Hinge Selection

[alex grams]

I am sketching up a piece of furniture with a pair of doors that I want to open so that drawers can be extended from inside the cabinet, but with no hinge hardware on the interior of the door which would get in the way of the drawers (see pictures).

Is the best hinge for this a knife hinge? Other thoughts/orientations which may address this arrangement? The circles on the doors are sample pivot points that are 7/16 from the outside of the door to allow a slight margin for the drawers to pull out without hitting the door. I presume with kniofe hinges I could make that pivot point a little further out to allow even a little more gap to minimize interference with the door and drawer.

With knife hinges do you have to round over the outside back corner of the door to avoid interference with the corner of the door hitting the cabinet? I didn't see this dimension listed anywhere on the sheet for the hinge:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=40831&cat=3,41419,41454

Thanks in advance,
-Alex

[Paul Murphy]

Alex, it's all about the geometry of circular motion relative to the pivot point, but 7/16" is not quite enough information to answer the question.

I'll make some assumptions, one being that you use 3/4" material, that the door is not offset left or right when closed, and that the pivot is 5/16" from the outside edge of the door and inside face of the door. If all that is what you are asking, then you have to round over the inside back corner of the door by 5/16".

I've attached a picture of what I think you asked. As you can see, the door will only open 90 degrees, plus whatever small movement your "clearance gap" allows.

[Jay Maiers]

The good news is that Outwater has a hinge that should work for you.
Halfway down the page: the overlay institutional hinge.
http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/lg_display.cfm/catalog/2010_master_catalog/page/307/highlight/institutional%20hinge

The bad news is that I think they're backordered right now. I tried to buy some last month and they said they weren't expecting new stock until late this month. I'm sure someone else carries the same type of hinge, but I have not gone out of my way to find it.