Updated
Kitchen Cupboard Door Dropped Or Out Of Line
A cupboard door sits lower than the one next to it, leans, or catches on the door beside it when it opens.
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What's happening?
Almost every UK kitchen uses concealed European hinges, and they are designed to be adjusted rather than fitted once and forgotten. Blum's own instructions describe three-dimensional adjustment: a front cam screw for side-to-side overlay, a rear cam screw for depth, and height set either by a cam on the mounting plate or by loosening the plate screws and sliding the door in its slotted holes. So a door out of line is usually a door that needs setting, not a broken one. The exceptions matter, though: a hinge cup pulling out of a chipboard door, a mounting plate whose screws have stripped the cabinet side, or a carcase that is out of square will all reappear within weeks of any adjustment.
What usually causes it?
- Hinges never finally adjusted after the doors were hung, so they have never sat in line
- Cam screws working loose over time as the door is used
- Hinge cup screws pulled out of the chipboard door, leaving the cup loose in its hole
- Mounting plate screws stripped in the cabinet side, so the plate moves under load
- Heavy doors — glass, solid timber or tall larder fronts — on two hinges where three were needed
- A carcase out of square or racked because the unit was fixed to an uneven wall or floor
- The door itself bowed, common on tall painted fronts in a warm, humid kitchen
Is it dangerous?
No, but a door catching on its neighbour chips both edges every time it opens, and a hinge that is pulling out of the door will eventually let the door fall. On a tall unit or a wall cupboard above a hob, that is worth attending to rather than living with.
Can I fix it myself?
Yes, in most cases. Work on one door at a time with the door closed, and start with the side screw — the front cam on the hinge arm — to line the door up with its neighbour, then use the rear cam to set how far the door stands off the cabinet. Height usually means loosening the mounting plate screws slightly, sliding the door and re-tightening. Turn a quarter of a turn at a time and check. Stop if a screw spins without biting; that is a stripped fixing and tightening it further just enlarges the hole.
When should you call a kitchen fitter?
Call a kitchen fitter when a hinge cup or a mounting plate screw has stripped its hole, when the door has bowed, when the gaps stay uneven however you adjust them because the carcase is out of square, or when several doors along a run have drifted at once. A whole run out of line is a carcase or a levelling problem, and adjusting hinges just hides it.
What will the kitchen fitter actually do?
- Check the carcase for square and level before touching a hinge, since that is what the doors read against
- Set every door across the run together on side, height and depth so the gaps line up as one
- Repair stripped hinge cup and mounting plate fixings with plugs or replacement hardware rather than longer screws
- Add a third hinge or upgrade to a heavier-duty hinge where the door weight needs it
- Replace bowed or damaged doors and re-hang them to the same reveal as the rest
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