Kitchen & bathroom cabinet defects & safety hazards.

This guide to inspecting, installing, & repairing kitchen & bath cabinets & countertops describes common defects found in kitchen or bathroom cabinets - problems that can be found by visual inspection.

Among topics we discuss are Un-secured kitchen islands that tip over. Loose cabinet doors & hinge hardware. Serious safety hazards: falling wall cabinets: we describe the hazard of falling wall mounted kitchen or bath cabinets, tipping kitchen islands, and we discuss less serious K&B hazards such as loose, falling off cabinet doors and defective cabinet hinges.

Kitchen or Bathroom Cabinet Hinges

Types of Cabinet Hinges & Hinge Adjustment Procedures

KraftMaid as well as other cabinet makers describe a range of hinge types that can be confusing to a normal person, but ultimately nearly all modern cabinet door hinges permit adjustments that control the proper alignment of the hinged door, the closing of the door, and its ease of operation.

Knife hinges are the simplest hinge design, leaving a portion of the hinge visible when the cabinet door is closed.

More sophisticated and actually more widely used on new bath and kitche base and wall cabinets are various ypes of cup hinges: portions of the hinge operating mechanism are recessed into a cup drilled into the face of the cabinet door or cabinet face.

The purpose of this design is to allow the hinge hardware to be completely hidden when the cabinet door is closed as well as to permit adjustments of the position and closing of the door.

Both cup hinges and knife hinges include screws that will allow adjustment to move a door up or down, in or out, and also in some models, one can adjust the strength of the door closing spring.

Using KraftMaid's terminology are

Bi-Fold & Easy-Reach Cabinet Door Hinge

Easy-reach type cabinet hinges permit the cabinet door to swing wide of the cabinet opening, giving easier access to the cabinet interior.

Some bi-fold hinges require removal of a cover on the hinge front to access its adjustment screws.

Bi-fold hinges have an angled hinge arm and may appear on both half overlay and full-overlay cabinet door designs.

Bi-fold hinges on cabinet doors typically permit easy removal of the entire cabinet door by pressing on a release plate at the end of the longer portion of the hinge arm.

To re-connect the door insert the "pin" end of the hinge on the door (circled 5 in the sketch) under the lip on the hinge plate and then press on the release plate on the long arm of the hinge.

Cabinet Hinges Opening Past 90 Degrees

Below we illustrate a similar cabinet hinge produced by Blum, a 100-degree straight-arm clip type overlay screw-on cabinet hinge.

The 100 degrees refers to the ability of the cabinet door to open past 90 degrees from the cabinet face. Cabinet hinges are available in models that open still wider, 110 degrees and more. Blum produces a 170 degree clip top full-overlay cabinet hinge door.

This cabinet hinge model is a self-closing but not a soft closing cabinet door.

What's the difference? Soft-closing hinges close the cabinet door slowly and gently.

"Easy Access" is another term some hinge manufacturers use for hinges that let doors open past 90 degrees.

Cup hinges

Any hinge type installed such that a portion of the hinge mechanism is recessed into the cabinet door or cabinet face, such as the Easy-Reach type cabinet door hinge shown above.

Full-Overlay Cabinet Door Hinge

The full overlay or half overlay terms refer to the extent to which the door covers the face frame of the cabinet.

With a full-overlay design the cabinet door covers the entire face frame of the cabinet, the hinge itself is not visible, as we illustrate below..

Half-Overlay Cabinet Door Hinge

The cabinet door in a half-overlay design, when closed, leaves portions of the cabinet face frame exposed, the hinge itself is not visible - illustrated in the pair of photos above and below.

Knife-Hinge Cabinet Door Hinge

A typical knife hinge on a cabinet door is shown below: when the cabinet door is closed a portion of the hinge is visible, as we show below.

Knife Hinge Adjustment

Cabinet makers call this a knife hinge.

The left-hand screw connecting the hinge to the face frame permits adjustment of the hinge up and down to adjust door alignment so that when the doors are closed their edges are parallel with one another and so that the door is properly square on the cabinet frame or face.

Screws in the right hand half of the hinge, attached to the inner face of the cabinet door permit movement of the entire door to the left or right.

Oven Cabinet Hinge

This is a cup hinge used on oven cabinets.

