Adjusting Cupboard Door Hinges

Easy step by step instructions showing how to adjust your own cupboard door hinges, presented by Crafty Corner

For any questions contact us via email
Lees in Afrikaans

So often cupboard doors just don't look straight, they catch on the floor or you have to "jiggle" them to get the cupboard to close properly!

Most cupboards these days have what they call "concealed 180° hinges".

These hinges look quite complicated to adjust, but when you know how they work it becomes so easy! I had a cupboard that got caught on the ground every time I opened the door so decided to do something about it before the door got too damaged.

What you need:

Phillips (star) screwdriver
Patience!

Looking at the door from the front, it had a slight slope from left to right, so every time the door was opened, the opening end would get caught on the ground.

The door is held by 2 hinges, 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom.

Right, now let's get started on how these things actually work, and how you can fix them.

Step 1

Look at the hinges - there are 3 screws on the hinge. Don’t worry about the middle screw, you need only concentrate on the left and right screw. Because the door was getting caught on the floor on the opening end, working on the bottom hinge, I loosened the right screw and lifted the door so that the screw moved completely to the right and then fastened the screw again. I did no adjustments to the left screw yet, and you can see this did not solve the problem yet. You can see on the picture that the right side screw has been shifted completely to the right when lifting the door.

Step 2

On the top hinge, I loosened the screw on the right as well and lifted the door so that the screw was now positioned completely to the left of the casing, and then fastened the screw again.

Step 3

After these adjustments, I closed the door to see how it would still catch on the floor. I did this in order to see which other screws I need to adjust. On closing the door, it caught to the floor just before closing completely, so I opened it again.

On the bottom hinge, I unscrewed the left screw slightly. On the top hinge, I fastened the left screw a bit. This helps straighten the door better and lifts the door even more, especially when the door opens on the ground.

I closed the door this time and it did not catch on the ground, adjusting the screws straightened and lifted the door slightly.

How it works:

The screws on the right position the door so that is does not look skew, but this does not always work, therefore you need to adjust the screws on the left. The screws on the left not only lift or lower the door, but also straighten it out so when you look at it, it is straight and level.