A hinge is one of the smallest parts of a piece of furniture, and one of the hardest working. A kitchen door opens and closes many times a day, and how comfortable that movement feels depends almost entirely on the hinge. Manufacturers such as Blum list dozens of hinge types, and for good reason: each is chosen for how the door sits on the cabinet, how it needs to open and what it is made of. A wrong hinge means doors hitting their neighbours, drawers that cannot be pulled out, or fronts that hang crooked.
The key question: how the door covers the cabinet
With concealed hinges, the first step is to establish where the door sits relative to the cabinet side. There are three main options:
- A full overlay door covers the edge of the side panel completely. It is the most common arrangement for single cabinets and for doors at the end of a run.
- A half overlay door covers only part of the side panel. When two doors are mounted on the same partition, each takes roughly half of its thickness.
- An inset door sits inside the cabinet, with the edge of the side panel visible. It is used in classic and framed furniture, but it needs precise installation.
Each option requires a hinge arm with a different crank. In the Blum system, the same hinge body works with different mounting plates and arms, but the core choice is made by door type.
Opening angle
Standard hinges open a door a little beyond a right angle, which is enough for most cabinets. But if a cabinet has internal drawers or pull-out baskets and the door does not open fully, the drawer hits the door. In that case a wide-angle hinge is the answer.
Conversely, a restricted opening angle is useful for a door next to a wall or fridge: the door stops before it hits the adjacent surface. On some hinges this restrictor can be added later. That is why, at the planning stage, it is worth checking what obstacle sits beside every door.
Special situations
For corner cabinets, where two doors meet at an angle, there are special angled hinges. With thick fronts, such as framed doors or doors with an applied panel, a standard hinge may make the door edge rub against the neighbouring front; the fix is a hinge designed for thick doors or a different mounting distance.
Glass doors use hinges that clamp the glass without drilling. There are also dedicated solutions for aluminium-framed fronts. For tall or heavy doors, more hinges are used: as height and weight increase, three or more hinges rather than two keep the door from warping.
Soft-close and handleless opening
Many modern hinges have a mechanism built into the cup that slows the last part of the closing movement. Blum's solution prevents doors from slamming and reduces noise. In some cases soft-close is added as a separate module whose strength is adjusted to the weight of the door.
Handleless fronts use a push-to-open mechanism instead. There is an important nuance here: push-to-open and soft-close can work against each other, so you need the manufacturer's compatible combination for these two functions.
Installation and adjustment
A hinge only performs as intended if it is fitted correctly. The diameter of the cup hole in the door and its distance from the edge must be exact, and the mounting plates must be fixed along the same line in the cabinet. Blum hinges adjust in three directions: the door can be moved up and down, left and right, and closer to or further from the cabinet. This makes it possible to even out the gaps between doors after installation.
Some sagging over time is normal, especially with heavy fronts. The remedy is not a new hinge but a turn of the adjustment screws. Overtightening them, however, can damage the fixing in the board.
A short selection checklist
- Is the door full overlay, half overlay or inset?
- Is there a pull-out inside, and how far must the door open?
- Is there a wall, fridge or another door next to it?
- What material and thickness is the front, and is it glass or framed?
- How many hinges does the door's height and weight call for?
- Is soft-close or push-to-open wanted?
Zaferoglu Mebel assembles its furniture with Blum hinges; the exact hinge for a given door is chosen once the project fixes the front size and whatever sits next to it.
