Need help modifying a piece of furniture.

[PaulH99]

A family member is repurposing an old cabinet with drawers as a TV stand. She'd like to put a small radio in one of the drawers and have just the front fold/drop down out of the way when she wants to listen to the radio.

My first thought was to cut the front of the drawer from the box, then reinforce the opening and add a piano hinge. However this would cause the drawer front to bind on the frame below it and not open all the way (if at all). My second idea was to make the face drop out and down in an arc so that it will completely clear the drawer below. However, I have no idea what hardware might be available to accomplish this.

All ideas are welcome!

 

[Bob D.]

If I understand what you propose the drawer front would
hinge down and be left open when the radio is in use. Or
just opened to access the radio controls then closed up again.

What about making the drawer front hinge up and disappear
into the space above the drawer box. You would have to alter
the sides of the drawer box and work out where to place the
pivot point but there would be nothing hanging out the front
of the cabinet and it would certainly be unique.

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the old disappearing
headlights on cars back in the 70s and80s. Specifically I remember
my 78 Ford LTD had these lights, as did the Thunderbird and Lincoln.
They were vacuum operated and rolled up to expose the headlights.

 

[PaulH99]

I love that idea! And I'm old enough to remember those

 

[semenza]

Yeah, getting out of the way when open would be good. If you set it up to slide into the cabinet, remember to account for the handle / pull / knobs.

If you go with just having it drop open in front........ maybe just use self closing concealed hinges mounted horizontally on the bottom edge?

Seth

 

[Bob D.]

For my idea the pivot point would need to be low near the bottom
and the radius roughly equal to the height of the drawer front.

There will still be some clearance issues to work out to have it look
right and keep a gap around the drawer front that matches that of
the remaining drawers that operate as a normal drawer, assuming
you are keeping some in their normal configuration.

 

[PaulH99]

[member=1619]SRSemenza[/member] That is exactly the issue I have. The drawer front has a scalloped shape and the handles stick out pretty far. The total thickness (with handles) is about 1.5 inches (38 mm) which will take a lot of space from the top of the drawer box when pushed up.

As for a concealed hinge, something like this might work well:http://a.co/81MqwEF

[member=60461]Bob D.[/member] The clearances are the biggest problem here since the drawer front is not flat.

My wife came up with a simple idea: disconnect the face from the drawer box, then use some magnets to hold it in place. Instead of folding out of the way, the face could be completely removed and stashed under the cabinet, or even slid into the drawer.

Hmm... Still thinking on this...

 

[semenza]

Got a picture?

  Though it would also sacrifice some space you cut the scalloped portion off and fix that permanently in order to give you a straight piece to hinge.

  Yes, that Blum hinge you linked is what I was thinking. That would allow the front to move out and fold down. The self / spring close type should be enough to hold the front up and shut, but if not then add a magnet.

    The idea to just pull the front off is very straight forward and would be easy to do, but I have found that those types of arrangements frequently lead to the piece just not getting used. Slip it underneath and then ..... 'oh ,  why bother I'll be using it again later'.  Also the magnets to hold it firmly could require enough of a pull to take it off that objects on the top might be getting rattled around all the time.

Seth

 

[Bob D.]

I don't think my idea would work well with other than a flat drawer front.

 

[PaulH99]

I took a couple pictures of the drawer on my phone to attach. The scalloping of the front and the size of the handles result in a drawer front that is about 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick.[attachimg=1][attachimg=2]

 

[mwildt]

Sure looks like the drawer is in good health after being triple cat scanned.

 

[semenza]

Ah, different scallops than I was picturing so ignore the cutting them off part up above.

Seth

 

[Bob D.]

Sure looks like the drawer is in good health after being triple cat scanned.

[big grin]

 

[PaulH99]

Yep, we're trying to keep things fuzzy around our house