2014 Cyclone 3100 double door cabinet in kitchen BAD design.

This cabinet (between microwave and entry door over small kitchen window) should have one door that is hinged on the far side with the cabinet handle on the near side so it opens up into kitchen. The half door hinged on near side prevents full access into cupboard. Can I order a full door designed to replace the two door design? OR can these two doors be made to "accordian" -"bifold" open? My wife is sure that a man designed this, because a woman would have seen how it limits access into the only overhead cabinet that you do not need a stepladder to get into. Has anyone attempted this mod?

Don't know what your door looks like, but here is an idea or two.

Measure what size door you would need, or could get by with (eg slightly larger). Call Heartland parts with your VIN for interior finishes purposes and ask for a door the size you need. Their parts department catalogs the cabinet doors by size, not application.
Order the hardware kit as well to get matching hinges, knobs and the lift cylinder.

Above microwave door added.
https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/11365-And-so-it-begins?p=143899&viewfull=1#post143899

Double doors made in single bifold door.
https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/11365-And-so-it-begins?p=143906&viewfull=1#post143906

YOU are a handiman god! I think I could do the piano hinge thing, but I will measure and try heartland too. NICE mods to your camper!

porthole said:

Don't know what your door looks like, but here is an idea or two.

Measure what size door you would need, or could get by with (eg slightly larger). Call Heartland parts with your VIN for interior finishes purposes and ask for a door the size you need. Their parts department catalogs the cabinet doors by size, not application.
Order the hardware kit as well to get matching hinges, knobs and the lift cylinder.

Above microwave door added.
https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/11365-And-so-it-begins?p=143899&viewfull=1#post143899

Double doors made in single bifold door.
https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/11365-And-so-it-begins?p=143906&viewfull=1#post143906

Click to expand...

Here are the visuals.

If that's as far as the doors open, then I suspect something is wrong with the "Euro hinges." It may be that's the limit of their design, but you might be able to either adjust them or replace them with a better functioning hinge of similar design. You could hinge them in the center, but that might not look very good. Try removing one hinge and take it to a cabinet shop to see if they can fit you with a better replacement. Or, if you're handy with woodworking, try looking for them online at Rockler or one of the other woodworking supply companies.

John brings up a good point with the euro hinges. They come in a variety of opening angles. From 90 to 270 degrees IIRC.
Looking at your pics I think my choice would be try and replace the doubles with a single door.

If went with piano hinge to open up cabinet. Works good DW is happy. I used magnets where the old hinges were to keep cabinet closed. Used duct tape on drill bit to set depth so I did not drill too deep by mistake.

That works.

So if you get tired of that arrangement - if you already have a door someplace in the camper that will fit the opening correctly, or even close, you can use that dimension to order a single door. Heartland supplies the doors by size , not application.

You may be able to get a single door, the correct stain for a minimal cost, especially if you go to the Goshen rally next June.
And, you should be able to get a euro hinge with the degree opening that you need to gain decent access.

Here is a page of euro hinges of every shape and degree of opening.
http://www.rockler.com/search/go?w=blum hinge&asug=&sli_uuid=&sli_sid=

I would also look for "AJ" on the forum here (Heartland Cyclone rep) and make sure you send him a link of your doors, especially the first shots showing minimal access.
Keep in mind, the people that design and build these things are not end users. If we don't point out usability nothing will change.

Miltp920 said:

YOU are a handiman god! I think I could do the piano hinge thing, but I will measure and try heartland too. NICE mods to your camper!

Click to expand...

I love Duanes new title!!

I was just trying to work through something similar on my CY 4000. The cabinet above the countertop, with microwave to the left and living room to the right, only opens on 90 degree hinges, which is annoying and necessitates reaching around the cabinet door, with my face practically touching the edge of the cabinet door, to get inside the cabinet. I took a pic of the hinge and noticed that it had letters etched inside, which led me to the Fastec Industrial Company website, and their catalogue of hinges. I am going to call them tomorrow (business hours) to ask if their "Series 15" 105 degree hinges will work to replace my 90 degree hinges, as the foot print of the hinge looks the same. I just have to figure out what "overlay" my doors have - 1/2, 3/8, or 3/4".

http://www.fastecindustrial.com/default.html

http://www.fastecindustrial.com/images/Fastec Hinge .pdf

With the correct overlay, the "footprint" will be the same.

I called Fastec and they weren't able to help. They said that the hinge that is currently used in the cabinet *is* the 105 degree hinge (it just looks like 90 degrees because of the way the cabinet door hits the cabinet and keeps it from going further). There isn't a hinge available that opens wider and would still sit in the same footprint/hole.

The overlay is the measure of the part of the cabinet door that lays over the cabinet face. It corresponds to the length of the center connection/moving part on the hinge. I believe mine is 3/4". The footprint, as I called it, is the shape of the hole gauged out to set the hinge base into. They have different shapes - some more rounded, larger or smaller than others. Mine matched the "series 15" shape.

I called Heartland and they said they couldn't do anything either.

I noticed the modification below, where Miltp920 removed one door from it's hinges on one side, attached the two doors together with two simple plate hinges and then used a magnet closure to hold the unhinged side to the cabinet. I may give that project a try.

Curious, what is the diameter of the "cup" hole for that hinge? Blum is one manufacturer of that style, Grass is another. My cabinets at home have Grass hinges and I've replaced some of them (direct from the company) when they started to lose it after many years of use. Looking at the Fastec website, I don't see where they make hinges or cabinetry.

I measured the hole. 1 and 3/8 inches meaning 1 1/4 would fit inside the hole easily.
The first pics I posted do not show the max door opening before mod. They probably opened 105-110 degrees. Regaurdless the door on the closest side got in the way reaching into cabinet. The piano hinge really opened up access.

Blum has a catalog online. Another great source would be Rockler