Maybe don't do the door - or put a slider on the study side? Or just drywall it shut and buy two more cabinets or a single tall cabinet. Small doors are irritating doors. Whomever is lucky enough to get the study can just walk around.

Wonder if you could do a murphy door? (Secret bookcase door)

Lose the doorway and the opening all together. Or lose the cabinet, and widen the door. It doesn't need a door. Just an annoyance. If it needs a door? It means you want quiet in the study. Close the entire thing, and walk AROUND.

SHOW the entire plan

Do away with the trim. Bifold door with track above.

you can source a variety of bifold doors now...various species or painted / panel configurations. With hardware on top and bottom you circumvent the problem.

Does 28” meet code, especially as an egress point from the kitchen? I am a small woman and find a 28” door hard to get thru if I don’t have my arms at my sides, ouch 😡

I agree, loose the door. You don’t need a door into the kitchen from a study. Only one entrance is needed. Bonus is you can add more cabinets.

Close it up and use as a bonus kitchen space. Put a drink fridge in the study...maybe in that space behind the drywall.

IMO you do not need 2 entries into the study so just close this one and use the space it creates for a wind bar or a coffee bar

I think, according to IRC, this door does not have any requirements as an non-egress door. The egress door from the kitchen is the main entry to the kitchen. The egress door from the den is the 48" width double entry door from the living room. Non egress doors can be as wide or narrow as necessary to permit passage, so this door could be shrunk to 24" because no one *has to use it at all to get in and out of either room. It is a shortcut for convenience if the OP wants it. Without a door on it, it could be a 12" floor to ceiling slot in the wall that someone could squeeze through if they felt like it. Personally I would probably like the extra cabinet space, maybe it makes sense for them, but it does not have to meet the 32" clear space requirement because it is not the primary egress from either room.

being at the "install" phase one presumes the mass and assortment of cabinets has been decided and purchased . While uncertainty still exists regarding DOOR options I would go ahead and finish off the side of cabinet. Door options are a few in number: SWINGING door/ BIFOLD door/ ceiling mounted BARN style door in other room...etc. With kitchen install in progress I might just make a mental note that a side hinged door wont likely work but other options are present. An interesting barn door with chalk board on kitchen side could make a feature out of this spot.

@palimpsest Thank you for understanding Yes, the kitchen is open to the family room so there isn’t an egress issue. I also like to be able to pop in and out of the ”study” while I’m cooking - but do see the benefits of closing that off - it’s just not what I had wanted.

You mentioned a 24” door - that was one solution offerred, and would give more room for standard trim (vs having cut down skinny trim) - but wasn’t sure how much smaller a 24” door would feel. the double doors into the room will be 48” - so two 24” doors. I was trying to keep the door swing from taking up too much room.

The bifold door intrigues me - but doesn’t the door folded to the side take up space for walking through? I feel like that would take up more than the few inches I’m losing going down to a 26” door.

I also can’t lose that end cabinet entirely - it’s the counter next to the range - so something needs to be there.

Here is the full kitchen plan:

Does anyone have an example of door trim where it had to be squeezed in next to cabinets? I’m worried it will look like someone made a mistake and catch the eye.

Thanks!

Lafayette · More Info

Not exactly the same but can you tell that the waterfalls on the cabinets flanking the range stick 1/2" into the casing? no, because there are too many other things to look at (and obviously the picture is taken from too far back but you get the idea!)

It would be more of an issue if you were doing fancy trim...

I live in a neighborhood with very old (150-200 yo) and very small housing stock. There are some very old houses in my neighborhood with 24"-26" Entry doors. That is inconvenient and it is hard to get furniture in. Standard door size for powder rooms and bathrooms in the newer (50-60 yo) house was 24". Bedrooms 28". I enlarged where I could when I renovated, but a lot of houses in my neighborhood have 24" doors on the bathroom and always will until they are demolished.

If this were the entry into the room it would be a different story. But for passing back and forth I would probably go to 24" and not think much about it. You will probably walk around if you are carrying something like a tray of food, but you have that option.

I see cut back trim on the corner side all the time. If you keep the bigger door you could notch the trim on the cabinet side so the full width would be read in the backsplash area.

Do away with the trim and the door, because I don't even think 28” reflects the code.

@HALLETT & Co. Wow - thay picture really calms my nerves I’ve been scouring for pictires and couldn’t find much. That‘s impressive! Thank you

@palimpsest Your drawing is awesome. It doesnt look too bad - I think it will look okay! Thank you ;)

@K Remodeling There is a secondary 48” entry to the study - so I think I am allowed fo go down to only 24” on the doorway. My kitchen is open to the family room so that doorway is just a shortcut to the study and not needed.

I've been in old homes with the casing chopped to fit around cabinets like Hallet & Palimp describe. It's fine! It's part of what makes old homes cool.

