Replacing Tambour doors with sliding doors

[Shermy1987]

I've been meaning to post this for a while, as I have not found any info about replacing old Tambour doors with sliding doors anywhere online.

When I performed my restoration I really wanted to re use the upper cabinets, and after some trial and error, I replaced the tambour with 1/8th plywood on sliding track. I also replaced the horrible brown trim by cutting strips of 1/16th plastic panel that was left over from building my shower and sliding it into the groves. The new uppers function great and look great. I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. The original Aluminum frame and panel design is great, and it would be expensive to manufacture something that is as light and strong as the originals.

To install the track, I cut and glued strips of plywood into the bottom runner to bring the sliding track up to the same level as the frame. I then glued with construction adhesive, Knape and Vaught 1/8th plastic track into the upper and lower frames. To lock to doors in place I used magnetic latches. To make some fit, I had to make a simple bracket out of aluminum angle so the striker would hit properly. As I was not using all the cabinets, I also salvaged the aluminum up rights from the opposite side of the Tambour runners and replaced the runners with it. If you were only repairing the tambour, then you would either have to be happy with having the runners slightly visible or devise another way to cover them up.

[Shermy1987]

In the bottom photo, you can see the bracket I made up for all the inner doors to allow the catch to function properly. You can also see how I replaced the Tambour runner by using the bracket from the opposite side of one of the Tambour runners off another cabinet,

[my3sonsdad]

Thanks for posting! I am considering something similar. Though I don’t like he color of the anodized aluminum I think I can take care of that as well.