Wow! That was one of my priorities. Let us know if she retrofits her cabs. I'm curious!

Were the base cabinets all (or mostly) drawers?

me too ck_squared., that was a "must have" for me!! Love Love Love them., we loved them so much, we put them on all of our BR vanities and cabinets., i just hate the sound of doors/drawers banging now!!

Carrie, yes, most of the lowers were drawers, in fact, some of the widest drawers I've ever seen in person in a regular kitchen. But there were plenty of cabinets up top and still a few among the drawers.

It wasn't like, oh, I'm sorry I cheaped out. It was like she balked at the price of the soft-close hinges and really didn't see a problem. She even said something like hating to wait for them to close. I can tell you, I give my cabinet doors a shove and forget about them. They certainly don't mock me with a slam.

We did the same - installed our own in less than an hour. While we were at it, we installed them in the bathrooms as well - even the bathrooms we didn't remodel! We paid something like $2.99 each (1 per door) vs the $50 per door the cabinetmaker wanted. ($2.99 was back in 2008 - I'm sure it's gone up in the past 7 years - but not to $50!)

Why would the amount of time soft-close adds to door/drawer closing be an issue? I can't imagine closing the door (or a drawer) and standing there waiting for them to close.... Maybe I'm missing something by not watching.... :-)

buehl, I know. I bought mine a little over 3 years ago and paid under $3 for each one. Even at $3.50 they're worth it.

I have old drawers in the kitchen, so no soft close. For some reason, they don't bang shut. The drawers in my new vanity are soft close and need a little shove to engage, but I willingly shove them and they take maybe 2 seconds to close. I don't understand the waiting thing.

So get this...I'm not that thrilled with soft close. About half of the doors/drawers that I have never seem to catch and so remain partially open. I have to go back and give them another shove. Maybe I developed a light touch to avoid slamming doors/drawers in my 1968 kitchen? Maybe I have to learn to be more forceful? Maybe I have crappy hinges and drawer glides? Maybe my drawers are overpacked with heavy stuff? IDK. So she doesn't seem that crazy to me!

This detail isn't a priority for me ... but I don't understand her reasoning. My best guess: She just assumed that they were very pricey and didn't actually investigate.

While you and I shake our heads at someone failing to check something so simple, she's probably in the majority, and we researchers, we planners, we obsessers, we are the oddballs.

We were recently choosing cabinets and the Omega frameless line we were considering didn't have soft close hardware on either the doors or drawers, I forget which. The salesperson didn't think it was an issue. We did.

mrspete, true, before discovering GW I didn't know soft close was a thing. I hate the sound of kitchen doors slamming and figure most people would fix it if they could. I would add those clear rubbery things to deaden the sound but they weren't totally silent and would fall off. My friend just built what I guess to be a $75k-ish kitchen. Maybe more. It just seems like a silly place to skimp.

While we were chatting another friend joined in and asked about the adapters. She has a big gorgeous house with a huge custom kitchen. I'm guessing it was built in the early 2000s. No soft close. She plans to buy some adapters and retrofit. All that money and gorgeous kitchens but slammy doors.

linelle, would you mind posting the link you sent your friend to the soft close adapters? i would be interested in retrofitting mine!

Katie, even better, I just checked where I originally got them--Woodworker Express-- and they are currently selling for $2.64 each.

Woodworker Express

Also, I wouldn't bother buying the spacer for 32 cents extra. My kitchen cabinets are full overlay, but I tried it out on an old vanity with partial overlay doors and it worked just fine. I have two 44" high pantry doors and they each only needed one adapter.

I don't see her reasoning.. But for me, I really don't like soft close doors. Its an odd aversion, though, and I recognise that it's probably a sensory thing. They creep me out!! Drawers don't bother me.. Just doors. I'm doing inset with exposed hinges though.. So clicky cabinets! ;)

Amber, that's funny.

I got a new screen door to go with my new front door. I removed the air-close thing because I want it shut when I want it shut. No more hissing as it closes slowly. A nice, sturdy, assertive *chunk* sound.

