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diancarlson

Face Frame-Cabinet Hinge Question

18 years ago

We are in the process of building kitchen cabinets. Planning on inset cabinet doors/drawers with concealed hinges using a face frame.

From what I read we will need a special clip for the drawer slides (accuride) and a special adaptation "thingy" from Blum for the door hinges. Advice? Any potential problems we should anticipate?

Also, we have an arch designed in the toe-kick. Should we cut it with the jig saw (which we already have) or should my husband get a band-saw? (Oh, goody another tool justified)

Comments (5)

  • 18 years ago

    Inset doors, eh? I just did these (x16), and it was a chore. If you're doing these for your own benefit, I'd still say go for it. If you're doing it for resale, my sense is that most people don't know what they're looking at.

    I don't know about the door hinge adaptor, as I went with a more traditional hinge, but the drawers can also be done by shimming out from the wall of the cabinet. My drawer bank simply has two sticks per side catching the front and back of the drawer glides. (Which is much easier than placing stock parallel to the drawer glides, incidentally. That does mean that your drawer boxes have to be dead on same.)

    I'm always supportive of new tools, but I'd be cutting the arch with a router on a long pivot. Or a jigsaw with a belt sander for cleanup. (P-C makes a beautiful little belt sander!)

    Good luck!

  • 18 years ago

    For the arches, I'd make templates from 1/4" masonite (cut with jigsaw, refine with file), tack them to the stock, cut away most of the waste with the jigsaw and finish with a flush-trimming router bit.

  • 18 years ago

    Euro style hinges for inset doors in face frames mount to the back of the face frame; makes them the hardest type of euro hinge to install, and you'll be making the adjustments blind.
    Not to mention the fact that they intrude into the storage space of the cabinet, can be in the way of pullout shelves.
    Personally, I'd avoid that hinge. I'm afraid of new things.
    Casey

  • 18 years ago

    Use a template and router to cut the arches. A spiral cut router bit will minimize tear-out.

    Any time you have new hardware there is a learning curve. I always get the hardware before I assemble the cabinets if it is something I haven't worked with before. It's so much easier to have the parts in hand when designing something new.

  • 18 years ago

    Thanks guys for all your good suggestions. This is our home, not for resale. We are the end of a long process (1 1/2 years) of a kitchen/dining room addition, 450 sq feet, we have done everything ourselves. Hopefully I'll be posting some finished photos over on the kitchen site by Christmas. Thanks, Dian