How to Replace Cabinet Doors: Hardware & Hinges Guide

August 25, 2026

Giving a kitchen, utility room, or bedroom a fresh look does not require tearing out structural carcasses that are still perfectly solid. By simply replacing cabinet doors, you can transform the entire space at a fraction of the cost. However, achieving clean lines, smooth movement, and even gaps depends entirely on getting the hardware right. Understanding hinge geometry, setback measurements, and mounting plates is the secret to a professional finish.

Choosing the Correct Concealed Hinges

The vast majority of modern kitchen and storage units rely on concealed cup hinges (often called Euro-style hinges). Before purchasing new hardware, identify how your doors sit relative to the cabinet frame or carcass edge:

Full Overlay: The door sits completely over the front edge of the cabinet carcass, covering the entire side panel thickness (typically 18 mm in the UK). This is the most common modern design.
Half Overlay: Often used on central partitions where two doors share a single vertical panel. Each door covers half the carcass edge.
Inset: The door sits entirely flush inside the carcass opening, leaving the front edge of the side panel fully visible.

Most standard installations require 110-degree opening hinges, but you may need wide-angle hinges (up to 165 degrees) for corner units or cupboards with internal pull-out drawers.

Hinge Cup Hole Placement and Drilling

Concealed hinges require a round recess bored into the back of the door. When replacing cabinet doors with un-drilled blanks, you will need to drill these using a 35 mm Forstner bit.

Crucial Measurements

Cup Diameter: The standard industry diameter is 35 mm.
Bore Depth: Usually between 11.5 mm and 12.5 mm. Take care not to drill through the decorative front face of thin doors.
Setback (Boring Distance): This is the distance from the edge of the door to the edge of the 35 mm hole, typically between 3 mm and 5 mm. This measurement directly affects the overlay and door clearance when swinging open.
Vertical Spacing: Standard practice is positioning the centre of the top and bottom hinge cups roughly 100 mm from the top and bottom edges of the door.

Fixing Mounting Plates to the Carcass

If you are reusing existing cabinet carcasses, the pre-drilled 32 mm system holes inside the carcass often dictate mounting plate positions. Standard mounting plates attach 37 mm back from the front edge of the carcass.

When replacing cabinet doors on older cabinets where the screw holes have worn loose, fill the old holes using wooden dowels and wood glue, or use hinge repair plates to create a secure, fresh anchor for the new screws.

Adjusting Door Gaps and Aligning Runs

Once your new doors are clicked or screwed onto the mounting plates, they will likely sit unevenly. Modern concealed hinges feature 3-way adjustment screws that allow fine-tuning without removing the door:

Lateral Adjustment (Side-to-Side): Adjusts the gap between adjacent doors or aligns the door edge with the carcass side.
Height Adjustment (Vertical): Moves the door up or down to align horizontal top and bottom lines across a run of units.
Depth Adjustment (In-and-Out): Moves the door closer to or further from the carcass face, ensuring the door sits flush and does not bind against the cabinet when closing.

Marking and Fitting New Handles

The final step in replacing cabinet doors is installing the handles or knobs. To ensure consistent positioning across every unit, create a simple template from a piece of MDF, plywood, or stiff card. Measure from the corner of the door to your desired hole centres, drill pilot holes through the template, and clamp it to each door before drilling. Always drill from the front face through to the back, holding a scrap piece of timber firmly against the rear to prevent breakout.