How to adjust kitchen door hinges

Make Sure All Your Doors Are Fitted First

Before you start adjusting any doors or hinges make sure you fit all your doors then decide which ones need adjusting.

Work Methodically

It’s best to start at one end of the kitchen and gradually work your way round adjusting them in turn - moving from one end of the kitchen to another.

Don’t Worry Its Very Simple To Do

Some people worry about adjusting their doors and think it’s going to be complicated. It’s actually very simple because on a hinge, there are basically only three adjustments and you probably are only going to be using one adjustment of those three.

The 'Basics' Of Adjusting Your Doors

Look at a door and decide if it requires adjustment. Maybe it doesn’t look level; there maybe is a bigger gap at one end and a smaller gap at the other. The most common adjustment you need to make, is between two adjoining doors. Either moving them closer together or further apart. This same adjustment is used to align a door with the edge of the cabinet.

The front screw on the hinge is normally used to adjust door alignment, or in other words, the distance that the door overlays the cabinet. Its this adjustment that moves brings the door closer too, or further away from the edge of the cabinet.

How To Move The Door Up Or Down

The second adjustment on a backplate allows you to move the door up and down. This adjustment is usually on two screws on the back plate and by loosening those screws off and moving the back plate up or down this will move the door laterally up or down.

If when you loosen those screws off, the back plate is a little bit stiff, you can just tap the back plate very gently with a hammer and that will loosen it off allowing you to then move the back plate up and down. There is quite a lot of adjustment in the back plate to allow you to do that.

Moving The Door Closer To The Cabinet

The third adjustment moves the door further to or away from the cabinet. You don’t normally need to adjust this; this is only done to allow an even gap down the edge of the door when you look at the door sideways on. Try not to have the door too tight or too close to the cabinet because when you open the door it will ‘bind’ against the cabinet and then you won’t be able to open or close the door very easily. You may find if your door won’t shut properly and it seems to be binding then this is the adjustment you need to make.

Adjustments on soft close hinges

On some types of soft close hinge there is an adjustment at the back of the hinge. There is a little lever that when you turn it effects the tension on the damper that slows the door down when it closes.