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Glass Panel Kitchen Cabinets

13 years ago

I have this same question posted on the woodworking forum, but wanted to tap into the expertise of this forum as well.

We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen where we are using the existing stained oak cabinets and painting them. The problem we have run into is with the cabinet doors that have glass panes in them.

We would like to remove the glass so that we can clean/sand/prime/paint the doors. Unfortunately the glass was glued into the frame.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to remove the glued glass panels? We tried a blow dryer thinking the heat might make the glue give a little, but no luck!

Any help is much appreciated!!!

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Comments (4)

Lake_Girl
13 years ago
Have you googled it? Great question. Many have painted there cabs on this forum, so surely there have been glass panes....
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rnest44
13 years ago
Hmm...does this mean that if you do not remove the glass a small part will remain unpainted? If so, ignore the next part of this post.
I didn't have the option to remove the glass when I painted my oak cabinets b/c it was factory built in. I used a brown grocery bag cut to size and wide painter's tape on each side of the door. I took the tape off after the clean/sand/ prime phase and reapplied for the paint phase to be sure the primer or paint didn't peel with the tape. None of the glass broke and the edges are clean. I should mention over half the doors were glass so it was a job of patience.
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I bought mine at my neighborhood glass/mirror shop. I had 4 cabinet doors that I wanted to install glass panels. I brought one of the cabinet doors into the shop so that they could measure. I chose panels that are clear glass with a bevelled edge because I wanted the clear glass (no frosted or seeded for me), and the bevelling adds a luxury look to the glass. The bevelling almost doubled the cost of the glass but it was worth it IMO. In about a week, the glass shop called me that the glass was ready. I brought the 4 cabinet doors in, they installed the glass (I think I left the doors there overnight and picked them up the next day). My cabinet doors have easy "clip-style" hinges, so once I brought them home, it was cinch to hang them (though they were a little heavy). I thought the cost was very reasonable. I had checked with some online glass places, and the online places seemed more expensive, and I would have had to deal with shipping, and the installation. I really liked the customer service at my local place. The people there were so nice and helpful. My advice is to look in your yellow pages and find a couple of local glass stores and call them or stop in to tell them what you have in mind, and see what they say as to cost.
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A fein multimaster with the flat/sharp blade could get between the glass and the wood (from the front) to cut the sealant. From the back a sharp utility knife would cut it. You will probably sustain some damage to the wood from the Fein. But there may be no perfect solution. Simply smashing the glass out (place the doors over a trash can) could still tear up the muntins, which are always very delicate in glass doors. If you don't have muntins in your doors, breaking the glass out is a faster cheaper alternative. The fein tools are very costly. Casey
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What we did was take the actual doors to a local glass shop. We selected the glass from a zillion samples. Left the doors there and picked them up about a week later. The glass company installed the glass in the doors for us, no charge. We also ordered the glass shelves for the inside from them. Be sure that you know what thickness, edging, etc you want on the interior glass. I liked using a local store over an online store because I could actually see in real life what I was going to get. Plus, if there was a problem (which there wasn't), I wouldn't have to mess with shipping it back. Ultimately we went with a middle to low cost choice in the glass called "rainwater" because it's temporary. My father is a stained glass artist and has offered to do stained glass inserts for the 3 doors that we have rainwater glass in now. Not so sure about doing it in stained glass, as I'd kinda like it to match the leaded glass door we have leading to our patio, which he can do as well. Decisions.. decisions.
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cabinetsbyalan
13 years ago
I would do it as owls4me describes. If you apply to much pressure to separate mullion from glass you may break glass. And to make matters worse the mullion may break also because it's stuck to glass. Most mullions are just narrow pieces of wood and can break easily. If a painter was painting a regular interior door for you that was stained they would not be removing glass. They simply would rough up finish with sandpaper and then prime. Artist supply stores or craft stores have really nice 1/2" wide brushes ideal for cutting in paint on small profiles like mullions. Hope this helps
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UT_Cowgirl
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the replies so far. We've googled and have unfortunatly come up with nothing.

Owls4Me - you hit the main problem right on the head. The fronts would be fine with good taping, but the backs would have stained wood still showing behind the glass if we are unable to remove. There are no wood pieces on the back to hold the glass in, just the glue. So without removal we can't get to the wood behind the glass. By the way, I hear you on the 'job of patience' comment...this is looking like it may be one as well!

Are we out of luck?
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