How To Adjust European Hinges
The European (Euro) hinges are also called concealed hinges or cup hinges. While they look more complex than the other hinge varieties, they are relatively easier to install. A person only needs to bore 1 single and large hole and then drive some screws for installing a European hinge.
European hinges are relatively easier to adjust as well when compared to traditional hinges. Due to these characteristics and benefits of the European hinges, they are now being increasingly used for cabinet doors. When you choose the right hinge, you can adjust the cabinet doors side to side, up and down, or in and out by just working on the screws. The more versatile and study Euro-style hinges can be used for the frameless as well as the face-frame cabinets.
How to Adjust European Hinges
First of all, you need to choose the most appropriate hinge for your cabinet. The varieties include:
Face frame- the European frameless cabinets resemble a box. The opening of this box-shape cabinet is surrounded by a frame. A face frame hinge can be mounted by using only a single screw on these cabinets. The frameless cabinet hinges (easily available) can be attached to the mounting plates. The plate is installed on the cabinet by screwing.
Inset/Overlay: while an overlay door may cover all of the front region or some part of the door and cabinet, the inset is flushed with the cabinet door’s front. The partial insets are also available and they are a combination of the inset and overlay varieties.
Apart from the type of hinges and cabinet doors, you also need to consider how far you want the doors of the cabinet to open. The least expensive hinges may not open beyond 110 degrees. If you want the door to open wider, you will have to choose the more expensive and bulkier hinges.
With European-style hinges, you can adjust the positioning of a door only by using a screwdriver. That is why these hinges are so popular for frameless cabinets. Some of the steps you need to follow for adjusting European hinges include:
Positioning: it involves Inspecting the door positioning, opening the door wide (so that the hinge can be assessed), and adjusting it while holding the door steady.
Repositioning: when the lower and upper screws of the hinges are moved anticlockwise, they loosen up. It will allow you to move the door downwards or upwards. For moving the door outwards or inwards, you need to adjust the rear screw.
How to Install European Hinges
When you want to install and adjust the Euro-style hinge on your cabinet door, you first need to locate the hinge points on the cabinet and door. A hinge may typically be placed around 4 inches from the bottom and the top end of the doors. You can do the marketing by drawing the perpendiculars.
Any type of hinge will be first mounted on the door region. Subsequently, it will be placed on the cabinet. The first hole that you drill is the larger hole, which is also called the cup hole This is the place where the hinge will be placed. It is about 35 mm in diameter for the different Euro-style hinges. A Forster bit (available at a cost of 20 online) can be used for drilling purposes.
After the drilling of the main or the cup hole, the other two pilot holes have to be drilled. These two holes are made for the screws that will be used for fastening a European hinge to the door. While many of the European hinges do not come with any size template, some of them do. The latter ones can provide for easy marking on either of the holes. In other cases, you will have to make a template by using the instruction image.
For installing the European-style hinges on a face-frame cabinet, you first need to mark the centers of the pilot holes (by using an awl). Screws should be installed once the holes are drilled. For the frameless cabinets, you will have to install the separate mounting plates first.
How to Repair European Cabinet Hinges
When a European hinge and installation has gone bad, you need to check certain points including:
- The heaviness of the door and whether it is too heavy for the hinges.
- Whether the hinge screws are loose.
You may like to install extra hinges when the door is too heavy and/or would have to tighten the screws if that is the problem. If the hinges have broken away, you need to use new hinges for the cabinet. Sometimes a gap may occur between the cabinet doors and in this case, adjustments may be required.
Conclusion
European hinges can be one of the best available and can be used for a wide variety of cabinets and cabinet doors. They provide more flexibility for installation, adjustment, and repair and you can anytime modulate their configuration so that the cabinet door movement is to your liking.