Adjust Euro Style Cabinet Hinges

If you have cabinet hinges that look like this, you can adjust them in several directions to make your cabinet doors shut more snugly. New and old cabinet doors can both be tweaked to perfection. It's easy, if you take your time and adjust gradually.

Steps

  1. Close the cabinet door and look very closely at which directions it needs to go. Does it line up with neighboring doors? Is it too high or too low? Does it close all the way? Does it leave a gap or overlap too much?
  2. Open the door wide so that you can get access to the hinge.
  3. Adjust the hinge vertically. You may need to do this for all the hinges on a door at once. Loosen the top and bottom screws, push the door up or down as necessary, and firmly tighten the screws again.

    • Support the door as you loosen these screws, or it could drop completely out of its initial position.

  4. Adjust the hinge in or out. Loosen this screw and push the door further in or push it further out.

    • Try adjusting the hinges in this direction one at a time. It will help to prevent the weight of the door from pulling itself very far out of adjustment. Support the door, especially if you loosen all the in-out adjustment screws at once.

  5. Adjust the third direction. Tighten this screw (turn clockwise) to move this corner of the door further toward the frame (to the right on this side); loosen it (turn counterclockwise/anticlockwise) to move the door away from the frame (to the left on this side).

    • This adjustment can also be used to correct a door that is not hanging straight. If the top is further to the left or right than the bottom, adjust the top and bottom hinges separately to correct the tilt.
  6. Close the cabinet doors at each step and review your progress. Make gradual corrections.
  7. This is absolutely done easiest with two persons. One holding the door, and moving; the other one screwing and unscrewing.

Tips

  • Adjust the hinges gradually. Adjust a little bit, check, and adjust
  • Adjust the different directions separately, especially for coarse, initial adjustments.
  • Make sure the screws that are in slotted holes (for up-down and in-out adjustment) are tightened firmly when you're done. These screws are holding your cabinet door up and holding your adjustments in place.

Warnings

  • When you loosen the up-down adjustment screws, do so gradually, and be prepared to support the cabinet door so that it doesn't just slide down to the bottom of its travel. Get someone to help if supporting the door and turning the screwdriver is too much for two hands.

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