greitz** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:56 pm

Sorry, no experience with cabinets at all, but...

Glad to hear you're back in the sawdust and shavings again! Great news!

Gary

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:25 pm

Glad you are on the mend, Jim!

I just can't get my head around sliding mirrors on a medicine chest. Seems to me that you would only be able to view 1/2 of the contents at a time.

Yes, glass can slide along wood grooves, but it would probably not be friction free and would certainly show wear after a while. In my opinion, not the best alternative.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:44 pm

My 'current' medicine cabinet has two sections. Sliding mirrors expose the interior one side at a time. The mirrors bypass each other. The mirrors have steel(?) channels attached to the bottom that ride on ball bearing 'slides' similar to drawer slides(captive balls that are free to rotate). I like the arrangement since opening requires no additional space or hinges. The tops of the mirrors ride in a deep groove. The mirrors are removable by lifting them up into the upper groove and pulling the bottom out and down.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:46 pm

fjimp wrote:Today was the day my bride and my surgeon agreed I can begin shop work again. Given the new shower stall we had installed over a month ago I am anxious to begin work on three new cabinets for our tiny bathroom. First will be a custom cabinet for under the new sink top I purchased. That I am finished with the design for. Second will be a new medicine cabinet with mirrored doors. I desire making the new one a few inches larger than the old one and would prefer having sliding glass (Mirrored) doors. Thus my questions, has anyone here done this? Do they work? Can the glass mirrors slide in dadoed tracks or do I need to purchase tracks for them to glide in? The third cabinet will be to replace a rather ugly storage cabinet above the throne. That part and the vanity cabinet I am comfortable with my designs for. I will appreciate any feedback. Once all are completed I will post pictures. The vanity cabinet promises to be different than most others. Jim

I wanted to put sand finished glass in a cabinet in my bathroom. When I talked to the friendly glass man he suggestted I use the track he had. It is a track and end piece that slips over the glass to make the glass ride on bearings.

Here is his logic about mirrors in Bathrooms. Glass with out the edges sealed will eventually develop stains marks on the metallic finish that provides the mirror, so the edges must be sealed in a bathroom use.

Now back to the track. It prevents the glass from rubbing on anything, so the an sealant can wear off. Make the glass move with ease and frankly made installation much easier. Install track make it square to the cabinet sides and put the glass in.

With out the track you have to adjust the glass to make in square with the cabinet side. I don't know about you but I have had absolutely no luck planning a pane of glass to a square fit.

benush26 · Post by **benush26** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:55 pm

Glad you are back to making sawdust and shavings!

Most any glass shop will have the double trough track, either in metal or plastic. Whether you put metal edging around the mirrors is up to you. It doesn't help them slide better, but does help seal them and if you go for the fancy ball bearing track system, it needs the edges sealed.

If you want to have the cabinet appear to be all wood construct, then you can dado or use filler strips or anything like that to hide the troughs / tracks.

The tracks can be cut to any length, but the width (depth ?) is a weird number, like 17/32 or 9/16. Or at least it was in the one we used for my sister's cabinet.

We had the glass shop drill holes for the knobs so if "they" broke it...

Glad you are back in the shop.

Ben

saminmn · Post by **saminmn** » Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:10 pm

Glad your making saw dust again. Take it easy for a while.

Something I think might be an issue is a slid surface of wood in all that bathroom humidity. Any finish would wear and eventually expose the wood to the humidity and condensation from the mirror.