Amber, how do you feel about soft-close toilet seats? I love mine, but when I go to someone's house, I have slammed them down without thinking.

I love my soft close toilet seats!! My kids tend to slam other people's toilet seats tho :)

If doing all new cabinets, I would only add them if there wasn't a significant price. They aren't one of those things I see as necessary, but I'm also not a door slammer. Cabinets, drawers, doors on houses and cars, toilets... Not closing them gently with your hand on the knob/pull/handle all the way through is a pet peeve of mine. I almost feel like the advent of soft-close has made people lazy and less mindful of their manners.

When we did our kitchen 13 years ago, the soft close cabinets were not available on the cabinets we chose. We do have them in our dressing room though, so am very familiar. I have to say that I really don't care about them one way or the other. On the other hand, don't you dare try to take away my soft close toilet seat!!

Soft close toilet seat - love them. I slam toilet seats all the time by accident.

Are there soft close adapters for frameless cabs? I reused most of the laundry room cabs.

I never knew there was such a thing as a soft close toilet seat! How did I get to be fifty years of age and never hear of a soft close toilet seat? Can an old toilet be retrofitted?

Sure can. Just unbolt the old seat, and bolt on a soft close. They are kinda weird to watch, tho. I solved the problem more cheaply here by threatening to kill the next man who left a seat up in this house. And I am at That Age, so they believed me. And they don't hang the d**n toilet paper backward anymore either . . .

Worse: the house we just purchased had one bathroom with a soft close seat and the other without. It was really disconcerting to have a banging toilet seat/lid. Our first purchase before any reno was a new seat for the hall bath.

Those little soft close adapters are more like quiet close. They don't make the door close slowly, they just make it close quietly.

The soft close toilet seat is a little bizarre to watch, which I try not to. I mean, flush, close, wash, exit. I have a non soft close in my other bathroom and I never make the mistake of slamming it, i.e., I know my toilets. It's in other homes where the setup is more like my soft close that I forget where I am. :)

Does anyone know... Do the soft close hinges are bent the door from opening during an earthquake? If not, can they be used with a catch them from opening during an earthquake?

I don't mind soft close doors on framed, overlay cabinets. But I agree with Amber. I like the clicky sound of inset cabinet doors, clicking shut with a magnetic catch. It sounds like fine furniture to me...and just feels solid. In my personal old 1925 home, I have inset with exposed hinges.

And here's another thing that you must know! With concealed hinges and inset, you will lose space on the width of rollout shelves in a base or pantry cabinet. The hinges stick out AND the door, when opened up, is still inside the cabinet opening...so you lose the thickness of the door. Roll out shelving would be 1-2" narrower than if you used an exposed hinge....or had concealed hinges on an overlay cabinet.

I educated my clients on the inset/hinge dilemma, but many of them just think exposed hinges are outdated. I don't think they're outdated at all....they're classic. With inset, it looks appropriate. The hinges will also last a LOT longer! They're basically a knuckle hinge.

I'm attached a photo showing both, so you can see what I mean. KELLY

I finally saw some soft-close cabinets for the first time, and am not sure I want them. My cats sit and wait to get into the cabinets in my new house! I have to make sure I close them right away. I think my younger, agile cat would make it into the cabinets as they're closing, so I'd need to patrol. That would be annoying!

Here is the photo...I tried to edit my post and add it but wouldn't let me.

The photo on the LEFT shows an inset cabinet with a CONCEALED hinge.

The photo on the RIGHT shows an inset cabinet with an EXPOSED "butt" hinge.

So you can see, the concealed hinge keeps the door within the cabinet opening resulting in a narrower access to the cabinet. -KELLY

Thank you for posting those photos, Kelly! I've always wondered about the hidden hinges on inset cabs. Aside from losing space on the hinge side, they also look to have a restricted swing?