And it's very compatible with the shaker style of your cabinets--you're not doing fancy trim are you?

Consider a totally random door width, too. Why drop to 24"? Why not 26.4"? Or whatever. whatever you do will be fine!

Drywall the opening, no trim? Or frosted glass double minimalist doors? Just google "No trim door jamb" Make it look minimalist and flush. It can be done....there are videos on youtube on how to do it too.

Here are some inspiration pics. Could do a flush single flat, slab style door. I do a black modern french door with frost glass? Or a single door with frosted glass?

As per @The Kitchen Place, eliminate the trim. Problem solved.

I would say the only issue about going to a custom width is the expense. For one door it might be worth it.

I did a project in a house that was built in 1954 and had 30" hallways. 7'6" ceilings and doors that were 26 or 27" wide into the bedrooms. They were also 76" tall, not 80" and they had metal door frames. It was a largish development of like houses, so I don't know whether they had all these weird sizes built for the development company or what. But when it came time for the renovation, we had to leave a lot of it because of budget (and grandfathering) . We looked at nicer doors for the existing frame but a custom door at $1000 a pop was out of budget and there was no real reason to replace old flush slabs with new, and new hollow core panel doors could not be cut down enough without falling apart.

Had another idea....what brand of cabinet do you have? Check to see if they have a "hidden pantry" cabinet!

Here are a few photo examples of what that is. This might be tricky depending on your cabinet line.

@The Kitchen Place, I am doing the trimless jambs in my house. This is certainly a possibility. The flush inswing door shown in picture #1 requires a 2-1/4" door, rabbeted on the hinge side with three heavy weight hinges. Off the rack this frame would be north of $1000 (These hinges are 100+ each) and the door would be special order. I think under 28" would also be custom order for both frame and door. I am not doing any flush in-swing, just regular in-swing. It looks good but it takes skill by the installer as well.

Will that room ever be turned back into a dining room?? If so then keep the door and install with no trim. Problem solved.

The hidden opening is a fun idea too!

Great feedback Palimpsest! I guess if it gets too expensive, drywall the opening and prep for flush installed door later down the road.

Wow - I love these creative ideas! How fun. The pictures are especially helpful :)

I love trimless doors in the right space but the trim does more than cover up gaps and pretty things up; it reduces wear and tear on the opening.

If a doorway is narrow and frequently used, it can look scruffy pretty quickly without some durable trim.

A 24” door is fully passable by even a 350 pound football player. It’s the size of all the bathroom doors in my house, and no guest or occupant has ever had a problem entering the facilties. Now the 18” pantry closet door? That's too small.

I had a 27" door on my last guest bath and it felt huge! Limit the doorway to you only...NO KIDS.

@Verbo, I was in a Frank Lloyd Wright house that had a master bath door that was 18"-20", the guide did not know for sure. It was not a particularly small house or small bathroom, 1950s Usonian.

@Fori, one of the reasons I widened the three upstairs doorways where I needed the trimless jambs was because I thought wider would get less wear and tear. So far they are in really good condition although I wince sometimes when I brush against the cut edge of the grasscloth in the one doorway. I actually don't think it's too hard for adults to get through a doorway without banging into it, if they pay attention (which some don't some people are hard on things), but we have no kids, no dogs and a cat who doesn't tend to cause any issues. The metal frames are heavy but there could be an issue with wearing of paint. But I think this would be more durable than a drywall opening with no trim at all because the entire jamb is metal. If a washable paint was used this would ameliorate some of the potential wear issues.

@Fori Thank you for the warning of wear and tear on a trimless doorway. My house takes a beating with 3 kids, a 6’3” husband and a crazy golden retriever. i think I’d better scratch that idea off the table even though it was a great solution!

Make the rest of them go around. :)

We have four 24" doors in our home -- door to master bathroom from the master bedroom, door to the master bedroom's closet, door to the step-in pantry, and door to the Powder Room. While they aren't necessarily what I would do if I were building, they're not that bad...and we are a tall family (5'10" to 6'7") with the added "width" that often comes with the taller heights (not fat, just broader shoulders, etc.).

If having a door there is important to you, then just put in a 24" door. If you really don't need the door b/c you have such a nice wide doorway elsewhere, then close it up and add more cabinets & counters there. It would actually be nicer to have more work space on that side of the range.

I wanted to give a quick updatenin case others run into a similar dilemma! We ordered a 26” door and butted the trim into the wall and cabinet (note that the plant door to the left isnt the correct one, it was just used as a spacer until the real end panels arrive).

i think once everything is painted and put together it is going to be just fine. My 6’3” husband fits through with no issue. Thanks all for helping me off the ledge :)

It looks great. I don't think you'll find it too narrow since it won't get heavy use. We had a 24" doorway into our masterbath and it was fine. We later changed the bath into a closet and the narrow door was not a problem for that either.

Im glad you kept the doorway. No regrets