The contemporary eye delights in expanses of unbroken glossy surfaces so the modern kitchen is likely to have several double or even full height doors fronting cabinets. They are beautiful but they present challenges to the designer. A standard 60cm by 80cm door will often be made of MDF or timber composites making it relatively thin and light and giving it good dimensional stability. Using the same technology to make doors two or three times the size increases their weight and massively stresses the materials. One possible result, particularly with composites, is that the door will warp.
The obvious solution is to make the doors thicker but then they become unmanageably heavy, stressing the hinges and making them feel wrong in the hand.
Sugatsune suggests the use of door tensioners to manage the stresses in the door. Straightening rods like the TNA421 pictured above and below are engineered into the door. The rod has a threaded sleeve section which when turned by a hex key from the end applies tension or relief to bring the door back to straight and true. Using this method doors can be lighter and the use of materials is kept to a minimum. The bars can be concealed beneath an aluminium panel or beneath a veneer or surface laminate.
The ST741 works in a similar fashion but it comes as a complete unit built into a smart aluminium extrusion. It is surface mounted on the inside of the door and is very often used with pocket doors where not only does it keep the door straight and true but has the double benefit of working as a handle and also obscuring the pocket door cavity when the door is open. The fitting screws are hidden by the extrusion and adjustment is made from the top edge of the pocket door by inserting and turning a hex key.
Sugatsune stocks a full range of straightener rods which can be surface mounted or built in. They can be used singly or in pairs and enable the use of thinner lighter doors in your projects. If you’d like to talk through the possibilities why not give our knowledgeable customer services team a ring, they’d be only too happy to talk to you.
