How To Add Wire Mesh Grille Inserts To Cabinet Doors (The Easy And Inexpensive Way)

Last Updated on October 25, 2019 by Kristi Linauer

I finally finished the one and only DIY project in my kitchen that I had planned for this year, but with a twist. After I painted the kitchen cabinets teal last year, I didn’t put the glass back into the four middle cabinet doors.

Those four cabinets started out as regular recessed panel cabinet doors, and during the original kitchen remodel, I cut out the center panels and turned them into glass front cabinet doors. You can read more about how I did that here:

• Converting Wood Panel Cabinet Doors To Glass-Front Doors

But I didn’t replace the glass after repainting my kitchen because I’ve been secretly wishing for wire mesh grille inserts for those four cabinet doors. That turned out to be cost prohibitive, though. Have y’all seen the price of those wire grilles? Those things are ridiculously expensive! I mean, hundreds of dollars. As in, $600-$800 for the ones I liked, which weren’t anything fancy. They were just a simple “X” design wire mesh. There’s no way I could bring myself to pay that much.

So yesterday, I decided to try a similar look that cost me just $64.

I’ve seen where people have used various types of wire mesh that you purchase on a roll at the big box home improvement stores, like hardware cloth or even chicken wire. But I find those rolled types of wire to be so frustrating to work with. When they come on a roll, they want to stay rolled up. Plus, they’d all have to be spray painted. I generally don’t mind spray paint, but the idea of trying to spray paint a piece of wire mesh while fighting against it trying to roll up just didn’t appeal to me.

So I was thrilled when I came across these large cut metal pieces at Lowe’s the other day. I had only ever looked at Home Depot, and they only have the small 12″ x 24″ pieces that are too small for my cabinet doors. But Lowe’s had the large 24″ x 36″ pieces in stock, and they even had one design that came in a gold/brass color! But the best part is that they come flat, so there’s no fighting against metal wire that want to roll up as you work with it. This was very easy to work with!

It came down to a choice between this quatrefoil design and this “X” design. I actually liked the “X” design better, but decided to go with the quatrefoil since it came in gold and wouldn’t have to be spray painted. It was also quite a bit thinner than the “X” design, so it’s very easy to cut with metal shears. I wasn’t quite sure I’d be able to cut the “X” design sheet with metal shears.

My door are narrow, so I was able to get three pieces out of one sheet. I had to buy two to get all four cabinet doors done.

To insert the metal piece into the door, I just placed it inside the rabbet on back and then put a thick bead of hot glue along the edge. I did one side at a time, holding it in place by pressing with my hands as closely to the bead of hot glue as possible until the glue dried, and then moved on to the next side. That way I could ensure that it was lying perfectly flat inside the rabbet.

And here’s how it looked from the front…

This was a very simple and fast project, and it was relatively inexpensive. And since I just held them into place using hot glue, it will be very simple to swap them out for another design in the future, like the “X” pattern if I can find a way to cut it, or even glass if I decide to go back to that look.

My favorite view is the nighttime view with the cabinet lights on and the room lights turned off.

But I like the daytime view as well…

That was a quick and easy item checked off of my list for the year. But this weekend, I’ll be working on a not-quite-so-easy item on my list — the front porch steps. I’ve had my new sidewalk for about a week now, and I’ve been procrastinating on starting on the steps. I’m a bit intimidated by the project, but I can’t keep making my visitors step up 17 inches to my front porch to enter my house. 😀 So I need to stop procrastinating and just get it done. I’ve never built steps before, and certainly have never built a handrail, so this will be new for me! Let’s hope I actually have some progress to share with y’all on Monday!