Replacing cabinet doors is one of the fastest, most affordable ways to transform a kitchen — you keep your existing boxes and only swap the fronts. But it only works if the new doors fit. More replacement orders go wrong at the measuring stage than anywhere else, so before you order a single door, it's worth understanding exactly what to measure and why.
Overlay, inset, or full overlay — figure this out first
Before you touch a tape measure, identify how your current doors sit on the cabinet. This is the single most important decision, because it determines the math you use for every door.
With overlay doors, the door sits on top of the cabinet face frame and covers part of it. A standard partial overlay covers about half of the frame; full overlay covers nearly all of it, leaving only a thin reveal between doors. With inset doors, the door sits flush inside the frame opening rather than on top of it — these require the tightest tolerances and are the least forgiving of measuring errors.
Look at a closed door and note how much frame is visible around it. If you can see roughly ⅜" to ½" of frame on each side, you have partial overlay. If the doors nearly touch each other with only a sliver of gap, you have full overlay. If the door face is flush with the frame, it's inset. If you're replacing inset doors, read our dedicated guide to inset cabinet doors before ordering.
Measuring overlay doors: measure the opening, not the old door
The most reliable method for overlay doors is to measure the cabinet opening — the actual hole in the face frame — and then add your overlay amount. Old doors warp, swell, and get sanded down over the years, so copying their exact size can carry forward decades of error.
Measure the opening height and width with a steel tape, to the nearest 1/16". Measure width in two or three places (top, middle, bottom) and height on both sides — face frames are rarely perfectly square, so use the smallest reading for a safe fit.
For a standard ½" overlay on all four sides, add 1" to the opening width and 1" to the opening height (½" of coverage on each side). So a 12" × 24" opening becomes a 13" × 25" door. Where two doors meet on a single wide opening, subtract a small gap (typically ⅛") between the pair so they don't rub. When in doubt, tell your door manufacturer the opening size and the overlay you want and let them do the math — that's what we do all day.
Measuring inset doors
Inset doors fit inside the opening with a consistent reveal — usually 1/16" to ⅛" of gap all the way around. Because the door lives inside the frame, you subtract rather than add. Measure the opening precisely, then subtract your desired reveal from both the width and the height.
Inset work punishes sloppy measuring and out-of-square openings, so if your face frames are old and racked, measure every opening individually rather than assuming they're all identical. Two "24-inch" openings in the same run can easily differ by 1/8" or more.
Don't forget the drawer fronts
Drawer fronts follow the same overlay logic as doors, but they're measured to the drawer opening, not the door openings. Measure each drawer opening's height and width and apply the same overlay you're using on the doors so the whole run looks uniform.
If you're replacing everything, it's cleaner to reface with matching doors and drawer fronts at the same time. Mismatched overlays — say, ½" on the doors and ⅜" on the drawers — are a common eyesore in DIY refacing jobs. See our drawer fronts page for styles that pair with each door profile.
Hinge boring, thickness, and hardware
New doors need to work with your hinges. If you're reusing European (concealed) cup hinges, you'll need a 35 mm bore drilled into the back of each door, and you'll need to specify the bore location and the hinge overlay. Tell your manufacturer the hinge brand and model if you can — Blum, Grass, and Salice all have slightly different boring specs.
Also confirm door thickness. Most cabinet doors are ¾" thick, but some frameless and specialty doors differ, and hinge cups are sized to the material. Finally, note your handle or knob drilling if you want holes pre-bored, though many shops prefer to drill those on site for placement control.
Write it down the way a manufacturer reads it
Cabinet door shops read sizes as width × height (W × H), always in that order, in inches and fractions. Reversing the two is a classic mistake that turns a tall pantry door into a wide one. Build a simple list: opening location, opening size, finished door size, overlay type, hinge bore (yes/no), and door style.
When your list is ready, send it to us. Trinity Doors has been building made-to-order cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and mouldings for Texas and Louisiana homeowners and shops for over 27 years, and we'll double-check your numbers before anything goes into production. If you'd like the full walkthrough with diagrams, see our How to Measure Cabinet Doors guide, then request a quote.