How do I determine the width of café doors for my opening? The finished opening is 23-3/4 in. I have read two different methods: one states that you make the width of the doors (combined) 1-in. less than the finished opening. A second article stated that you make the doors’ combined width 1-1/2 in. less than the finished opening. Any advice? – Sam Russo
Chris Marshall: I’d tackle it this way: buy the cafe door hinge hardware and see how the hinges will impact the door spacing before you build the doors. You can’t modify how the hinges work. What you can change is how wide you make the doors. Figure out how much swing clearance the hinges will require and how much space you want to have between the two doors where they meet in the doorway. Subtract these two numbers from the finished jamb opening and divide by two to get the overall width of each door. You could even make a simple mock-up using scraps of plywood for the doors and installing the hinges temporarily on the mock-ups to see how they function. Then, trust your measurements instead of what you’ve read. That will be the final proof.
