Soft close concealed hinges

[silentC]

About to buy some concealed hinges for my kitchen cupboards. I have an option to buy ordinary hinges or soft close. The soft close are about double the price. I've never used them or, I think, seen them in action. I'm not sure they are what I want, it seems that they give some resistance to being pushed closed and close themselves once they are pushed past a certain point.

Just wondering if anyone has used them and what they are like in practice?

[NCArcher]

I plan to use them on some glass paneled doors on a cabinet in an upcoming build. But I have a 5 yr old who will slam doors.
I've used them before and along with the soft close draw slides I think they are great. IMO they add a bit of class to an ordinary fitting.

[silentC]

So do you reckon they are suitable for a kitchen where you're opening and closing the doors frequently? I don't want to have to wait 5 seconds for them to close every time.

[NCArcher]

I think they are adjustable but they close about 90% of the way like normal then soft close the last bit.
Well the ones I have seen anyway.

[GraemeCook]

Good Morning SilentC

When we rebuilt our kitchen 30 months ago we used two different types of Blum softclose hinges:

mostly quite compact ones with integrated softclose mechanism that open to 110º, and
a few that open to 160º that are much bulkier and have a clip-on soft-close mechanism.

In retrospect, we would not bother with the latter again; we do not need doors to open more than 110º. I think that these are the ones I used, except that I bought them direct from a Blum agent and with quantity discounts at a better price (I bought drawer slides and components, hinges, the full catastrophe.)
http://www.bunnings.com.au/blum-100-degree-full-overlay-concealed-hinge-2-pack_p4160224

In operation, you just tap the door towards the close position, it swings gently and in the last 60 or 70 mm of travel the soft-close mechanism takes over and closes the door gently and securely and holds it closed. You do not need any other sort of catch or lock. The hinges also clip apart to make door removal and refitting very easy. Once installed, they are screw adjustable, about 2-3mm in every direction to ensure doors absolutely align. My doors all have glass panels, so hinges carry quite a weight.

After 30 months trouble free, I fully recommend them.



Fair Winds

Graeme

[danny.s]

Go the soft close. Once you have them you will never go back. My entire kitchen is soft close and now my garage drawers are also.

[elanjacobs]

Definitely go for Blum soft-close, they're the same size as regular cup hinges (no extra bits hanging out like some of the others) and can be individually de-activated to adjust how much soft-close there is - a small two hinge door may only need one in action but a larger pantry door with four hinges may need two or three working. We don't use anything else at work (custom furniture and cabinetry). I believe they're around $3 each from Lincoln Sentry.

[silentC]

Thanks for the all the info. I was looking at Hafele, but I'll check the Blum prices too, they are around the same level by the sound of it.

[bassmansimon]

You can also just get extra add-on attachments like the ikea one in this video

http://youtu.be/jjuQZvgEHn0

[silentC]

OK thanks. That gives me an idea what to expect with the closing action anyway. Looks OK. Cheers.

[GraemeCook]

Good Morning SilentC

Three years ago I built 3 x 6-drawer units for my shed as a trial (18 drawers in total) and used virtually every kind of drawer slide that I could find. Search on my URL for detailed reports.

From this experiment, I formed the view that Blum and Hettich soft close are a quality tier better than the competition for drawer slides. I went with Blum when I built my kitchen 30 months ago, as the quantity discounts kicked in better.

For the kitchen soft-close door hinges, an inspection of the vatious brands in showrooms indicated that basically the same quality hierarchy applies. Blum and Hettich are the best, and the price differential with the others does not reflect the quality differential. Toss a coin between Blum and Hettich, or go for the best deal.

Others may disagree!



Fair Winds

Graeme

[jefferson]

I certainly do disagree about the Hettich fittings.

Having now done 6 largish kitchens on my Minimax, I reckon the standard Blum fittings are the way to go. Hettich and Hafele will replace broken plastic parts at the installation stage but I doubt for much longer. The self closing mechanisms are IMO not well made.

[silentC]

Trying to find an on-line source for Blum. Anyone know of one?

I found a couple but I need inlay hinges and the ones I found don't seem to have them.

[lesmeyer]

Just remember that the 35mm hole for the Blum self close hinge needs to be 1mm deeper than for standard hinges. So if your doors are only 16mm thick you will have to use a 35mm forstener bit with a small shallow spur. The CMT one does the trick. I have done quite a few of them for other people. My door (frame and panel) did not have those limitations.
What I have found with the soft close is that it provides more closing resistance. So for smaller doors just activate 1 of the 2 hinges.
Les

[silentC]

OK thanks. My doors are 3/4" so no problem there. They are, however, only 12" wide, so on the small side.