Soft Close Cabinet Door Hinge

Shown here is a Hawthorne & Reid HR1060120001 Concealed Cabinet Hinge using a 1/2-inch overlay. The hinge includes an internal spring that provides a "soft close" force to the cabinet door. This means the hinge will hold the cabinet door shut without requiring an additional cabinet door latch.

Cabinet hinges of this design may also be referred-to as compact hinges.

Common K&B Cabinet Hinge Problems

Watch out: all kitchen and bath cabinet manufacturers' installation and care instructions will warn homeowners to periodically tighten the hinge screws. That's because under normal use the hinges will loosen over time. If you ignore this advice long enough, ultimately the hinge or door itself will break.

• Loose or falling-off cabinet doors - check for hinges that have lost screws. This is a potential safety hazard.
  
  If the screw opening in the cabinet door back or in the cabinet box or carcase has become stripped, an easy repair is to simply glue a small sliver of wood, perhaps a wooden matchstick in the hole before re-using the same screw.
  
  I cut a sliver of wood, coat it with rapid-set epoxy, push it into the screw hole in the cabinet face or door, let it set and harden, then trim off the excess of the splinter with a sharp knife or chisel. Then I replace the hinge and its screws.
  
  Watch out: I do NOT just epoxy the screw in place directly into the body of the face or door as that will make it hell when you later need to remove the screw in order to repair or replace the hinge itself.
• Misaligned K&B cabinet doors - usually a cosmetic concern corrected by making appropriate adjustments at the door hinges.
  
  Set the cabinet doors that are in pairs so that their meeting edges are parallel and have enough space between them to open and close without obstruction.
  
  Just which screws need to be loosened, tightened, moved, depends on the hinge design so you'll want to either review the hinge designs shown earlier in this article, or pick up an installation and maintenance guide for your specific cabinet brand
• Cabinet doors don't close - If there is a sensible spring force that closes the door but it doesn't close snugly against the cabinet face, this is an adjustment problem. If there is no door closing force remaining I suspect an internal spring in the hinge is broken and you'll need to replace the hinge.
  
  Watch out: because of the variety of base and wall cabinet hinges, it's smart to remove the broken hinge to take it along to your building or cabinet supplier so that you can match the hinge type and reach. If you stick with the same hinge brand, an exact match is easier to find and will mount more-easily.

The photo below from a home we restored on Willowbrook Heights in Poughkeepsie, New York, shows what happens when hinges or their mounting point are falling apart or are just loose.

Loose, askew, falling cabinet doors are almost always due to hinge problems, but keep in mind that particleboard cabinet carcases in which the hinges have become loose will require more effort (and glue) to repair.

Above we illustrate problematic cabinet doors. On a cabinet base such as this one, watch out for drawers that are falling apart as well.

Kitchen & Bath Cabinet Installation & Repair Guides

Kitchen & Bathroom Vanity or Cabinet Base & Door Hinge Installation & Repair Manuals

• Blum® 170° HIDDEN CABINET DOOR INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS [PDF] Rockler Woodworking and Hardware,
  original source: go.rockler.com/tech/55840-Blum-170-Hinge.pdf
• KraftMaid CoreGuard™ SINK BASE INSTALLATION [PDF] provided courtesy of Home Depot
• KraftMaid CABINETRY INSTALLATION CARE & CLEANING [PDF] op. cit.
• Merillat CoreGuard™ SINK BASE INSTALLATION [PDF] op. cit.
• Rockler™ KNIFE HINGE SNAP CLOSING CABINET DOOR HINGE INSTRUCTIONS [PDF]

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2021-02-06 by (mod) - how to adjust the cabinet door hinge so that the door closes properly

Ah what a great question, L3

There is no one right answer to how to adjust a cabinet door hinge to get the door to close fully or tightly, since cabinet door hinges differ in design.

But in the article above on this page we show adjustments for several types of bath or kitchen cabinet hinges.

Illustration excerpted from the Blum 170° Hidden cabinet door hinge instructions cited just above on this page.

