Hinges For Inset Cabinet Doors

[Mark Kanof]

I recently built a set of medicine cabinets that have inset doors. Obviously, inset doors aren't very forgiving as the gap around all for sides needs to be pretty close to perfect. On previous projects I have used traditional hinges, which were a pain to get everything lined up just right, but once it was everything just worked. On this project I used euro style hinges, which are nice because they offer adjustment in all directions, but they also seem to have quite a bit of play in them. Basically I can grab the door from the edge and with light pushing and pulling I'm able to make the hinge mechanisms move around a little bit. This results in the door sagging a little bit when closed and throwing the spacing off between the door and the face frame. All the adjustment screws are tightened down as much as possible.

So that leads to my question, is this normal? If not does anyone have recommendations of euro style hinges that are really solid without any play?

[Jamie Buxton]

Your hinges may have a bit of play in them, but I don't see why it is a problem. You close the door, observe where it sits, and tweak it until you get the gaps right. Because of the hinge play, you may be able to rattle the door up and down, but that doesn't happen to the door in usual use. Gravity works, all the time.

[Brad Shipton]

You could try Sugastune, but I doubt they will be much better. You need to look at the little knuckle that needs to tuck into the cup when the door closes. The size constraints make it difficult to fix the problem you are talking about, and even the smallest of doors gives you a whole lot of leverage. Sugastune makes a nice concealed hinge that is adjustable, but it is a bit hard on the pocket book.

[Mark Hockenberg]

Hi Mark,

I always use Blum euro hinges for inset doors. I've had good luck with them being solid and haven't noticed the play you noted. Once I get them adjusted, they seem to stay dialed in and very solid.

Cheers,
Mark

[Mark Kanof]

Jamie,

Sure, that's what I'm trying to do. Kind of tedious but should work for these doors. I think my question was really for the future. What hinge options are out there that are more precise.

Brad,

I'll take a look at the Sugastune concealed hinges. All my projects are for my own home and the number of hinges I need is fairly small, so don't mind paying for a more expensive hinge if the result is a very solid feeling door.

[Paul F Franklin]

Knife hinges work well for inset doors and are solid if you get a quality hinge (brusso, or lee valley, for example.) They are, however, a pain to install and have zero adjustability. And I wouldn't use them on big heavy doors.

[Jamie Buxton]

Mark, you say "All the adjustment screws are tightened down as much as possible." That doesn't sound right. There are two kinds of screws on Euro hinges: fastening, and adjustment. The fastening screws fasten the hinge to the cabinet. They should be tightened down. The adjustment screws adjust the door's position. They should not be tightened. They should be set to where the door is right. If you have adjustment screws tightened fully, that means they're at the end of their adjustment range. That's a different problem from play in the hinge.

(Okay, there is an exception my characterization of fastening/adjustment. In the olden days, the screws which set the up/down position of the door were both adjustment and fastening. But I haven't seen that kind of hinge in decades. And the screws which adjust the door angle have always been just adjustment.)

[Larry Edgerton]

Jamie,

Sure, that's what I'm trying to do. Kind of tedious but should work for these doors. I think my question was really for the future. What hinge options are out there that are more precise.

Brad,

I'll take a look at the Sugastune concealed hinges. All my projects are for my own home and the number of hinges I need is fairly small, so don't mind paying for a more expensive hinge if the result is a very solid feeling door.


Allow yourself a touch more room from your door edge to the cup boring. If you need to gain more space away from the frame you can always shim out the base if you run out of adjustment that way, but you can not make the door go back farther than it will allow without doing something ugly. Know what I mean?

[Jared Sankovich]

What brand and model of hinges?

[Dave Sabo]

Inset is no place to skimp on quality.


Sounds like you need a better hinge. Blum has been mentioned and is top shelf. Salice is too. These are probably the most widely distributed in the States. Grass and Hettich also make quality hinges, but aren't as easy to find.

[julian abram]

Yep, Blum is the way to go, save yourself headaches. I built all my kitchen and bath cabinets with insert doors on Blum hinges. No slop, sagging or unwanted movement.

[johnny means]

Blum is the industry standard and my choice. Download the catalog and learn how to read the set up charts.

[Mark Kanof]

Allow yourself a touch more room from your door edge to the cup boring. If you need to gain more space away from the frame you can always shim out the base if you run out of adjustment that way, but you can not make the door go back farther than it will allow without doing something ugly. Know what I mean?

Yes, I know what you mean, great idea. I'll give this a try next time I do this type of door.

[Mark Kanof]

Inset is no place to skimp on quality.


Sounds like you need a better hinge. Blum has been mentioned and is top shelf. Salice is too. These are probably the most widely distributed in the States. Grass and Hettich also make quality hinges, but aren't as easy to find.

Agreed on not skimping on quality. I also had some depth restrictions in this application, so I was limited in what I could find that would fit. Given that Blum makes so many hinges, they may have something that would have worked for me, but I could not find it at the time.

[Warren Lake]

id start with design, cabinets depending on style had hinges that are seen.

On the Euro they are not as tight as butt hinges will be. Same with slides. I have lots of years meeting someone new and then adjusting their kitchen doors with my swiss army knife. Why? Last one two doors would not even close. Ive had hinge companies tell me which hinge and base plate only to find they dont work even supplying a drawing. Last time one of them gave me tons of hinges and base plates for me to find what works. Ive had euro hinges fail and last show was told they redesigned them. I dont like door gaps that you can pass a sandwich through and inset doors are supposed to be recessed slightly whether beaded frames or not. Soon as you do that and dont have big gaps it all gets harder to have swing clearance.

Even if you use butt hinges your middle door gap canl still change with the seasons depending on where it sits if all styles shrink a bit in winter with the furnace thats where it shows up then goes back in the summer depending.

[Bobby Robbinett]

For inset it is much easier to use some blocking on the inside of the hinge side where they mount so that you can use 1/2” overlay instead of inset hinges that mount to the back of the face frame. There are several ways to mount inset doors and this is just one of them and happens to be the easiest. Using the typical inset hinges and plates that mount behind the face frame will be the most difficult because you have to install the plates on the back side of the face frame prior to assembling the cabinet.