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Cab guy is planning to silicone the glass in the doors?

rosieo
12 years ago

My cabinet installer is coming today to install the glass in my cabinet doors. He says the cabinet maker "had a hard time finding the tabs" to put them in with so he'll be using silicone instead. Huh? Is this a normal practice?

The doors are already hung, so he'll have to take them down, silicone the glass in, then come back tomorrow when it's dried and rehang them. This sounds ridiculous to me and I'm concerned about replacing the glass in the future when it breaks. Have you ever heard of this? Should I say something?

Comments (17)

  • rosieo
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the quick reply. Can you give me any reasons I can give to him to explain why I don't want this done?

    The cabinet maker has a good reputation and has done glass fronts before. I suspect he's just trying to get this finished quick so he can get his last payment. And the installer is caught in the middle.

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    12 years ago

    There's nothing wrong with caulking the panes in with silicone, provided it can be done neatly with no squeeze-out.
    The panes will be firmly fixed, and not rattle when slammed. But, the glass is never coming back out in one piece.
    You can find glass clips almost anywhere, but the offset has to be right or the glass will rattle or the clips will be stressed/break.
    Casey

    Here is a link that might be useful: Glass clips, various offsets

  • suzanne_sl
    12 years ago

    We bought our doors "glass ready" and bought the glass from the local glass company. When we picked up the 16 glass panes, the glass guy said specifically to use silicone to install them rather than the clips they came with. He was very specific about which kind of silicone too - I'd ask my husband except he's still asleep upstairs (8 hour drive from So. to No. CA yesterday). They only took an hour or so to set before we could put them back up.

    If you don't want silicone and would rather have clips, just tell your cabinet guy. Like our glass guy, he may think silicone is the better route, but I'm sure he'll put in the clips if that's your preference.

  • dejongdreamhouse
    12 years ago

    We have silicone caulking on our new cabinets (installed 2 weeks ago).

    {{!gwi}}

    Source: dejongdreamhouse.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

    I am SO happy that our guy did this. In our previous kitchen, we had the clips and our glass rattled so loudly whenever we shut a cabinets. This is so much better, in my opinion. If you aren't sure about your glass, I can see why you might want the clips for flexibility, but if you're the type that won't change it until you change cabinets, I'd go for the quiet, secure glass.

  • abfabamy
    12 years ago

    We, also, had clips in our last house. Even though they were tight, they still rattled when the door was shut. Silicone was recommended by the glass place and the cabinet maker for this house. I've never heard of this being the butcher way of doing things. Yes, the glass can not be removed and reused, but I'm not sure why this is a big issue. Maybe I'm missing something.

  • emagineer
    12 years ago

    Our guy used thin wood trim inside, this finished off the cabinetry much better than thought. I wouldn't want the silicone due to look and cleaning. Other cabinets have clips, even the china cabinet. Perhaps this is lower grade and I don't know it. But is easier for me to take them out and clean, no residue hanging around the edges or dealing with dripping to clean up.

  • babushka_cat
    12 years ago

    mine have the clips but they also used small amount of silicone to hold them in place to avoid rattling, as others have referenced. i am happy with it.

  • macybaby
    12 years ago

    The glass company we got our glass from told us specifically to use silicone to install the glass. Now I have a bunch of clips I'll never use.

    We used clips in the bathroom, and I much prefer the look of the glass put in with silicon and much prefer the "no rattle" We put teh silcone on the door so that it filled to the edge, then trimmed any excess off, so there is no gap for antyhing to get into, unlike those with the clips were stuff does get between the glass and wood. Next time I take out the bathroom glass to clean, I'll silicone it in and remove the clips. The only reason I even consider taking them out to clean is to get what got between anyway.

    With silcone, the glass can be removed and replaced, but normally you have to break the glass to remove it so the glass would not be reusable. Then you scrape off the silcone and start over (had to replace one that had a defect we did not see until after it was hung)

    Thin wood strips is the neatest looking - you may find they were silconed in place and not brad nailed. I may add the wood strips to the kichen cabs some day just to make them more finished looking on the inside.

  • taggie
    12 years ago

    Our brand new custom cabs were siliconed as well, as were our previous glass cabs that we replaced in the remodel. Never occured to me to ask for tabs. To me tabs seem more rickety and less custom (like in the ready-to-assemble tv stand and shelving kit I put together myself).

    Clear silicone can be done quite well, and it looks nice and is very stable. I've never had a problem cleaning it in my old kitchen. At least I don't think I did ... I never actually looked closely at the silicone behind my doors until now. :)

  • puppeez
    12 years ago

    My new cabs have a rubber trim piece that the glass company installed for me. It's a nice tight fit and if/when the time comes to change the glass for something different, it won't be a problem. My old cabs used a small wood trim piece to hold the glass in, and I did change the glass fronts, reusing the wood trim.

    Having worked with stained glass, I never use silicone on the pieces so I can remove them later.

  • bigdoglover
    12 years ago

    Our last kitchen had the glass siliconed in. I had to take it to the glass place myself and have it done, then go back and pick it up. Same story here in TX, the cabinetmaker "doesn't do that." I don't think I'd like clips. I think the glass might rattle. Also, do they show from the front?

    Are you planning to break your glass a lot? LOL. ;-)

  • breezygirl
    12 years ago

    My new custom cabs also are siliconed. I had them done at the glass company as I sourced my own glass to get the look I wanted. They said they always silicone in any glass that isn't plain, clear glass. I took the doors off, took them to the glass place, and then picked them up a week later when they were done.

    They look great, and there is zero rattling. After living with mine, I don't think I'd want clips. Sorry, no pics downloaded yet.

  • Emilner
    12 years ago

    ICF- That looks like rubber stripping that is used to hold in glass panels....

  • kathec
    12 years ago

    I know this thread is a bit old. I was doing a search and this came up.

    I have 2 glass doors that I'm getting ready to paint. They were from a display kitchen. The doors originally had little plastic clips that were attached with tiny screws and I'm concerned that the screws won't hold well in the long run. I think the silicone is the better way to go.

    I was just wondering this should be the regular clear silicone, or is there something else I should use?

    For application, should I lay down a bead of silicone and THEN place the glass? Or should I put the glass in first and silicone the small gap between the glass and wood?

    Thanks!

  • karrich
    6 years ago

    Two of my upper cabinet doors needed glass which was just installed with silicone a few minutes ago, and they are perfect. The installer put a few pieces of blue tape on the glass/door until the silicone dries and said to remove the tape tomorrow. You cannot see the silicone and he did not need to take the doors off.

  • Emily
    3 years ago

    I found this thread while looking for tips on how to avoid using silicone when fixing glass into a cabinet frame.


    A few years ago my husband got fed up with the rattling of the glass inside the frame. The glass had been held with tiny metal glazing tabs. So he used silicone, and it was great! The glass never rattled and it was very fixed in place.


    Fast forward to today when we decided to paint the cabinets and we had to take out the glass. Needless to say it was an excruciatingly long process to carefully take the glass out (unbelievably we didn't break the glass). Then carefully scrape the silicone (it can't be painted over). Then sand the wood (because paint won't adhere to the residue). This took days of detail oriented labor. I'm pretty sure a pro would never have taken on that job because it would not have been cost effective. You may be wondering why we didn't break the glass and start again. This had to do with the shape of the glass.


    Anyway, now we need to set the glass again, and would prefer not to use the glazing tips OR silicone. Knowing what a chore it is to replace the glass if the cabinets were to be repainted again, or if the glass broke (we have kids), I want another solution.

    Ideas?


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