Kitchen cabinet hinges

[James]

I'm in the process of having a kitchen built by a local carpenter, who is going to build a traditional kitchen with softwood carcasses and proper hinges, etc. He says that he uses conventional hinges because the 'blumotion' style ones are a compromise that flatpack kitchen manufacturers use in order to replicate 'proper' kitchens. Although I'm really pleased that we are having a kitchen made entirely from real wood (instead of compressed board / chipboard with real wood veneer) for not much more than we would have paid for a Wickes type one, I cant help feeling that soft close doors are a feature I quite like. I mentioned this to our carpenter and he feels strongly that we should stick to traditional hinges.

Does anyone know if there are traditional looking hinges that have incorporated soft closing? Any comments?

Cheers

James

[Palindrome]

You can have your cake and eat it :

[James]

I had seen those, but they wouldn't work with traditional hinges as their is a receiver that the door slots in to when traditional hinges are used to keep the door closed.

[Brian L Johnson]

James wrote

Traditional hinges don't keep a door closed: all they do is allow it to swing to and fro.

What is your carpenter proposing that keeps your doors closed?

[DIY]

I am not aware of any traditional hinges that incorporate a spring mechanism needed to give soft closing. Presumably if you have tradition hinges you will need either magnetic or spring catches to hold the doors closed. Can you go and see a kitchen he has installed with 'proper conventional' hinges to see what they are like and whether they are really what you want? As you are paying for materials and labour, and you will have to live with your new kitchen for how ever many years, it could be argued that it should be built to your preferences and specifications, and not his.

[James]

He is fitting a kind of 'U' shaped receiver (similar to the type you get on wardrobes) in the cabinet, and a metal prong on the door fits in to it. Fine for wardrobes, but not sure if I want that kind of thing on my kitchen cabinets so I'm keen to find alternatives.

Cheers

James

[Brian L Johnson]

James wrote

Yuk. I don't think I'd even use them on wardrobes: there are so many better alternatives these days.

I'd go for 170-degree Blumotion ones and forget the 'protruding hinges' look.