How To Disguise A Radiator With A Faux Cabinet

After years of requests, I’m finally sharing more about how we built our radiator cover. This design-dilemma-solution that looks like a beautiful cabinet has been widely shared and asked about since we built it in 2019, so it was about time to talk more about it. It all started as I was trying to find a solution to an ill-placed radiator right next to our front door. We live in a 1917 Craftsman bungalow with original radiators in almost every room – which I actually love – and had been able to work with or around them without any problems. But this large, pesky radiator right beside our front door under a large window always gave me issues. It made it difficult to space plan so I was constantly rearranging furniture and trying to find the “right” layout to no avail. I remember the morning as I sat staring at this view when the idea hit me: I had fallen in love with this cane door cabinet I had seen and thought, “that could totally work as cover for this thing!” The cane would allow the heat to safely escape while creating a really beautiful moment and furniture piece for this front room. The perfect solution.

When we built the radiator cover I didn’t document a single thing about it. We designed it specifically for this spot with dimensions that would work with our off-center radiator, quickly sprayed the frame + doors with leftover trim paint and installed the cane panels. I always told myself eventually I would share exactly how we built it, but we don’t even have the original drawings for it anymore! With a solid wood frame and stationary shaker style doors it really is so simple — if you show this to a contractor or woodworker to replicate they could size it up immediately. We did have to replace the cane recently after a certain baby pushed a few too many times on the panels, so it gave me a good excuse to share a little more about how it’s put together.

When we installed the cane I wanted it to look as close to the original inspiration cabinet as possible. The cane looks as though it was just replacing the wood panel in the door rather than installed the traditional way with a reed spline, which I liked. And because our doors weren’t going to be working we installed the cane in the simplest way possible:

For starters, we cut our cane webbing to size and let soak for 30 or so minutes. This makes the cane easier to work with and ensures a taught panel once it’s installed and dried. Don’t skip this step!

You can see how Ty built the door frames by make a basic shaker style door and routing out the back where a wood panel would traditionally go between the styles. Once the cane soaked, he took thin trips of plywood and stapled the cane webbing down after gluing it onto the door frame. From there, the doors are installed with pocket hole screws on the backside of the cabinet frame. Simple, easy and not too complicated.

To watch the process of installing the cane and reassembling the cabinet you can head to Instagram where everything is saved under the Radiator Cover Highlight.

This project has been a long-time favorite and even landed us a spot in Good Housekeeping magazine over the summer. It has become one of the pieces in our home that not only looks beautiful but is also a reminder of the earlier days of Home Theology and where it’s taken us. Forever grateful for this sweet little home of ours.