If you have an outdoor kitchen or BBQ island, you naturally want everything to be on point. You want to make sure that the counter space is plentiful and easy to use, and you want to make sure that the appliances all work the way they were designed to work. Of course, most people take all of these things into consideration when designing their outdoor entertainment spaces. Unfortunately, the one thing that many people fail to think about is the access doors used on their outdoor island or kitchen, and that can leave them open to a lot of problems later on.
Thankfully, there is something that consumers can do to make sure that they don’t have problems with their access doors down the line, and that something is to upgrade the stock access doors that came with the island with something a little better made. Something that will not only stand the test of time but will also add a more attractive look to your outdoor workspace. With those goals in mind, we’ve begun a search for the best access doors available, and we’ve listed the ones that we feel are the best ones below for our readers’ consideration.
Best Access Doors
4Kitchen Aid Cabinet Double Stainless Steel 33-Inch Door
I don’t think that it would surprise many people to find out that one of the best access doors being made nowadays is from Kitchen Aid. After all, this company has long been known for creating some great kitchen appliances, so it’s not surprising that they created these high-quality doors. Doors that are made from 304 stainless steel and have a cool modern design. These are doors that we feel many of our readers are going to truly appreciate.
Since we briefly mentioned that these doors had a modern design, allow us to elaborate further. These double-doors have a rigid door frame that allows it to be fit to an appropriately sized custom-manufactured outdoor island or any Kitchen Aid built-in gas grill. It also features a knurled texture handle that not only looks good but is extremely easy to use as well.
For the consumer to properly install these doors, they’re going to need to know the cut-out dimensions, so we should probably list them in this review. This model has cut-out dimensions of 31.25-inches by 21.50-inches.
We’d also like to mention that these doors were extremely easy to clean. All the consumer has to do is to open them up 90-degrees so they can lift the doors out of the frame. They can then clean the doors and put them back on. And all of this is done without having to use tools. To our mind, that makes these doors not only a quality product but one that’s easy to take care of over the next few years.
3Yuxiang BBQ Stainless Steel Outdoor Kitchn Doors
Even though we’re not as familiar with the company Yuxiang as we were with other manufacturers of access doors, we were quite eager to find out if they made a quality product or not. Fortunately for us, this company does make a quality product and we were quite surprised at the amount of thought put into the design of these doors. They had a very modern look to them and had a flush-mounted installation that made them look quite nice once they were properly installed. They also had an integrated and enclosed pin-hinge that gave the doors a super clean look in any outdoor kitchen island. This is what access door experts call a self-rimming door and we were quite happy with how it installed.
These doors have an overall size of 31-inches in width by 24-inches in height. They require a cutout size of about 28.25-inches in width and 21.25-inches in height. They have a 3-inch depth flange and come with pre-drilled frame holes that make installing the door easier than it would ordinarily be to install. And because of its inner frame design, these doors seal better than most access doors and are weather-proof. This product also comes with everything the consumer needs to install it—except for the elbow grease. It comes with double doors, two handles, a manual, and a screwdriver. Thanks to this set, no one has any excuse not to replace their old, worn-out access doors and install some modern-looking.
2Sunstone 30-Inch Flush-Mounted Double-Doors
There are quite a few things to like about these access doors from Sunstone. These 30-inch double-doors are made from 16-gauge 304 stainless steel and come with an 18-gauge framed inward door panel for added durability. These doors require a cutout of 27.50inches wide by 18.5-inches high, and can easily be installed by just about anyone. These doors have a 1-5/8-inch install flange and a 1-1/2-inch outer flange that allows the consumer to easily mount the door to the framing of most styles of kitchen islands. The doors are equipped with a lightly-brushed finish that works well with most brick, concrete, or stone finishes that can be found on many kitchen islands.
Additional features that can be found on these doors include top and bottom magnets, reversible door hinges, polished handles that have been chrome-plated, and pre-drilled holes that make installing the doors a lot easier. These are modern looking access doors that we feel many consumers are going to get many years of use out of.
We’re not very familiar with Sunstone or with some of the other products they produce, but we are familiar with these doors and we feel that they’re well-made from quality materials. They’re also available for a very reasonable price that won’t require the consumer to sacrifice their pocketbook to get some nice access doors for their outdoor kitchen island. It’s for these reasons, as well as the other ones we’ve mentioned, that we’ve decided to put these doors on our list.
