Exposed hinges are a popular choice for home renovation projects due to their ability to add character and character to any space. They are not as common as hidden hinges, making them a crucial aspect of maintaining the functionality and aesthetics of your kitchen.
Changing cabinet hinges from outside to inside is a crucial aspect of maintaining the functionality and aesthetics of your kitchen. By understanding the process, you can find simple steps on how to do this using a tool or guide.
Cabinet doors have various configurations, such as full overlay, partial overlay, and inset. Replacing your cabinet hinges with hidden hinges can drastically change the look and feel of your cabinets, adding a modern, sleek appeal that can also improve the overall appearance of your home.
Exposed cabinet hinges typically have one part mounted to the inside of the cabinet door and the other part mounted to the outside of the cabinet where the door and cabinet meet. The installation process is almost identical for both types of hinges, so choose one based on your preference.
To convert existing cabinets from exposed to concealed hinges, you can use Face Frame hinges similar to the one shown below. These hinges come in many sizes depending on the amount of overlay your doors have. However, they may get bound due to being too deep for new hinges. To avoid this issue, you can either shim them to be flush or route new mortises.
📹 How To Install Hidden Hinges On Old Cabinets
See how we used off-the-shelf cabinet hinges to swap out the old surface-mount hinges or hidden versions. We include a trick we …
📹 Installing New Face Mount Cabinet Hinges
I will walk you through how to select the correct face mount hinges to replace some old painted hinges. There are many different …
I love you guys for making this article. I’ve always wanted hidden hinges on my old 1950’s cabinets! My vintage yet sturdy kitchen cabinets thank you for saving their lives. Paint and hidden hinges is enough of an update to keep me happy with the look and it will cost less than new cabinets. I also always wondered what to do about the hidden hinge overhang into the cabinet, and you tackled that as well. Many thanks!
Hinges for face frame cabinets like yours would have a 90 degree bend in the part that attaches to the cabinet so they could be attached with four screws instead of just two. Those are harder to size so I see why you went with these. You ended up using a third screw, though, because two can’t do the job with spring-loaded hinges. That third screw will end up working in opposition to the first two. If screwed in more firmly it would push the right side of the cabinet-mounted part of the hinge toward the back of the cabinet face frame, or at least 90 degrees from where it should be. That would pull the left side of the same cabinet-mounted part of the hinge its two screws away from the frame. A strip of wood of the correct depth, glued and screwed the whole height of the cabinet interior, would yield a more stable long-term result.
Thank you for your generosity in showing this article. There comes a point, in my estimation, where the “look” of hidden hinges does not outweigh the stability and ease of just using the old style hinges. I think having to angle the back hinge and have the rigged inside look, or having to shim up the back of the inside hinge, just isn’t worth the time and effort imo. Maybe there is some other kind of hidden hinge which would work better with the specs of old cabinets?
Old article but exactly what I need! I have a separate nice workshop I use for sewing, crafting! Im trying to make it look nicer as I do have clients in. Unlike house that has hidden hinges they used cheap black hinges on the lower white cabinets. Very distracting to me! I didn’t know how to change out. Until I saw this! Thanks so much!
I need to try and figure out how to straighten or level this kind of cabinet door with these type of hinges. I replaced the hinges, and used the original screw holes. Everything lined up, except a few of the doors. For some reason a few are not level to each other. All the articles online for doing this are for the adjustable hidden hinges. Can it be done?
Good article on those hinge stile, but…… I have TV stand with two doors very similar to what your bathroom cabinet is and about same size but with no hinges, they are just setting in place with temp nail to hold the the doors in place, I’m tied of the nail in nail out…. My problem is, my doors go all the way to edge of cabinet on both sides and sets against a 1″ wide 3/4″ thick wood strip frame, I dont have that space you have around your doors where the hinges screw in…. I want 4 self closing hinges or some way to latch doors shut…. So how or what stile hinge will work? What kind of hinge would you use if your doors went to the edge of of your cabinet? Is there a hinge that will screw along the outer edge back toward wall and still close the door? I want 4 self closing hinges or some way to latch doors shut…. Thanks for any ideas that you can give………….
My doors on my armoire are crooked. They have 3/4 partial wrap hinges. I took hinges off and put doors up to see how they would be straight. To make them straight, the left bottom of the left door has to shift 1/2 in. Inward and the right side bottom of the right door goes past the armoire 1/2 in. I am so confused. I measured the cabinet and cabinet and doors are the same size. Is there away to straighten them using the hinges. Thank you for any help!
Scott is my friend! You showed my hinges and I saw that plastic piece and realized it was PART OF THE HINGE and not packing material to be pulled out! I’ve worked in retail TOO LONG! Do you know how long I researched it on Google and NOBODY showed the actual HINGE! You ARE THE MAN! I am a well informed student now- many thanks 😊 Brig
I replaced my hinges and they are three hole on the cabinet doors. I matched the new hinge holes to the original ones on the cabinet. How can realign them so they will close? Two cabinet doors are suppose to meet but not rub in the middle and they are crooked and are too close together. Am I going to have to take them off and make new holes? There is no screw or any thing to adjust them. My brother suggest I go back and get the ones you can adjust. Are they the self closing hinges? Thanks
I wish I could upload a photo, if I can I don’t see how. I’ve got new hinges that have a plastic insert and they’re really difficult to open. I’m assuming this plastic piece needs to come out but I’m not sure how as it’s really tightly in there. They’re the same hinges you have, just with a plastic bit inside the hinge itself. Is that normal and will loosen up maybe once installed or do I remove them, if so how? Thanks so much for the article, hope my question makes sense.
