# Cabinet hinges don't fit... arghhhh!!!



## pisces7378 (Dec 24, 2009)

I am renovating my kitchen cabinets, and I am a total newbie. I simply do not have the vocabulary to explain what exactly has gone wrong, but I have purchased new hinges and handles, but the hinges do not seem to work.

I will attempt to explain...

The doors are approx: 3/8 of an inch thick, and there is a routed-out "lip" going all the way around the "inside" side of the door, so the panel is recessed into the cabinet frame, with an approx: 1/8 inch left raised away from the frame. Little magnets are in place to keep the cabinets closed.

They are very standard looking cabinets. The hinges that I removed were some really old fashioned looking black hammered metal colonial farm house looking hinges that screwed directly into the face of the cabinet frames and then were "bent" outwards and screwed directly onto the outside face of the cabinet doors. 

I wanted to have the hinges a little more hidden. I don't mind seeing the actual hinge column visible, so I went and bought a lot of hinges that screw into the inside of the frame, and then are perfectly factory made to fit into the "lip" of the panels, and screw into the backside of the doors. This way, the little metal plates on the frame side and the door side of the hinge is hidden. Plus, these hinges are "self-closing" so there isn't any need anymore for the magnets to hold the doors closed. 

The problem is, I removed the doors, chemically stripped all the paint off the frame, and the doors, primed them, spackled all the old screw holes etc. and painted everything with three coats of paint. It has been a three week project. And now that I have tried to rehang the cabinet doors, these new hinges that fit into the routed-out recessed lip, makes it so that the cabinet doors will no longer close. The two doors meet in the middle just before closing. I can see what the problem is. The new hinges are made from approx: 1/16th inch metal. So with 1/16th inch metal on each side of the cabinets makes for a 1/8th inch shift "inward" towards the center. 

So my question is... what do I do? I do not have a router. I wouldn't have the slightest clue how to rip off 1/16th of an inch off each door to compensate for the new hinges. Is there some easy way to "recess" the hinges into the frame by 1/16th of an inch to negate the hinge metal?

Can anyone help me?


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## 3 legged dog (Dec 21, 2009)

posably will a sharp chisel work.


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## Itsdanf (Jan 29, 2009)

Sounds like you need to mortise out a space for the hinges, either in the face frame, in the cabinet door, or both. 

If you're not comfortable with how to do this, here's a link to a YouTube video showing a simple demo with a door hinge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onWWQVlzrPE Or do a search for more videos. Key is to use a sharp chisel, and don't try to gouge out everything in the first stroke. Take your time.

Good luck.


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## cabinetman (Jun 3, 2007)

*WELCOME TO THE FORUM*

With the hinges mounted to the door, and laid on the opening, there should be enough space around the door to slide the door left and right at least 1/8" to 3/16". If the door is made to a closer fit, and mounting the face frame part further over doesn't give enough clearance, then you have a few choices. 

My first choice would be to rout or cut the rabbet (the step) deeper into the door on the hinge side. Doing this, you could take off 1/8" from each door without creating a visible "fix. You would have to actually make the door narrower because the edge of the door sits against the barrel of the hinge. If you just notch that, it will be visible.

Or, as mentioned, mark on the inside edge of the face frame where the hinge is, and chisel out a section to allow the door to move over on the face frame a bit more.


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## pisces7378 (Dec 24, 2009)

Itsdanf said:


> Sounds like you need to mortise out a space for the hinges, either in the face frame, in the cabinet door, or both.
> 
> If you're not comfortable with how to do this, here's a link to a YouTube video showing a simple demo with a door hinge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onWWQVlzrPE Or do a search for more videos. Key is to use a sharp chisel, and don't try to gouge out everything in the first stroke. Take your time.
> 
> Good luck.


This is great. Thanks for the video link. This is exactly my problem. The hinges need to be recessed into the "step" or rabbit, as it seems to be called. 

The only thing I foresee as being an issue is that A: it will take me hours to do this to the 20 hinges that I need to install, and B: the doors and frame are made from some pretty crappy grade wood, and I am not sure that the chisel will remove clean beautiful grooves like in the YouTube video, but instead my just splinter off and look crappy. Oh well, it will be hidden.

But I really like the idea of just routing out the rabbit on each door by about 1/8th of an inch. This way, I could take care of it with one swipe per door, and the "fix" would be hidden behind the door. 

My only concern would be that routing out the rabbit by an entire 1/8th of an inch on each side, might make it to where the hinge column is in the way, and I won't be able to... oh this gets too hard to describe.

And I don't own a router. I'd hate to rent a router from Lowe's, bring it home, figure out how to router-out 1/8th of an inch, do it to one door, and then find out that now the hinges won't fit into the deeper grooves.

Argh!


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

I had this problem when a customer decided to update his cabinets. I just ripped off the extra material with a table saw. Customer just restained the new material and varnished it. Twenty two doors ripped in less then 20 minutes.
Ron


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## pisces7378 (Dec 24, 2009)

Ron6519 said:


> I had this problem when a customer decided to update his cabinets. I just ripped off the extra material with a table saw. Customer just restained the new material and varnished it. Twenty two doors ripped in less then 20 minutes.
> Ron


Do you mean that you ripped off the material from the edge of the cabinet doors, or by removing more material from the "lip" or rabbit edge?

I can't rip material from the edge of the door where the doors meet, because the edges are rounded off slightly, and if I saw off that rounded edge, then I'd still have to find a router to re-round off the edge.


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

pisces7378 said:


> Do you mean that you ripped off the material from the edge of the cabinet doors, or by removing more material from the "lip" or rabbit edge?
> 
> I can't rip material from the edge of the door where the doors meet, because the edges are rounded off slightly, and if I saw off that rounded edge, then I'd still have to find a router to re-round off the edge.


 You would rip the material off the rabetted edge. To do this correctly you need to understand the exact issue involved. If this is the same issue I had, then you would rip the rabbet. If the hinge is pushing the door against the other door, reducing the clearance, then you cut the wood that backs the door off.
Ron
Ron


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