Where's his helmet and safety harness?
Indeed, for a man who stores his dustpan upright on a shelf, he should know better... he'll have a boiler suit set aside for DIY matters, a utility belt/kilt for demanding jobs and his screws all sorted into individual compartments in a wall thinger.
And just run it for x seconds?
It is a nice idea, but I think they're still too expensive, pretty tight budget.
Mine are piled in cardboard cartons -- when I remember to put them back.
Or I could use a hall effect sensor or two to detect whether it is open or shut.
Mine are in an old Fairy tub. :J
They use a mechanical linkage which reverses direction (motor runs continuously in one direction), so just install it so that turn in direction coincides with the max open position of the hatch, then add a limit switch to stop the motor when it reaches there.
They use a worm gear in the gearbox so produce substantial torque, but I've no idea if it's enough to lift a MDF door from horizontal. If there was torque figure available somewhere it's fairly trivial to work it out, though. Or just try it and see, if I doesn't work you have a spare motor for making a robot.