How to fix kitchen cabinet door?

[takezo]

Hi all,

We've had one of our kitchen cabinet doors break as shown in the attached photos. Just wondering if this is at all salvageable, as I'm not sure I'll be able to find a matching cupboard and I'd prefer not to have to swap over a bunch of matching cupboards due to this.

It seems like an l-shaped metal fitting has broken off inside the frame. I've tried to get the frame off to inspect it, however I can't seem to figure out how it comes apart (I assume it should).

Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.

[EricL]

Hello @takezo 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your aluminium kitchen cabinet door.

Looking at the picture you posted it appears that the corner stake has split. The corner stake is what holds the corner pieces of the aluminium frame together. 

I propose bringing your aluminium door to an aluminium/glazing specialist in your area. There are two possible repair options for your door. First is the replacement of the corner stake, the specialist will create a custom stake to fit into your door in order to get it functional.

If the stake can't be duplicated for one reason or another, the corners can be patched together using a flat piece of aluminium from the outside and screwed on. It will depend on how skilful the aluminium fabricator is. 

Please do not attempt to take the frame apart as it has a glass panel in it, and if handled incorrectly could shatter and cause injury. Unfortunately, we don't know if it is safety glass or not. But in the interest of health and safety, it's best not to remove the glass and leave it to the professionals.        

If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Eric

[takezo]

So I've made some progress and figured out how to get into it. Now just need to find the replacement part for this. Any chance you can get these at bunnings?

[EricL]

Hello @takezo 

Excellent progress on getting the corner stake out. I'm sorry but Bunnings only has plastic and soft aluminium stakes. Yours appear to be soft cast aluminium and is not available at the store. Odds are it is custom made for your door. Would you happen to know the manufacturer of your kitchen? Perhaps they can track down the door brand and source spare parts.

If not, I can only suggest doing a search online or as I mentioned bringing the assembly to an aluminium/glazing specialist.

If you need further assistance, please let me know.

Eric

[takezo]

Hi @EricL thanks so much for your replies.

I'll begin by saying that it doesn't seem to be glass, but some sort of semi opaque Perspex, so all good on that front!

The part seems to be a Hafele - however they don't seem to carry that part locally, despite it appearing on the NZ and other Hafele sites. I've shot off an email to understand if there's any chance to purchase it directly, however I'm not holding out too much hope. I'll see if I can find an aluminium specialist in the area that can help.

Many thanks.

[EricL]

Hi @takezo 

Please keep us updated with your progress. We look forward to seeing your kitchen door repaired.

Eric

[jess83]

We’ve got the same problem! Did you end up getting the part for it?

[JacobZ]

Hi @jess83,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

Allow me to tag @takezo so they are notified of your questions.

I'm sure they will get back to you shortly with their results.

Jacob

[takezo]

Hi @jess83,

I actually had some luck in the end calling a Bunnings store in NZ and placing a special order for the part (there are 2 part numbers depending on the height of your doors - these can be obtained from the Hafele NZ website). 

The catch is you need to have an address to NZ you can ship to and then get them to forward onto you. Luckily I had my wife's aunt over there. The order took a month to complete and was only delivered within NZ a few days ago. 

It's a bit of a disgrace that this is obviously not a rare issue and Hafele Australia refuses to step in and help out their customers. 

If you have no way to organise this, let me know as I ordered 4 (which was the minimum) and I should be able to help out. I'm currently overseas ATM however and won't be back until end of September. 

Let me know how you get on.