[Click to enlarge any image]

In essence you're looking for

• Cabinet door hinge spring tension adjustment: A cabinet door hinge adjustment that either increases the tension of a closing clip or spring (often hidden inside the hinge); often tightening a screw to increase spring tension is all that's needed - but not all hinges offer that feature.
• Cabinet door hinge angle or position adjustment: A cabinet door hinge adjustment that changes the angle of the door in the frame so that the door surface lies flat on the cabinet face frame - typically by shiming the hinge on the door's inner face you may force the door to close a bit more snugly.

Some cabinet hinges have a setscrew that lets you adjust the door closing position; others may adjust a spring tension; and some hinges have additional setscrews that adjust door angle closure gap as well.

Still other older simpler cabinet hinges may need to be shimmed under the hinge to get the door to close fully.

To get more-specific help, other than the example I'll include below, you'll need to identify your cabinet door hinge brand and model.

Above, as an EXAMPLE, is the widely-used Blum® 170° Hidden Cabinet Door Hinge adjustment procedure, excerpted from these

Blum® 170° HIDDEN CABINET DOOR INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS [PDF] Rockler Woodworking and Hardware,
original source: http://go.rockler.com/tech/55840-Blum-170-Hinge.pdf also available here at InspectApedia.com

Showing a different, simpler cabinet door hinge, below is a semi-hidden snap-closing cabinet door hinge whose spring is exposed. If a cabinet door with this hinge won't close fully you might try shimming under the hinge base on the inside of the cabinet door surface; if that doesn't help you probably need to replace the hinge as it's not really adjustable.

Instructions for the Rockler-supplied spring-operated knife hinge shown below are at

Rockler™ KNIFE HINGE SNAP CLOSING CABINET DOOR HINGE INSTRUCTIONS [PDF]

On 2021-02-06 by L3g - How do you tighten the hinge so door closes?

How do you tighten the hinge so door closes?

On 2019-10-1 by (mod) - I need a new pin that broke in a bathroom cabinet hinge

if it is a simple round pain you will probably find that you can cut a finishing nail or common nails to fit and serve as a new hinge pin.

You're welcome to post a photo of exactly the hinge problem and we may be able to comment further.

On 2019-10-09 by Nelson

I need a new pin that broke in a bathroom cabinet hinge or if possible, a hinge replacement

Question: bowed melamine cabinet rail

(Sept 23, 2014) Anonymous said:

Granite benchtop cracking at cutout for sink , cabinet front rail is 65x16mm thick white melamine and appears to be bowed 2.5mm.
Should i make the front rail bigger and use timber to prevent this .

Reply:

Yes

Question:

(Feb 7, 2015) Karla said:
The lower cabinets/countertop in my kitchen is falling away from the wall. I'm not sure how I should go about fixing this. I've been living here for about 8 years now, and I noticed it was just a little loose a couple years ago but didn't think anything of it.

But now the end of the counter next to the stove has a gap of about 1.5-2" between it and the wall. It's a rental property, so I can't really replace the whole structure like it probably should be. Is there a way I could reattach it to the wall as is? Thanks.

Reply:

Karla

What you describe sounds dangerous: a falling cabinet could certainly injure someone. I would remove everything from the cabinets if you can safely do so, then ask the landlord to properly secure them to the wall. Often that attachment can be done without removing the cabinets by finding the wall studs and using appropriate anchors screwed through the existing cabinet back.

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Continue reading at CABINETS & COUNTERTOPS - topic home, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Cabinets, Shelving, Casework, Trim Articles

• CABINETS & COUNTERTOPS - home
• CABINET CHOICES, Bath / Kitchen
• CABINET DESIGN GUIDE, KITCHEN
• CABINET DOOR HINGES
• CABINET FALLING HAZARDS
• CABINET INSTALLATION & REPAIR MANUALS
• CABINET MOLD & WATER DAMAGE
• CASEWORK, CABINETS, SHELVING INSTALLATION
• COUNTERTOPS, KITCHEN & BATH
• COUNTERTOPS, KITCHEN & BATH
• FORMALDEHYDE GAS HAZARD REDUCTION
• DOORS, INTERIOR
• HOME CONSTRUCTION CATALOGS 1950
• INTERIOR FINISHES: BEST PRACTICES
• TRIM, INTERIOR
• TRIM, INTERIOR INSTALLATION

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CABINET DOOR HINGES at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BATH & KITCHEN

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