As I’ve mentioned before, I do not LOVE my kitchen. But it’s workable, it’s a big space, and hey, it’s a kitchen!
I’m a big believer in fixing the things that bug you though, and it’s always bothered me that two of my kitchen cabinet door don’t close all the way. Every single time I open and close them, I think about it, and it bugs me.
Just a little bit ajar. So annoying.
About a year ago, I bought some magnet attachments for the cabinets that I could use to MAKE them stay closed. But I never put them up, because I was wary to add them and to have to drill through the laminate doors without drilling all the way through.
So still, the cabinets bugged me.
Then, my parents mentioned replacing one of the hinges on a cabinet door in their kitchen, and said it made it shut much better. They thought it might work for me too. A ha! I thought.
I finally went to Lowes this weekend for hinges, and I’d taken a picture with my phone of the hinges I was looking at, because I forget pretty quickly what things look like when I’m looking at lots of other hinges. Fortunately, a Lowes employee came over to see if I needed help (they’re so nice there). I showed him the hinge and explained my dilemma, and he suggested that instead of buying a hinge (they only had one interior hinge, like I needed, and it didn’t really look like my hinge and was a lot bigger), that I should try to adjust it. I must have looked alarmed, so he said that each hinge has a little screw inside that allows you to adjust them. He said to play around with it – turn it to the right, and if the door opened wider, then I was going in the wrong direction.
When I got around to it last night, I got out my trusty screwdriver and had to figure out which screw was the right one. I initially thought it was the one on the front of the hinge:
Front of the hinge - none of these screws was the right one
But when I unscrewed that a little, the door became loose. So I realized it was the screw tucked into the side of the hinge.
Here's the right screw!
Of course, on the door I photographed, I was never able to get it to close all the way, though I certainly improved the problem. That leads me to believe that I probably DO need a new hinge or two on that door, but it’s not a priority. But I was able to fix the other door completely, and I’m SO excited to have a kitchen that doesn’t look sloppy with open cabinet doors anymore!
As good as it gets. Still a little bit ajar
But this one now shuts fully! Yay!
Love it…looks so easy! I have one that doesn’t close because that round thing that rolls when the door closes, then keeps it in place (I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about….ha, ha) is gone, which means there’s nothing to catch the door when I close it. So…a rubber band is holding the handles together. It’s a nice look….
You\’ve relaly impressed me with that answer!
Thanks Nancy! I think that I’m missing the plastic piece inside mine too, which is why I couldn’t get it to close all the way. My dad told me to take the hinge off and go to the hardware store to see if I can replace it – he did that in his kitchen, and now the door shut perfectly. There’s a few things in my house that really bug me (and that’s one of them), so I try to fix them whenever I figure out how to do it! So now I’m on the hunt for an inside hinge like this one. The guy at Lowes called it a “European hinge.” Hopefully I find one!
[...] be willing to help me try to figure out how to get the cabinet doors to shut properly. As you know, I’ve tried to do this before, with minor [...]
The times they are a changin….
Today if something is not worth saying, people sing it….
OMG looks just like my kitchen and i have the same problem! Thanks for the tip!
I have to admit that although it helped the problem, I was still having it, so I ended up putting magnets up in each of the cabinets, which keep the doors closed much better! So that’s also an idea if you’re still having trouble!
My cabinets are a bit newer than yours (16 years) and after adjusting them, they still didn’t close. I tried WD-40 on my hinges and they closed much better afterwards. I think the hinges closest to the stove get coated with grease and they just stick. The WD-40 loosened them up and now they close just fine. Try that.
Thanks for the tip! I ended up hot gluing magnets to the doors, so now they are forced to close
But I might try to WD-40 on a couple of them anyway!
I have the same exact cabinets with the same problem. Maybe the cabinets are detective or just cheap. I was going to do the magnet thing but was going to superglue it to the top of the cabinet but think i will try to fiddle with the hinges. Hope it works as you’re right as it is annoying. Thanks for the tip.
Defective i mean
Good luck with your cabinets! Did you try adjusting them yet? The magnets work great too, though the hot glue periodically pops off and I have to re-glue them, which is most annoying. My dream is really to just rip them out and replace them
Where did you find the magnets?
I found them at Lowes!