Concealed Cabinet Hinges

For security and a sleek appearance, try installing concealed cabinet hinges in your next project.

Cabinet hinges come in a variety of styles to meet your different assembly needs. From simple gate hinges to concealed hinges designed with security in mind, hinges have a longer history than you might think. It may have been the Romans who first adapted innovative hinge technology for home use and ushered in the first swinging age, but we really don't know who to thank for inventing the hinge, although there's evidence of its use at least as far back as 1600 B.C. in the Near East.

Before you choose a hinge style for your door, chest or cupboard, keep some things in mind. Because hinges are important hardware considerations when building the frames and doors of your project, select a hinge style before you begin work. Using an overlay hinge, for example, will affect the width of the door you build for your project, so hinges aren't minor details. If you're a novice cabinetmaker, some hinges and even some types of concealed hinges have a fudge factor adjustment that makes mounting and positioning them easier, so shop around and do your homework to save yourself a potential headache later.

Hinges are broken into a number of categories based on their method of mounting and sometimes their added features. Doors can be mounted flush with a cabinet's frame or extend onto the frame depending on the hinge style. The hinges themselves can be completely or partially visible, or totally concealed behind the door.

Hinges can also be installed on the surface of the frame or door using screws, or screwed into a carved recess that will position the hinge wing flush with the surface of the wood. This last style is sometimes called a mortised or butt hinge. Some other common types of hinges are:

• T-Style
• Butterfly
• Magnetic
• Partial wrap
• Piano
• Gate

Most hinges are made of the same basic parts, although some may have added components to make them more useful, like adding springs to make doors self-closing.

Cabinet hinges are typically made up of four basic parts that work in conjunction:

• Door wing - This is the plate that's screwed into the door.
• Frame wing - You guessed it. This is the plate that's screwed into the jamb or frame.
• Knuckle- The knuckle of the hinge is the slot or juncture where sections of both wings overlap and create a passage through which a pin, usually round, in inserted.
• Pin - The pin is the round piece that slips into the knuckle and holds the two hinge wings together securely but still allows the door section to rotate away from the frame.

The fundamental nature of this style of hinge is self explanatory, but it can be surprisingly useful for some practical applications. Concealed hinges can be more sanitary when used in kitchens because they aren't as exposed to grease laden air. They can get away with being less attractive because they aren't visible, so some varieties of concealed hinges are designed to include a number of special adjustment screws that can compensate for imperfections in the construction or mounting of the doors themselves.

Sometimes using concealed cabinet hinges is a matter of aesthetics, but usually, security is a big factor. When installing an exterior door, or placing hinges on the locking door of a gun cabinet, for instance, including concealed hinges is a way to make sure that the door won't be removed via the hinge, defeating the locking mechanism.

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