Blum hinges

[Jefferey Scott]

Hi guys,

I have always used Blum Clip-Top hinges for my cabinetry projects and had great success with them. For my kitchen cabinet build though, I'm considering the Blum Compact face frame hinge (39C to be exact) that has the built in Blumotion soft close feature. Has anybody got any feedback on these hinges? The reason I would change to the Compact hinge from the Clip-Top hinge is that they have a smaller footprint in the cabinet box. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

[Jamie Buxton]

You really need that much overlay -- 1" to 1 1/2" ? That's what the 39C offers.

A possible issue with both the 39C and the 38N is the gap between the door and the face frame. It is about 3/16". If you're going to be able to see the doors from the side or top, that seems big.

[Jefferey Scott]

You really need that much overlay -- 1" to 1 1/2" ? That's what the 39C offers.

A possible issue with both the 39C and the 38N is the gap between the door and the face frame. It is about 3/16". If you're going to be able to see the doors from the side or top, that seems big.

Jamie, I'm not building full overlay doors but my preference would be for a greater overlay than 1/2" for aesthetic reasons. The gap is something to think about, but probably not a problem.

[Leo Graywacz]

As of right now you can get a 1/2" or a 1 1/4" overlay in the blumotion compact hinges. The will be coming out with the whole line of them later.

[Alan Bienlein]

I just used the blum 38n compact hinges on my shop cabinets for the same reason. I didn't want the hinge to intrude in on my usable cabinet space. The gap between the door and the frame is not objectionable and is no worse than some of the stick on bumpers out there. For me I didn't go the blum motion route as the hinges were twice the cost of the standard compact 38n. (.80 cent versus $1.60 each)

We just built 2 display cases at work and used the blum 38n compact blum motion hinges on the doors and they are SWEET! You can turn the blum motion on and off as there is a switch on the hinge for it. Even in the off position it won.t let the door slam shut. It just changes where the soft close mechanism engages to control the speed of door closing.

As for overlay they come in 3/8" to 3/4" in 1/8" increments for the 38N and larger overlays for the 39c.

I went with the 1/2" overlay on my doors with a 1-1/2" stile width.
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[Matt Meiser]

I used them on my parents' kitchen without the Blumotion. We added separate soft-closers. I liked them and would use them again except I got a steal on a box of a different style that I'm planning to use for my own kitchen.

[scott vroom]

Jeff, are you building faceframe or frameless cabs? How much overlay do you need?

While the clip protrusion appears awkward I've never found it limiting in any way...if you like clip then stick with them. If the protrusion bothers you, then go with compact. No right answer, just depends on personal preference....with one exception: if you require more than 3/4" (+ 3/32 adjustment) o'lay you'll need compact.

[Michael W. Clark]

I used a similar Grass compact hinge and it worked very well. All our kitchen cabinets have them. I'm using them on my wetbar cabinet doors with a separate soft close. McFeely's sells them.

[Jefferey Scott]

@ Alan: Thanks for the pics. You have some very nice looking cabinets in your shop.

@ Scott: I'm building face frame cabinets with 1 3/4" stiles. If I use a 1 1/4" overlay hinge then I would have about 1/2" reveal which is the look I'm shooting for. Not quite full overlay, but just enough of the face frame showing for my tastes I guess.

Ok here's another question: I'm building 39" uppers, should I go with 3 hinges per door or 2? I have a tendency to overbuild, so I was thinking 3. The doors are 1/4" panel in a shaker style frame, not overly heavy, but tall.

[Leo Graywacz]

The recommendation is usually 1 hinge per 40" of distance between them. Go on the Blum sight and look about weight limits too.

[frank shic]

Awesome shop cabs!

[Alan Bienlein]

All the doors you see on my shop cabinets have 2 hinges per door except the very tall ones which are 45-3/4" long and have 3 hinges per door. The next size shorter door I have is 38" long and they only have 2 hinges per door.

[Alan Bienlein]

Awesome shop cabs!

Thanks Frank.

It cost about $240 to build them and thats including the hardware. The doors were made from red and white oak that was going to be used to make pallets.

[Dave Nanke]

I'm also in the process of building new kitchen cabinets. I pretty much buy all my hardware online from woodworkers hardware in MN, but I don't see these compact hinges with blumotion on their site. Anyone have a preferred supplier of these hinges?

[Jefferey Scott]

I'm also in the process of building new kitchen cabinets. I pretty much buy all my hardware online from woodworkers hardware in MN, but I don't see these compact hinges with blumotion on their site. Anyone have a preferred supplier of these hinges?
Dave, I Sent you a PM with a link to them on wwhardware.com

[Carl Beckett]

Alan - if I am understanding the picture right (and I very well may not be), it looks like the hinge mounting has one screw into the face frame and the second screw into the cabinet wall?

It seems like this could create some rocking or make the second screw tricky to drive down without causing a rotation on the first screw mount.

But it obviously works - am I understanding this right? Or maybe the question for the general group here is, how are the hinges normally mounted into the cabinet side? Into the face frame, into the side, a spacer used to let it pull tight?

[David Hawxhurst]

i used the 39c with blumotion on my laundry room cabinet doors. have 3 hinges per door because there are 42" by 17" and blum recommended it. used 1.25" overlay. only needed two blumotion per door to work correctly.

carl the hinges are screw directly to the face frame.

i get mine from a&h turf (ahturf.com) think thats it.

[Alan Bienlein]

Alan - if I am understanding the picture right (and I very well may not be), it looks like the hinge mounting has one screw into the face frame and the second screw into the cabinet wall?

It seems like this could create some rocking or make the second screw tricky to drive down without causing a rotation on the first screw mount.

But it obviously works - am I understanding this right? Or maybe the question for the general group here is, how are the hinges normally mounted into the cabinet side? Into the face frame, into the side, a spacer used to let it pull tight?

The screw in the back is for in and out adjustment to move the door closer or further away from the face frame. the screw in the front is for left or right adjustment for the gap between the doors. the elongated slot in the middle is where the mounting screw for the hinges is at and that hole is oval shaped for vertical adjustment.

[Ed Edwards]

+1 for A&H turf good prices and great people
Ed

[Dave Nanke]

Dave, I Sent you a PM with a link to them on wwhardware.com

Thanks Jeff!!