


#EUROPEAN FULL OVERLAY CABINETS SERIES#
The photo series explains the process for mounting typical long-arm hinges on a frameless cabinet with a frame-and-panel door. Installing these delicate screws by hand will help prevent breaking them. Then drive in the screws to secure the hinge cups in their mortises. Drill pilot holes for the hinge cup screws with a 3/32″ self-centering bit. When mounting the cup portion of the hinge to the cabinet door, be careful to first square the hinge arm to the door edge before marking centerpoints for the installation screws with an awl. Set the drilling depth according to the hinge specifications, and bore a hinge cup mortise into the door at each layout mark. While hinge cup mortise depths will vary, most are around 12 mm (1/2″) deep. Rockler’s Hinge Cup Jig makes this setup step easy.Īll the conveniences of these production-quality hinges can also be part of your shop-built cabinet projects, and they’re super easy to install! If you can drill holes, you can mount these hinges successfully on the first try. Adjust its fence to the specific distance away from the bit required by the hinges.
#EUROPEAN FULL OVERLAY CABINETS INSTALL#
Install a 35 mm Forstner bit in a drill press for boring mortises for the cups. Make sure these pairs of layout marks for each hinge align exactly. Installation Process The first step to installing Euro hinges is to mark their positions on the cabinet face frame or inside wall and the back face of the door. Hinge descriptions in catalogs or online will specify inset or overlay style, face frame or frameless cabinet type and maximum swing range, among other important product details. Euro hinges are made to accommodate these full-overlay doors with varying amounts of overlap around the opening this may range from 3/8″ up to 1-1⁄4″. Other door styles overlay the front edges of the cabinet carcass or a face frame by the full thickness of the door (right illustration). Some doors, particularly on older cabinets, have a 3/8″ x 3/8″ rabbet around their back face, enabling them to recess partially into the face frame opening (center illustration). They’re common on both frameless and face frame cabinet styles. Inset doors (left illustration) fit completely inside and flush with the cabinet opening. The manner in which a door interfaces with the cabinet’s carcass will impact which Euro hinge options are available for your project. Longarm hinges are particularly handy, because they make doors easy to remove. Long-arm Euro HingesĬompact styles are one-piece hinges, while long-arm styles have two main components that snap together at the mounting plate. On the other end of the hinge, a mounting plate fastens either to a face frame stile or the inside wall of the cabinet carcass with screws. Both have a cup on one end of the hinge that fits into a round mortise on the inside back of the cabinet door creating this mortise involves simply drilling a stopped hole. There are two basic types of Euro hinges: concealed or long-arm. Some Euro hinges also offer snap- or soft-close features that make additional door catches unnecessary. The hinges also offer easy adjustability once installed - turning a couple of screws moves the door incrementally up and down, left and right or in and out to improve its fit, reveal and operation. They can accommodate door swing ranges from 95 up to 120 degrees or more, as well as complex door clearance requirements for inside-corner cabinetry. There’s good reason for it: Euro hinges come in a wide variety of options to suit both face frame and frameless cabinets. While these sleek, versatile and user-friendly cabinet hinges are often called “European” style, they’re almost standard issue these days in mass-produced kitchen or bath cabinetry here in North America.
