How hard is it to replace a hollow-core door with a solid one?

Question

The pantry door in my kitchen is a hollow-core door. There's quite a lot of wasted space between the door and the existing shelves, that I'd like to utilize by hanging full-width, full-height, 8"-10' shelves on the inside surface of the door.

The plans I've worked up suggest that the shelves, when full, would be supporting quite a bit of weight, and I'm concerned that the hollow-core door won't be able to support it adequately.

How difficult is it to replace one door with another using the existing frame/jams, etc. It seems pretty straight-forward, but something tells me that there's more to it than I imagine...

Is this something that is worth doing, or is it a rabbit-hole of pain and disappointment?

Answer 1

I have hollow core doors on my pantry and I have full height wire shelves on the inside, each one chock full of canned goods. No problem. Just be sure to use hollow door anchors to mount the shelves though, not just screws and not just the cheap little plastic inserts.

This type that expands behind the door skin:

As to changing them to solid, the thing that you may find challenging is in getting the hinges in the right place. I've found that pantry doors often have less standardization than bedroom doors and setting hinges is a skill set that is not for the uninitiated (in my opinion). I'd try to not change them first.