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Please - DON"T cut into the door frame! Have you tried temporarily removing the door frame/molding to install the filter?

My sister's house has tiny doors and they have antique Stickley furniture - including a huge, chunky couch that would not fit through any door. They removed the door frames and all of the molding to get the pieces in and then put it back up when done. It took ten minutes, tops.

you just bend it a bit (it has a cardboard frame), and once it's in the furnance straighten it out. this really isn't an issue!

You may be better off using a cheap fiberglass filter. Just crinkle it to fit it into the furnace.

Those pleated filters are going to cause your furnace to work overtime. The fiberglass will allow the air to flow more freely.

If you are concerned about allergens use air purifiers, they will be more effective than your furnace.

quit complaining! I use the 3m filters. bend...and waaaa la!!

My roommate is the daughter of an HV/AC man, so I'm passing on what he said about the furnace at my place.
-Avoid anything "permanent" or semi-permanent, especially the "washable" filters. The plastic frame might be tempting, but when I tried one once, it kept snapping apart and I didn't even have twists or turns to put it through like you do. Plus, dad says that in general, you probably won't get the washable filter as clean as it needs to be, even if you try, and you might end up with a partially plugged filter that WILL make your system work harder.
-The accordian-style allergen filters won't make your system work harder IF you change them often enough.
-That leads us to your problem--it doesn't really affect the filter quality at all if it gets scrunched or twisted or banged up as long as there's no break or tear in the filter material.

I wouldn't cut the door frame. Even though it's a hassle once every two months or so, it's not really that bad, is it? Maybe if you take an old filter and try it from a couple different angles, you could figure out the easiest way to do it.

You mentioned there's room to move the unit over. I would call an HV/AC guy to get an estimate on how much they'd charge to do that. Don't do it yourself because if you screw something up, you will be SO sad you ever complained about those crumpled filters....

I have to bend mine a bit as well. No big whoop.