How do I install TRADITIONAL cabinet hinges correctly?

This is a common question asked in Google. In the past we discussed “How to Identify Your Hinge” and the different “Type of Cabinet Hinges” and different mounting styles of these hinges. Now we will discuss how to properly install cabinet hinges.

Knowing how to hang cabinet doors is a great way to update your home. Whether it is in your kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, or anywhere that has a cabinet door, it is an awesome way to give your home that little facelift! With that said, you can save a lot of money knowing how to do it yourself.

First thing is to attach the hinges to the door, determine how the door fits on the frame hole, and then aligning the door evenly on the cabinet.

Attaching Hinges to the Door First

Old Doors: If you are putting on old doors, you can look and use the original screw holes. Line the new hinges up to those holes.

Sometimes when finding replacement hinges for old doors, you can’t find an exact match. When this happens, you will have to putty in the old holes and makes new ones. You would place the hinge in the same area as the old ones.

New Doors: If you are using new doors with no preexisting holes you will have to do a little measuring. Most lightweight cabinet doors usually need two hinges spaced about 5 inches from the top and 5 inches from the bottom. Tall or heavy cabinet doors may need a third hinge placed in the center of the other 2 hinges to help with the extra weight.

Determining Where to Attach the Hinges to the Cabinet Frame

Old Doors: If the frame holes were not filled in, you would line up the new hinges to the old holes again. You made need to do a little adjusting to make sure the door is straight and level on the cabinet.

New Doors: Determine how the door fits against the cabinet. There are a few types of cabinet doors which include: partial inset and overlay doors. Most doors should overlap the frame opening by ¾ inch.

If the inside of the door is flat, it is an overlay door.

If the inside of the door has a ridge, it is a partial inset door. If this is the case, move the door around and see if it fits snug in the cabinet opening or if you have room to move around. This will affect how you position it when you hang the door.

Where the hinges go is determined by what type of door you have. You can have face frame mount hinges and you can have hinges that attach to the inside.

Installing the Hinges

This works best with 2 people. One person holds the door while the other does the actual installing. This takes a little guesswork and judgement. If you are installing inset or overlay hinges, the door will be in the closed position. If you are installing a wrap hinge, the door will be in the open position.

Once you determined where the cabinet door should be, have someone hold the door so it doesn’t move when you are inserting the screws. It is recommended to put in 1 screw on each hinge and make sure the cabinet door is level and exactly where you want it to be.

Once installed the way you want, you can line up the next cabinet door easier by using a level to make sure the whole row of cabinets is straight.