I just bought new inset hinges. I did exactly what you did and now my doors are sagging and the double doors under the kitchen sink do not line up. Is there any way to adjust these type of hinges? When I tighten the screws on the facing, I literally watch the cabinet get pushed to where it doesn’t fit properly. If I loosen the screw the cabinet goes back to where I placed it but then the hinge is loose on the facing aspect. I don’t see any way to adjust. So frustrated because I already broke one of the self closing components due to “trying” to bend the hinge a bit. I also tried remounting the hinges. Got better results but not perfect. Thank you in advance.
I wish I had say your article before buying replacement cabinet hinges. I wanted the original 1/2 face mount hinges in a different color, to update the look on my cabinets doors in the kitchen and bathroom. Instead I purchased the 3/8’s hinges. 😭 Which would’ve required me to drill new holes in order for them to work. 🤷♀️ I honestly don’t know if that would’ve worked or not. Would hv worked? 🤔 I was to afraid to find out, not to mention do all of that extra drilling new holes and making sure the measurements were correct. I’m stuck with bags of extra gold hinges I couldn’t return to the seller off eBay. Anyways, I know the difference between them now. Your article was so helpful! TFS! 🤝
You didn’t do your homework !! There are several manufacturers that will have dozens of different “Direct Replacement” hinges with the exact dimensions and hole pattern as the one you’re replacing !! Why does this matter ?? Because A Lot of older doors have a profiled edge on the face of the door. This means that if your (viewers) buy a hing that mounts closer to the edge of the door, the mounting screw are likely to project or lift material through the face of your door. Reason number 2. If your doors are made of MDF as a lot of kitchen and bathroom cabinet were/are, re-drilling new screw holes n next to the old holes the strength of the door material is now weakened and will at some point ripe out. The spring loaded tension of the spring on your newer replacement hinges is strong enough to rip the screws out of a second set of holes..Do your homework !! Find Direct Replacement Fit things with Exact same hole patterns. Avoid Big Box Store or similar venders !! Go Directly to the manufacturer. They Will Help you find the correct hing and typically cheaper !!
I’m replacing some hinges exactly like this. I have some cabinet doors that worked perfectly putting all the screws back in the same holes. I have other cabinets that didn’t work so well for. Some are rubbing at the opening. Some are now propped open and won’t close all the way. Can you give me some insight on what could be going on or how I can fix this?
Will replacing old face mount hinges flex sagging kitchen cabinet doors? My granddaughter bought a 1987 vintage home and many of her kitchen cabinet door either don’t close all the way, they sag or just don’t align properly. It’s unfortunate that they are not adjustabe. I’d appreciate any advice you could offer. Thanks!
We are replacing these same type hinges because the old ones are rusty and have been painted over several times. We have installed all hinges on the uppers and several on the lower cabinets. We are down to 3 sets of doors and no matter what we do we cannot mount the door with hinge attached to the fronts of the cabinets. The hinges are sitting exactly where the old ones were but the hinge will not lay flat on the cabinet. We have tried every “trick” we have been told about and none have worked. Any tips for us?
Really appreciated perusal this article. We are updating our kitchen, so changing the existing cabinets from dark stain to white paint. (light Sanding, Kilz adhesion primer (2 coats) and Dutch Boy Ultra White 2 coats final) Taping the drill bit with painters tape was awesome to drill new screw holes. I combined that with using the painters tape to hold the old hinges (like they were screwed in) on the bottom and right sides of the cabinet doors. This guaranteed me I would have enough gap for the door to open and close after mounting. Then, I held the cabinet door up very firmly so the new hinge mounts would be completely flush with the wood. (new hinges would snap fully ‘extended’). Then, I drilled new holes on the cabinets if needed for the new hinges. Used a hand driver to tighten the screws up, and viola!, every door now closes properly with no gaps!! Thank you so much for this article and your ideas.
Super helpful article, man! Much appreciated. My question is this: where did you find those specific hinges that you installed? We went with a white countertop/black accents look, and we have almost the exact same hinges that you used to have on yours. We’d love to save ourselves a bunch of online shopping and just go get the ones you bought!
I too am having a terrible time trying to figure out which new hinges I can buy having bought several different sizes available at Home Depot to replace these 80s hinges which have a totally different mounting style (where the one side of the hinge actually hugs and wraps around another side of the inside cabinet as well as has opposite holes from all the newer ones)… I think I’ve gotten that the old hinge is a size 1/2″ so the replacement must also corespondent to a 1/2″, is that right? But my main issue seems to wonder why the hinge (the one that seems to be a good match) feels like it is so hard to open and although I have yet to screw it in (because I just dont know where to start), will this also mean it won’t open once screwed on? It appears that when I attempt to slide the new hinge next to the old one that’s currently still attached to the cabinet door, it seems to fit albeit sitting a little differently due to the different design however when I go to open the door it pushes the hinge right out from under my hand while I’m holding it in place. In other words the new hinge with the plastic in the center doesn’t want to open while I have it just above the older mounted hinge while I hold it there to see if it will fit which it does but it (the spring) won’t open instead the entire hinge just gets pushed forward and so I’m wondering if this is because there’s something else I’m missing. Sorry if this sounds confusing. I am just very perplexed at this point. By the way, Can I use a different size, like a size 3/8″ if I remove the current 1/2″ if I just change the position of the holes and mount or is it not possible at all?