1Mophorn BBQ 31-Inch Double Doors
The last access doors we’d like to discuss are these by Mophorn. These doors are made out of high-quality stainless steel and have pre-drilled holes on the sides of the cabinet doors that make installing them as easy as pie. Thanks to this design, the consumer doesn’t have to struggle with drilling perfectly aligned holes because the manufacturer has already done it for them.
Another thing that we liked about these doors is that they’re designed with a thick frame and a hinge that ensures that they can be open and closed easily. The doors are also equipped with a magnetic closing system on the top and bottom of the frame. This keeps the door tight and prevents insects or rodents from working their way behind the door.
These doors are 31-inches wide by 24-inches high, and they require a cutout of the same dimensions. They come with not only the doors and the handles, but also with six hooks as well. All of these features make these doors perfect for just about any application—including use in an outdoor kitchen or BBQ island.
Oh, and we probably should mention that these doors have some of the most beautiful handles we’ve seen on access doors in quite some time. They’re very unique and different from the handles found on most door models. Keeping all of this in mind, it should be easy to see why we’ve decided that these doors were a worthy addition to our list. Simply put, we think that they’re great access doors for outdoor kitchen islands and worth taking a look at.
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Buying The Best Access Door For Outdoor Spaces
We know probably more than anyone else how difficult it is to find high-quality access doors. Sure, we were able to find four of the best ones, but in order to do that we had to wade through many more doors that we felt were of inferior quality or design. And we’re sure that’s the case for many of our readers as well. That’s why we’ve decided that the first thing we were going to do after reviewing some of the best access doors around was to write a guide that will help our readers sort the trash from the treasure.
The purpose of this guide is to give our readers a clear idea of what they should be thinking about when they’re purchasing new access doors for their outdoor kitchen. If our readers follow the below steps, they will greatly improve their chances of purchasing a quality product that will last them for many years and give their outdoor spaces a more modern, streamlined look.
Step One: Choose The Right Size
One of the very first things that the consumer is going to want to do is to purchase the right size door. If they’re having an outdoor island custom built to the specifications of whatever door they choose, they don’t have to worry too much about its size. However, if they fitting doors to an existing island, then they will definitely want to put some thought into it. They should measure the width and height of the opening and then purchase doors that match that size.
And they should also keep in mind that the cutout dimensions for the door aren’t always the same as the door’s overall dimensions. The cutout dimensions should be the same size as the cutout for the door, so the consumer should always pay attention to those measurements as they’re the most important to consider for a proper fit.
Step Two: Look For 304 Stainless-Steel
Another thing that the consumer should consider is what the doors are made out of. Quality models are made from 304 stainless-steel, while lesser quality models are made with lesser quality stainless-steel. Buying doors that are made with 304 stainless-steel will ensure that they can weather just about any conditions and that they won’t corrode or rust over time.
Step Three: Look For Pre-Drilled Holes
Unless the consumer is comfortable drilling out the holes for the access door’s frame, they should really consider getting a model with pre-drilled holes. When manufacturers pre-drill the holes in their access doors they use machinery that aligns the holes perfectly and gives them a more professional look. We highly recommend to all of our readers to try and purchase access doors that have pre-drilled holes.
Step Four: Think About The Hinge
One of the things that many people fail to think about when choosing their next set of access doors is the type of hinge that’s installed on it, and that’s a shame because this could be one of the most important parts to be found on the door. After all, the hinge is going to be used hundreds, if not thousands, of times, so the consumer is going to want to make sure it’s well made. We suggest that consumers purchase access doors with pin-hinges—these tend to be the best types of hinges for these doors.
Step Five: Think About The Closure System
It’s also a good idea for the consumer to think about the closure system used on the access doors. Quality models tend to use magnetic closure systems because they make the doors airtight and prevent insects or rodents from squeezing in between the doors and the frame.
Step Six: Consider How The Doors Mount
When it comes to access doors, consumers have plenty of options as to how they’re mounted. There are doors that mount flush to the cabinet they’re being installed in, and doors that sit out a little bit from the cabinet’s surface. In our opinion, flush-mounted doors work the best, but it all depends on what the consumer needs from the doors they buy.
When choosing a flush-mounted set of doors, the consumer might want to check to see if the doors are self-rimming. Self-rimming doors hang over the cut-out edge—which can work well to cover imperfections that might have cropped up while cutting out the hole. In other words, if the opening was cut imperfectly, then self-rimming doors are perfect for covering up those imperfections.
