how-to-measure-for-replacement-cabinet-doors

To measure for replacement cabinet doors, measure your existing door's width and height to the nearest 1/16", then order that exact size. If the door is missing, measure the cabinet opening and add for your overlay: a typical 1/2" full-overlay door adds about 1" to the opening's width and height. Confirm your hinge type before ordering.

That's the short version. The rest of this guide walks you through it slowly, because a wrong number here means a door that binds, gaps, or won't close. At Plank & Panel Co, we've been building custom cabinetry in Hubbardston, Massachusetts for over 20 years, and we cut our one-piece CNC-machined MDF doors to your exact size, down to the 1/16". Give us the right numbers and the door fits. This is how you get the right numbers.

Tools You Need

You don't need much, but you need the right things:

  • A steel tape measure or, better, a folding rule or steel rule for small measurements. Cloth and cheap tapes stretch.
  • A notepad to write down every door separately. Never trust your memory across a whole kitchen.
  • A flashlight to see inside the cabinet box and read the hinge.
  • A camera (your phone) to photograph each hinge and cabinet face.

Measure twice, write it down once. That's the whole discipline.

Measuring an Existing Door (Replace Like-for-Like)

If you still have the old door, this is the easy path. You are simply copying a size that already fits.

  1. Take the door off, or measure it in place.
  2. Measure the width across the door at its widest point, edge to edge. Round to the nearest 1/16".
  3. Measure the height the same way, top edge to bottom edge.
  4. Note whether the door is taller than it is wide (most are) so you don't transpose the numbers.
  5. Write it as width x height — for example, 11 3/4" x 30 1/16".

Do this for every door, even if several "look" the same. Cabinet openings drift over 20 years, and doors were often trimmed to fit. Label each measurement by location (e.g., "sink left," "upper right of range").

If you want the new door to sit exactly where the old one did, you're done. Order that size. The overlay is already baked into the measurement because the old door was already sized for that opening.

Measuring the Opening (When the Doors Are Gone)

No door to copy? Then you measure the opening — the hole in the cabinet face the door covers — and add for overlay. This is where people get tripped up, so go slow.

Measure the opening

Measure the height and width of the open rectangle in the cabinet face frame (or the opening on a frameless box), inside edge to inside edge. Round to the nearest 1/16".

Understand overlay

Overlay is how much the door laps over the opening on each side. There are three families:

  • Full overlay — the door covers almost the entire face frame, leaving only a thin reveal between doors. Most common on modern cabinets.
  • Partial (half) overlay — the door covers part of the frame, typically laying over each edge by about 3/8". Older and traditional cabinets.
  • Inset — the door sits inside the opening, flush with the frame. This is a precise, different animal; the door is slightly smaller than the opening, with an even gap all around.

The overlay math (full and partial)

For overlay doors, the door is larger than the opening. You add the overlay amount to both sides of each dimension:

  • Door width = opening width + (overlay x 2)
  • Door height = opening height + (overlay x 2)

A common full-overlay hinge gives a 1/2" overlay. Half an inch on the left plus half an inch on the right adds 1" to the width. Same on the height. So a 10" x 28" opening becomes an 11" x 29" door at 1/2" overlay.

Important caveat: overlay is set by your hinge, not by a rule of thumb. Overlays commonly run from about 3/8" up to 1 1/4" depending on the hinge and how it's mounted. Do not assume 1/2". Confirm your actual overlay before you order (see the next section). When two doors share one opening, each door takes the overlay on its outer edges, and you split the width and account for the small reveal between them — if that's your situation, measure carefully or ask us.

Reveals

The reveal is the visible gap around and between doors — usually somewhere around 1/16" to 1/8". You don't add the reveal; it's simply what's left uncovered. But it's why you shouldn't push a door to cover 100% of the frame: doors need a little breathing room to open, close, and expand without rubbing the neighbor.

Hinge Type and Boring

Your hinge decides three things: your overlay, whether the door needs a 35mm bored cup hole, and how the door swings.

  • European (concealed) hinges are the most common. They require a 35mm round cup hole bored into the back of the door, set back a specific distance from the door edge. These come in full-overlay, half-overlay, and inset versions — the hinge is your overlay.
  • Traditional/face-mount hinges screw to the face of the door and frame and usually need no cup hole.

Photograph your hinge and, if you can, read any stamped numbers on it. If you're reusing your existing hinges, tell us the make and overlay so we bore the cup correctly. Our one-piece MDF doors are paint-ready and can be machined for standard European cup hinges — but only if we know the plan before we cut.

A Worked Example

Say a door is gone and you measure the opening at 15 1/4" wide x 24 1/2" high. Your hinges are standard full-overlay Euro hinges at 1/2" overlay.

  • Width: 15 1/4" + (1/2" x 2) = 15 1/4" + 1" = 16 1/4"
  • Height: 24 1/2" + (1/2" x 2) = 24 1/2" + 1" = 25 1/2"

You'd order a 16 1/4" x 25 1/2" door and note "35mm Euro cup, 1/2" full overlay." Simple, once you know your overlay.

Common Mistakes

  • Assuming the overlay. The single biggest error. Confirm it from your hinge, not a guess.
  • Measuring the old door when it was trimmed. If a door was shaved to fit a warped frame, copying it copies the problem. When in doubt, measure the opening and add overlay.
  • Rounding to the nearest 1/4". We build to 1/16". Give us that precision.
  • Transposing width and height. Always write width first, height second, every time.
  • Forgetting the reveal on paired doors. Two doors on one opening need a gap between them, or they'll bind.
  • Not labeling doors. A pile of numbers with no locations is a reorder waiting to happen.

FAQ

How do I measure for replacement cabinet doors? Measure your existing door's width and height to the nearest 1/16" and order that exact size. If the door is gone, measure the cabinet opening and add your overlay to both sides — a 1/2" full overlay adds about 1" to width and height. Always confirm your hinge and overlay first.

What's the difference between full overlay and partial overlay? Full overlay covers nearly the whole face frame with only a thin reveal between doors, common on modern cabinets. Partial (half) overlay laps over each frame edge by roughly 3/8", typical of older cabinets. The difference is set by your hinge, which determines exactly how much the door covers.

Do I need to know my hinge type before ordering doors? Yes. Your hinge sets your overlay, decides whether a 35mm cup hole must be bored, and controls how the door swings. Photograph the hinge and note any stamped numbers. Confirming the hinge before ordering prevents a door that's the wrong size or missing the boring it needs.

Got your numbers? Order exact-size, paint-ready doors made in the USA. Not sure MDF is right for you? Read MDF vs. wood cabinet doors.

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