You're welcome, Errant. That's right....the swing is restricted just like all concealed hinges are. Butt hinges open all the way back, which is really nice. Great with kids and teens too.

My cat doesn't need a soft-close delay to afford him access to cabinets. This is from pre-remodel, but, even with full overlay, this dude can open cabinet doors. Inset? No problem? Pinhole claw marks at the top edges of cabinets? You bet.

Our contractor told us that while he feels soft-close drawers are essential now, he doesn't really feel soft close doors are that important. He showed us the difference in the showroom and we opted, at this time, not to add that feature. We an always add it if we feel it's necessary but for now we are going with soft-close drawers and loud-close doors. We will have full overlay cabinets. More of a mid-range kitchen.

O Linelle, that video is hysterical! And looks just like my girl, who fortunately is not that creative/curious! I love my kitchen soft close doors and drawers, and my soft close commode lid, too.

I'm actually surprised at how many actively don't like soft close doors. I have one door in the cabinet over my range hood that needed to be tweaked. It's the one where the adapter wouldn't install correctly (it's the door's fault, not the adapter). It sounds awful when it bangs shut. It's my little reminder that perfection is an illusion.

gramarows, Zephyr never met a cabinet door he couldn't open. He also never met a room door he didn't want to close, so every. single. door. in my house has to be wedged open with a door stop or he will shut himself inside and wail.

Linelle, wow!! I wonder if that's in my future. One of my cats is so very curious.

Linelle, I DO like soft close doors.....just not paired with inset doors.

Your kitty video is cute. Thank god my two don't go in to my inset cabinets leaving claw marks!

I've always been SO proud that my two cats never got on my countertops! How lucky am I?!? Until one Sunday morning, I come downstairs to THIS!!!! They've not done it since....so hoping it stays that way. :-)

The Kitchen Place -- I had a similar experience!!! When my first cat was an only (I adopted her last year), she never, ever got up onto the counters or island. She didn't even know how to jump, really. Never got up onto anything other than the couch.

Then this summer, we adopted a second cat, who is spritely! She jumped onto and into everything, and showed her friend how to do it. Now they're both jumping monsters! They left kitty pawprints all over my new range the other day!! Fresh from the litter!

I'm thinking about trying Ssscat! I don't want them all over new counters and scratching up cabinets. They don't currently try to open cabinets, though. They go in as soon as one is open and get stuck in there (they haven't figured out that they can push their way out).

It's funny how they teach each other. I have one 'hunter beast' and the other one is very passive, never killed a thing. A few weeks ago, when my BF took the trash out, the back door didn't close all the way and a chipmunk ran inside our house!!! I was not at home...thank god...but my BF told me the hilarious story that unfolded. Odie, the hunter beast chased it around for a while, but didn't kill it. The passive, sweet one just sat there watching. Then Odie cornered it....and seemed to back off a bit. It appeared he was giving our other kitty a chance to 'play' with it. Which he did. My BF finally managed to get the chipmunk outside, unharmed. :-)

Maybe I need to start a new KITTY thread. This could get WAY off topic! LOL

TKP, cats on the counter, cats on the counter!!! The cat's out of the bag. There's no turning back now.

Pippiep, good luck with training. I failed miserably to keep mine off the counter: yelling, squirting with water, foil, saran wrap. I finally admitted that I was outmatched and have ceded the peninsula to them. I can't leave any food unattended on the counter. It's just life at my house.

I had a elderly tortie when I got my two as kittens. She could also open cabinets just like Zephyr does. Despite her disdain for the kittens, Zephyr in particular adored her. I'm pretty sure he learned Cabinet Opening 101 from her.

We need a cat thread! I'm starting one! :-)

I've also been proud that my cat never gets on the counter. But when I put in new counters and sink, she felt the need to check out the changes. I was shocked when I found her dirty little footprints in my new sink! Luckily, she only did it once.

Keeping her out of the bathtub is another matter, though!

TKP, there are never enough cat threads.

Errant, my sink grid deters my kitties. The tub? Forget about it.