Types of furniture and kitchen cabinet hinges

1. What are the basic types of furniture hinges?
2. Choosing a furniture hinge and cabinet doors
3. Special hinge features

Furniture hinges are the basic type of furniture hardware. Thanks to them we can attach the fronts to the cabinet body so that their opening and closing does not cause problems. What types of hinges can we find on the market and what are they for?

What are the basic types of furniture hinges?

We can find many different types of furniture hinges on the market. Considering their use, we distinguish:

- piston hinges - they are used when it is not possible to make holes for a standard hinge cuphole. We use screws for their assembly.

- angle hinges - they have a precisely defined opening angle, e.g. 30°, 45°, 90°, 110°, 135°, 165 ° or even 270 °. The angle hinge works best in a corner kitchen cabinet. Check our Cabinet hinge 110.

- cup hinges - this is the most universal solution and most often used in today's carpentry workshops. The model owes its popularity above all to the possibility of simple adjustment and easy assembly - to assemble the concealed hinge, all you need is a drill or screwdriver, as well as a drill corresponding to the diameter of the hinge cuphole.

- braided hinges - they are used when we deal with broken doors that are in contact with each other by edges. A braided hinge is also sometimes called a wing hinge.

- cylindrical hinges - they work best on tables with a fold-out top.

- glass hinges - their installation does not require drilling in glass. A nut and clamping screw are used for this.

- fridge built-in hinges - they are designed for built-in refrigerators. They will allow us to simultaneously open the door of the furniture and the fridge.

- middle hinges - they are best suited to tilt and folded fronts in upper hanging cabinets.

- complementary hinges - are used to supplement hinges with a large opening angle. They are used in corner cabinets with broken doors.

Choosing a furniture hinge and cabinet doors

Furniture hinge should match the type of cabinet, and above all the thickness of its material and the way it is opened. If the cabinet door is on the outside of the furniture body, the hinges will work best. Before assembling them, however, we should check whether there is a free space on the sides of the cabinet that will allow free opening of the door. In the case of doors inside, let's use recessed hinges, which are designed to be mounted between the side walls of the cabinet body.

A door consisting of 2 leaves will be perfectly complemented by a folding hinge. The corner cabinet requires the use of 2 types of hinges: complementary and characterized by a fairly large opening angle, not less than 165-175 °. There are also twin hinges, which are used when 2 pairs of doors are located outside the furniture and additionally lean against its central partition.

Special hinge features

Modern furniture hinges are equipped with additional functions that not only extend their life, but also make their everyday use more comfortable for the user. What additional properties can they have?

- silent closing mechanism also known as a soft closing - this function ensures that the force of the closed door stops with too much impetus. Thanks to this, both the door and cabinet body will be protected against damage that may occur during too rapid closing.

- wide opening angle - this option is most often used in cabinets with internal or cargo type drawers. This type of furniture hinges have a negative (zero) step. This solution results in a wide opening angle, thus allowing the drawers to be easily pulled out without the need for additional spacers. This model works great even in corner cabinets.

- automatic closing and opening - self-closing is a solution thanks to which the cabinet door will close automatically. This function also brakes the door that has been closed with too much force to prevent it from slamming.

In turn, automatic opening is used in handleless cabinets, which have recently become more and more popular. This type of furniture uses push to open technology - lightly pressing the front allows you to open the cabinet without force.

The wide range of furniture hinges available on the market will allow us to choose exactly the element that will fit our cabinet. Thanks to this, its use will become more comfortable and the furniture will be able to serve us for a long time. However, if they lose functionality, we can easily fix them