[Jeff]

I'm putting together my Adel birch kitchen, any overall very impressed with the way Ikea engineers everything. However, I don't like the print on the glass on the cabinet doors. I thought I could disassemble the doors or replace the glass myself, but after getting them, the glass seems to be irreplaceable. Has anyone had success getting these apart?

[GardenOfDarwin]

Jeff -- Welcome to the forums!

With wood doors, you're probably in better shape than with say...Abstrakt doors, but still, the only way we've figured this to be possible would be to (very carefully) take a router to the inside of the door, route out a groove around the glass, and then remove it. You'd then replace it using standard glazing materials.

Sorry to be less than helpful, but I've not actually done it. Have you looked into 3rd party doors, just for the glass doors? Not an ideal solution, I admit.

Susan

[Alskit]

Jeff:

Were you ever able to replace the glass? I'm not a fan of the glass in the Adel birch doors--love the glass in the cream/white and medium brown.

[Dina Jansenson]

Hi, I'm about to purchase Adel birch cabinets and would like to replace the glass on the doors. Has anyone successfully accomplished that? How?

Any help would be appreciated!

[tommymiller50]

I also don't like how see through a lot of the doors are. I've considered painting the back of the glass with a light coat of white spray paint (or a color if you're more adventurous) for a more opaque appearance. Anyone try this?

[kisaacs]

They actually make a spray paint specifically for this purpose.

Krylon | Krylon® Glass Frosting

I think there might also be a contact paper like material that you could use on the back.

Kristen

[woodswell]

That spray on glass frosting holds up pretty good. I used it on some shell shades for bedside lamps a very long time ago and they still look great. That is with moving the lamps around, adjusting the shades, cats rubbing against them, etc.

[bsdnfraje]

Depending on how much traffic the glass sees, sometimes the spray on frost will scratch away. I did some glass countertops for a business in green, finally had to recoat and flip the glass to avoid the problem

For cabinet doors, I would try chemically etching the glass. Any craft store will have glass etching in a bottle. apply it with a brush and wipe away, per the manufacturer's instructions.

[bogiesan]

Originally Posted by bsdnfraje

For cabinet doors, I would try chemically etching the glass. Any craft store will have glass etching in a bottle. apply it with a brush and wipe away, per the manufacturer's instructions.

Things may have changed over the years and these etching potions may have improved.

I used to do glass carving with a sandblaster and have tried all kinds of acid etching compounds on glass. The etching solutions are really inconsistent. Try to imagine painting red enamel over a white surface to envision the difficulties. The etchants are sensitive to application concentration, temperature, and time. The results on a large surface are "interesting" and, with several hundred square feet of practice, in the hands of an artist, can be expressive.

To do etch glass with acids or other solutions evenly, you need an immersion bath.

Use a sandblaster, learn how to do gluechipping in your oven (fun! messy! cool! not very dangerous!) or just buy good obscure glass. In spite of the general DIY nature of our site, I say, if you're going to buy good quality glass, have it cut to your specifications.

david boise ID