If you’re renovating your kitchen and are hoping to follow a more flush route with your cabinet door hinges, there’s a relatively easy way to make that happen. You just have to be aware of what kinds of hinges to choose in order to get that specific aesthetic.
The catch? The process of choosing the right hinges for this look tends to be a little bit boring. Pun intended.
This “hinge-less” look is accomplished by using compact hinges and hinge boring. The compact hinges are attached to the door through a bored hole. A cabinet door bored hole is about a 1/2inch deep and allows you to insert and attach the cup of a concealed to hang cabinet doors.
When you think of a cabinet hinge, you are likely picturing a standard overlay hinge, which could be a great option. However, if a seamless cabinet door design with no exposed hinges is your goal, you would want to go with a concealed hinge with a bored hole. This is a modern option and keeps hardware hidden. After reviewing the image below for an example of concealed hinges, we’ll discuss how to correctly choose boring options.
Understanding Boring Patterns
There is no doubt that research into some hinge options can reveal some truly confusing wording. For example, hinges that say something along the lines of ‘cup only’ or ‘cup and dowel’. The average person won’t know how to decipher that information, and frankly, they shouldn’t be expected to.
So, what does that actually mean? Well, Cup Only is a pre-bored hole which is used for screw on style hinges, the hinge is attached to the door with wood screws. Cup and Dowel is for press in style hinges, there will be one hole for the cup of the hinge, and two smaller holes which you will insert the pre-attached dowels.
A boring pattern then refers to the size and spacing of the holes drilled. The pattern used when boring cabinet doors for hinges is dependent on the boring/hinge option you select when choosing your doors. On all options, doors under 40 inches in height will have two holes. For doors 40 inches or taller, there will be a third hole bored, directly in the middle. Let’s talk through your Boring and Hinge options now:
No
This option would not include any predrilled holes.
Boring Only
Choose this option if you already have or are purchasing hinges that need to be screwed onto the door. We would bore holes in a ‘U-Pattern’ into the door as this is the most universal pattern.
Salice Standard Compact Hinge and Salice Excentra Soft-Close
Drilled in a ‘B-Pattern’, the 35mm cup is drilled three inches from the top or bottom of the door and 3mm in from the edge. There will then be two 8mm holes drilled to the side and top and bottom of the main hole. The 8mm holes are where the dowels are inserted. When you choose this option the hinges are included.
Salice 120 Degree and Salice 105 Degree Soft-Close
Drilled in an ‘A-Pattern’, the 35mm cup, is three inches from the top or bottom of the door and 5mm in from the edge. There will then be two 8mm holes drilled to the side and top and bottom of the main hole. The 8mm holes are where the dowels are inserted. When you choose this option the hinges are included.
Lazy Susan Boring and Hinge Set
You would choose this option if you are purchasing doors for a corner Lazy Susan cabinet. Holes are bored only on one door, and the other door is bare. The door with the boring will have two holes on the left of the door and two on the right. One set will be used to attach to your cabinet base and the other set will be used to attach your second door. When you choose this option the hinges are included.
Installing Doors with Bored Holes
Every good project features at least a little bit of visualization. In this case, it would be important to seriously ponder the way in which these cabinet doors will function. Knowing key details like which direction the door will open will be crucial to the location of the boring holes. And how these doors open, of course, depends largely on where they are being placed inside your home.
If you are looking at the front of the door, imagine how you will be opening it. When the door swings to the left, the holes will be bored on the left side. The hinge should be inserted and installed so that the arm extends to the left. When the door swings to the right, the holes will be bored on the right side. The hinge should be inserted and installed so that the arm extends to the right.
We hope you found this helpful! If you need assistance with choosing please give us a call, we are happy to help!
